(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)
Quite a few Abbotsbury shops have become houses, but 6 Market Street is one house that became a shop when the Peach family here brought their business back to the village after a spell in Dorchester, and opened their house as a village version of their Antelope Walk gift shop.
Other than that, the only change since 1973 is that the fancy hinges to the door of no.8 have been removed and the door colour changed, but all the evidence suggests that nos 6 and 8 might originally have been one house ~ there is what looks very like a connecting door between the two, and both the staircase and the inglenook fireplace in no.8 seem to be fairly recent additions.
Though the pair are described in the listings register as early 19th century and now have slated roofs, there is evidence in the roof space of no.6 of a previous thatch, pulled off in a fire c. 1900. Thatch fires have always been a hazard of Abbotsbury life, but that evidence of a thatch tends to imply an earlier date of construction.