(Unlisted)
(Unlisted)
At first sight, these seemed to be the houses referred to in the Parish Council minutes of March 1943, which reported to the powers-that-be that two houses would be needed after the war, and that a site in Back Street had already been chosen.
In the event, they turned out to be pre-war ~ the land was purchased by Dorset County Council from the Estate (for 10/- [50p] per house, according to one later conveyance) in October 1938, and building began just before the war with a view to developing six houses. The construction of the other four was interrupted by the war and was never completed. While this pair of houses were occupied during the war (literally from the week war was declared) they lacked electricity and the only hot water supply came from coal-fired coppers in the kitchens. The building work on this pair was not completed until the war had ended. Though built of brick, according to the present occupants of no.4 they are bricks which are more than a match for conventional masonry drills.
The pair struck no chord with the author of the Appreciation ~ "the ghastly semi-detached villas are totally lacking in sympathy with their neighbours. Perhaps the brick work could be colour washed to match the natural stone." Well, at least they are half-way there, and it is only fair to remember the austerity years during and after the war, when any house was better than none, though one resident recalls that although the houses were "built for local families whose cottages were overcrowded ... there were no takers. Cottages were an average of 1/6 [7.5p] as rent."