(Grade III listed according to the Appreciation and scheduled for listing in the 1974 village plan,
with the note that it was "formerly included in the supplementary list".)
(Grade III listed according to the Appreciation and scheduled for listing in the 1974 village plan,
with the note that it was "formerly included in the supplementary list".)
Sid Price, stationmaster at Abbotsbury when there was a railway line to the village, lived in 5 Rosemary Lane when this house was two separate cottages. (Frank Toms lived in no.3) According to one of Mr Price's relations, the family kept chickens under the stairs, and relied on a well in the garden for their water supply.
Despite restoration work when the houses were combined, the original oak lintel to the open fireplace, which once caught fire, remains. The house was still considered to be two cottages at the time of the Appreciation, and because of its listed status, the present owners have not been permitted to remove the door to the former no. 5. The cobbles in front of the cottage were mentioned in the Appreciation and have survived to this day, but the "old elm stumps" mentioned then are no longer so visible.
The picture below shows how little ~ and yet how much ~ things have changed in the 80 or so years since it was taken. At the time of that picture, the open doors of the cottages appealed to passing sheep and cows, one cow on its way to milking once managing to get itself stuck in the doorway.
