Old pictures of record-breaking village of Martinstown

This village is a place where a weather record was broken and where residents once dined on badger.

They were taken by Bridport photographer Claud Hider from 1922 onwards and have been digitally archived by history buff Neil Mattingly. 

Martinstown (Image: Claud Hider) Winterborne St Martin is commonly known as Martinstown.

(Image: Maureen Marchant)The village is in the UK weather records for the highest daily recorded rainfall, which was recorded in Martinstown on July 18th 1955 at 279 mm (11 inches) in a 15 hour period.

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Villager Maureen Marchant recalls: “It rained and rained. The water didn’t come into our house but it was lapping at the back door.”

Although Martinstown set the Guinness World Record for the highest level of rainfall in 24 hours, Maureen remembers that most people showed a resilient attitude.

“If you worked on the farm like our family then you took everything in your stride.

“When you’ve worked on the farm you’ve seen all sorts.

“The flooding was really something, but we’ve seen all weathers and all sorts of blizzards!”

But another part of the village was much worse affected, Maureen said.

“Down in the village along the main road they were much worse affected. The water levels came up and houses were flooded.”

St Martin's Church (Image: Claud Hider) Saint Martin's Church dating from the 12th century with a Norman font is in the centre of the village.

Other amenities include a village shop and Post Office, Public House (The Brewers Arms) and village hall.

Bronze Age barrows including the famous Clandon Barrow surround the village and Maiden Castle hillfort is nearby.

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A stream (the Winterbourne) runs through the length of the village.

Martinstown (Image: Claud Hider) In 1268 Henry III granted a charter to Winterborne St Martin (Martinstown), which allowed the village to hold an annual fair within five days of St. Martins Day.

The fair, which in times past was a leading horse market and amusement fair, had been revived but the old-time custom of roasting a ram was replaced once during an event in the 1960s with a 'badger roast'.

(Image: Claud Hider) The 80lb badger was caught in a snare and many villagers thought they were eating goose.

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After a hundred years silence, bells in the church rang out in 1947. Five new bells were hung as a village memorial to those who died in the war. An earlier peal had been sold to defray debts.

(Image: Claud Hider)
The village fights to retain its rural charm. In 1980, the villagers were 'up in arms' because the vicarage was built in brick. Despite initial opposition, housing estates have now been built too.

In 2007 Martinstown won the Best Kept Village in Dorset Award, in the Large Village Category.

With thanks to Neil Mattingly for use of the Claud Hider digital archive and to the Martinstown News and Views village website for some of the information provided here.