Abbotsbury, Dorset - Tithe Barn - old real photo postcard 1929

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Tithe Barn, Abbotsbury, Dorset - probably real photo
• Publisher:  Sewards
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  George VI 1d red
• Postmark(s):  Abbotsbury 1929 cds
• Sent to:  Mrs Rublenthal, Haven Cottage, The Woodlands, Gerards Cross, Bucks. 
• Notes / condition:  has some fading on left

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one.

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Abbotsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies in the West Dorset administrative district, and is known for its swannery, subtropical gardens and historic stone buildings. It is a gateway village on the Jurassic Coast, and consequently is popular with tourists.

The village of Abbotsbury comprises a long street of stone houses,^[2] many of which are thatched, with some dating from the 16th century.^[3][4] The street broadens at one point into an old market square.^[3] Parts of the street have a raised pavement.^[5] The village is surrounded by hills on all sides, except to the east; in 1905 Sir Frederick Treves described Abbotsbury as being ""very pleasantly situated among the downs"".^[4] The village has two public houses, The Ilchester Arms and The Swan Inn, and several tearooms, small shops and businesses. Nearly a hundred structures within the parish are listed by English Heritage for their historic or architectural interest.^[6] Dorset-born broadcaster and writer Ralph Wightman described the village as ""possibly the most interesting in Dorset"".^[2]

Abbotsbury lies in the West Dorset administrative district, about 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Weymouth. It is situated amidst hills about 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the English Channel coast at Chesil Beach, an 18 mile (29 km) barrier beach which south of the village encloses The Fleet, a brackish coastal lagoon. The main road running through the village is the B3157, connecting Abbotsbury to Bridport and Weymouth. Abbotsbury is located 6 miles (9.7 km) from Upwey railway station and 35 miles (56 km) from Bournemouth International Airport. In the 2011 Census the parish, which includes the hamlet of Rodden to the east, recorded 256 dwellings^[7] and a population of 481.

One and a half miles northwest of the village, at the top of Wears Hill, are the earthworks of Abbotsbury Castle, an Iron Age hill fort.^[8] The earthworks cover a roughly triangular area of about 10 acres (4.0 ha), of which about 4.5 acres (1.82 ha) are inside the ramparts.^[9]

In the 10th century a charter of King Edmund records a granting of land at Abbedesburi,^[10] a name which indicates the land may have once belonged to an abbot.^[10] In the 11th century King Cnut granted land at nearby Portesham to the Scandinavian thegn Orc (also Urki, Urk), who took up residence in the area with his wife Tola.^[11] The couple founded Abbotsbury Abbey and enriched it with a substantial amount of land.^[11] The abbey existed for 500 years, but was destroyed in the dissolution, although the abbey barn survived and today is the world's largest thatched tithe barn.^[12] Stone from the abbey was used in the construction of many buildings in the village,^[2] including the house of Abbotsbury's new owner, Sir Giles Strangways.^[13]

In 1664, during the English Civil War, Roundheads (Parliamentarians) and Cavaliers (Royalists) clashed at Abbotsbury. Parliamentarians besieged the Royalists in the church of St. Nicholas;^[14] two bullet holes from the fight remain in the Jacobean pulpit.^[13] The Strangways house which had replaced the Abbey after the dissolution was also the scene of a skirmish, as the Royalist Colonel Strangways resisted the Parliamentarians, who besieged the house and burned it. The house gunpowder store exploded in the fire and the house was destroyed,^[13] together with the old abbey records which had been stored there.^[15]

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries Abbotsbury experienced several fires, resulting in the destruction of virtually all its medieval buildings. Most of the historic secular buildings in the village today were built from stone in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[16]

County historian John Hutchins (1698–1773) recorded that fishing was the main industry in the village, and 18th-century militia ballot lists reveal that husbandry was also particularly important. Ropemaking, basketry and the manufacture of cotton stockings were other notable trades within the village, with records indicating hemp and withies being grown in the area.^[16]

In the early 19th century Abbotsbury's population grew steadily, from about 800 in 1801 to nearly 1,100 sixty years later.^[16]

Between 1885 and 1952 Abbotsbury was served by the Abbotsbury Railway, a 6 miles (9.7 km) branch from the main line to Weymouth. It was primarily designed for freight, in anticipation of the development of shale oil deposits and stone at Portesham, as well as iron ore at Abbotsbury which would be shipped to South Wales for processing. The Abbotsbury terminus of the line was inconveniently sited 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the village because the railway could not buy the land needed to build the station closer to the village.^[17]

During the Second World War, the coastal front was fortified and defended as a part of British anti-invasion preparations of World War II.^[18][19] Later, the Fleet lagoon was used as a machine gun training range, and bouncing bombs were tested there, for Operation Chastise (the ""Dambuster"" sortie).

type=real photographic (rp)

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=dorset

number of items=single

period=inter-war (1918 - 1939)

postage condition=posted