THESE lovely old pictures show a west Dorset coastal village in more tranquil times than its rather turbulent past.
Claud Hider, a Bridport photographer, took these old photos of West Bexington from 1922 onwards.
They show beach huts, the pavilion and tennis courts, people walking on the beach, beach bungalows including a property called Two Wings and a swimming pool.
The pool is believed to have been built between 1919 and 1939.
In those bygone days it seemed as though West Bexington, which is six miles south east of Bridport and forms part of the parish of Puncknowle, was a popular resort and the pictures contain many people relaxing.
But its distant past paints a bleaker picture.
The settlement was first documented during the reign of Edward (1042-66). West Bexington was anciently a district parish and manor.
It was burnt by the French in 1439-40 and the inhabitants held to ransom. By circa 1625 the village was reported to be depopulated.
In 1451 the rector of Puncknowle was ordered to repair the chancel of St Giles Church at Bexington and then celebrate Mass there once a week and on St Giles Day. The church stood near the sea shore, but only a small part of the wall remains.
The earthworks comprise many square and rectangular banked platforms, hollows and scarps. Hollow ways are also present and range between 3 metres - 6 metres in width and between 0.2 metres to 1.5 metres in depth. Pottery has been recovered from ploughing.
The site of St Giles Church was excavated in 1983 when 12 graves were recorded.
West Bexington was prominent for its 20th century development aspirations.
In the 1930s, farmland was divided into one-acre plots and sold to people to build their own bungalows. There were plans for it to become a holiday resort - Bexington-on-Sea.
During the Second World War, troops were stationed here and submarines tested off the beach. After the war, a few more homes were built but the lack of water restricted development.
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Then in the late 1960s, mains water and mains sewage treatment were installed and with it came the second building boom.
In the last ten years the settlement has changed again as the original bungalows have been rebuilt and extended.
Attempts were made to develop Bexington as a holiday destination, for summer and weekends and for people wishing to retire to Dorset. The chalets (beach bungalows) are the result of this attempt.
Many shacks were being constructed at Eype for holidaymakers.
Up until 1932 there was no road connecting the village to the beach, although the track along the back of the beach was a thoroughfare from Burton Bradstock to Abbotsbury.
The road was built and the car park extended onto the beach. The swimming pool, tennis courts, café and summer bungalows were built.
The summer bungalows were timber sheds divided into two, like large beach huts but without water or drainage.
They were let unfurnished for £2.10 (two guineas) a week. Bexington-on-Sea provided a kind of improvised camping, presumably not dissimilar to today’s beach huts along the West Dorset coast.
There was no communal facility for bad weather. In September 1934 the whole resort was put up for auction.
The beach chalets were rented out for £23 and £26 per year. The sale suggests that Bexington-on-Sea was not a financial success.
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The resort and all except five 4 bungalows and three building plots were offered for sale (the Manor House, café and beach bungalows, and 12 bungalows.
About one third of the 400 acres was laid out on the sale plan in 1,000 building plots mostly listed in batches of four to seven sites for houses but these failed to sell. The auction generated so little interest that only a few individual plots were sold.
If West Bexington had been developed it would have become larger than Lyme Regis.
The West Bexington nature reserve is one of the Dorset Wildlife Trust's few coastal reserves.
It is internationally important because of the rare vegetated shingle habitat that thrives here (Rock Samphire, Sea Beet, Sea Campion, Sea Kale, Tree Mallow, Tufted Vetch, Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip, Woody Nightshade, Yellow Horned Poppy and Yellow Iris).
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