Hardington’s Nobility
On 5 January 1937, Sir Basil Hardington Bartlett, the second Baronet of Hardington, and Helen Mary Malcolm were married at St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, London. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rev. Philip Mandeville Bartlett (the groom’s uncle) and the Rev Sir Murland Evans conducted the service.[1] The wedding attracted much attention because the groom […]
A Roll Call of Winners
At Hardington’s WI Flower Show on Saturday, 21 August 1965, Mrs Winifred Turner of Manor Farm enjoyed spectacular success when her table arrangement triumphed in a new class created to commemorate the golden jubilee of the WI movement, and she won more points overall than any other member of the local branch.[1] Mr Edward Charles […]
Tinder-dry crops
In July 1959, the weather was exceptionally dry, parching the ground and withering crops. At Pendomer, a spark from a railway engine set fire to a quarter acre of wheat, while at Font Hill, West Coker, two and a half tons of baled hay belonging to Sonny White of the Royal Oak, Hardington Moor, was […]
Hardington’s Ploughing Champion
On Thursday, 2 October 1969, Malcolm White of Hardington Moor excelled in the Young Farmers’ annual ploughing championships held at Home Farm, Kings Weston, winning the Gulf silver cup and qualifying for the national ploughing championship in 1970.[1] Malcolm was participating in a tradition of farming competitions that, locally, goes back at least as far […]
A Wartime Letter
Shortly after Christmas 1914, Bessie Eastment of Hardington received a letter from her husband, George, a soldier serving in France with the First Battalion of the Dorset Regiment.[1] After showing the letter to family and neighbours, Bessie sent it to the Western Gazette for publication. George and Bessie married in 1911 when he was 27 […]
Fisty Cuffs at Milking Time
On a seemingly peaceful Sunday, 24 March 1861, Joseph Bishop, the sixty-year-old occupier of Lyatts Farm, was engrossed in milking his small herd of cows with his son, Charles, and worker, Lewis Delamont. In a sudden and shocking turn of events, they were set upon and beaten by three young men, who were wild with […]
No lamps bad, one lamp fatal
A winter mishap On the evening of Thursday, 16 January 1896, William Vaux, landlord of the Griffin’s Head Inn, Nether Compton, was travelling home from Hardington with his son when his trap collided with a waggon, throwing him to the ground and breaking his collar bone. He received medical attention and made a full recovery. […]
New Farming tech at Haselbury
On Monday, 19 March 1860, Henry Parsons proudly demonstrated his new Fowler steam plough on his Haselbury farm. His invited audience of country gentlemen was amazed at how easily the plough shares sliced through the heavy clay soil.[1] The engine stood on the headland, broadside to work, its operator reading dials and shovelling coal to […]
Carvings on an old farmhouse
On Thursday, 19 June 1913, the Yeovil “Come and Welcome” Lodge of the International Order of Good Templars held their annual picnic at Hardington Rectory. After tea, the Rev Cleife took them on a guided tour of the church and village and showed them the carvings on an old farmhouse.[1] The old farmhouse in question […]
A Vanished Road
On 26 March 1923, the Rural District Council discussed a footpath on the East Coker and Hardington boundary. The footpath served as a shortcut from the Hardington road to Lyatts Farm, and the East Coker Parish Council had received a complaint that the path was impassable because the landowner on the Hardington side had failed […]