(Grade II listed in 1956 as "terrace 4-14 Market Street" and now listed individually)
(Grade II listed in 1956 as "terrace 4-14 Market Street" and now listed individually)
In the 1973 photograph, the signs in the right-hand ground floor window read "GREGORY, builder and decorator" ~ was this the business based here, or was he simply working on the building ? (According to the present occupants, more likely the latter.) That same window has been replaced since the Appreciation with one that matches the others in the house.
The directory for 1871 lists Emmanuel and Robert Vincent at no. 14 as grocer and shopkeeper (father and son), but by 1875 only Robert is listed, as a market gardener. The directories for 1889 and 1903 then list Joseph Carter as a grocer at no.14, but by 1939 the business had changed hands, and Thomas Hitchen was listed simply as a shopkeeper here. The shop then passed to Alf White and his wife, who ran it as "a general store, selling everything from food to paraffin". It then became a private house.
The roof of the house is unusual for having at least one course of stone slates of the type more often found in the Dordogne than in Dorset. It is is described in the listings register as mid-19th century with 20th century windows.
The growth of the tourist trade is reflected in the fact that the direction sign has been moved since 1973 from its original position much nearer the corner of Market Street and Rodden Row so as to give speeding motorists more time to think about using their brakes at the corner. The sign to the "baby swans" (why can't they be called "cygnets" ?) marks the annual hatching celebrations at the Swannery.