Transcription from Kelly’s Directory of Wiltshire, 1911
Semley
is a parish,
running nearly east and west; and lying in a beautiful valley, with station,
1.25 miles from the church, on the Salisbury and Yeovil Branch of the London and
South western Railway, 20 miles south west from Salisbury, 6 south east from
Mere, 3 north from Shaftesbury and 101 from London, in the Southern division of
the county, Chalke Hundred, Tisbury Union, Shaftesbury county court district,
Tisbury and Mere petty sessions division, rural deanery of Chalke (Tisbury
Portion), Archdeaconry of Sarum and diocese of Salisbury. There is a richly
wooded country in the background on the north, and the Dorsetshire hills are
seen in the distance stretching along its front in the south.
The
old church of St Leonard, an ancient cruciform structure, was pulled down in
January 1874 and the present building erected in 1875 at the expense of the
Dowager Marchioness of Westminster: it is of Bath, Ham Hill and local stone, in
the Early Decorated style and consists of chancel with south aisle, nave of four
bays, south aisle and a lofty embattled western tower with clock and 6 bells;
there is a stained window in the chancel to the Rev. Henry Hall M.A. and others
to Arthur and Lucy Fane the late Vere Fane Benett-Stanford esq; to John Edward
Benett of Pyt House, to the memory of seven officers killed at the Gate Pa Fort
in New Zealand on 30th April 1864**: and to Mrs Pike, of Musters. In
the nave are two tablets to the Benett-Stanford and Pike families: the church
affords sittings 350. The register dates from the year 1657. The living is a
rectory, Nett yearly value £397, including 98 acres of glebe, with residence,
in the gift of Christ Church, Oxford, and held since 1878 by the Rev. Louis
Kercheval Hilton B.A. of Jesus college Cambridge, and M.A. of Magdalen College,
Oxford. Here is a Baptist chapel, which was built in 1817, to seat 250 persons.
£2 2s yearly were left in 1779 by John Parham for clothes, and the interest on
£300 left by Miss Dinah Bracher, for the poor of the parish. Lady Arundell of
Wardour is Lady of the Manor. The Principal landowners are Capt. J.M. Benett-Stanford
of Hatch House, and Lady Octavia Shaw-Stewart of Fonthill Abbey. The soil is
clay, subsoil gravel. The land is principally pasturage, al the arable growing
wheat, oats and barley. The area is 2980 acres of land: rateable value, £7328;
the population in 1901 was 620. .
Parish
Clerk: Fred Knight.
Post
Office: - Mrs Sarah Jane Rogers, sub-postmistress. Letters arrive from
Shaftesbury at 8.20am and 6.30pm on weekdays, 8.5am Sundays; dispatched 12.15,
4.45 and 7pm week days, 10.30 am on Sundays. Semley Station, I mile distant is
the nearest money order office & Semley Railway station the nearest
telegraph office.
Post
& M. O. Office, Semley Station – William Davitt, sub-postmaster. Letters
arrive from Shaftesbury at 7.10am and 10.30pm; dispatched 10.40am, 5.15 and
7.30pm; Sunday, 11am. The Telegraph office is at the railway station, which is
closed on Sundays, no telegraph money order business transacted.
Elementary
School (mixed) for 80 children; average attendance 61?; Miss Edith Jane Read,
Mistress. Infant, for 70 children, average attendance, 42. Miss Emma Gertrude
Green, Mistress. A House adjoining the schools is provided for the mistresses.
Railway
station: George H Holter, stationmaster.
PRIVATE
RESIDENTS
Armstrong,
Mrs, Broad Oak
Bracher
Mrs, The cottage
Colley,
Mrs, Grove House
Hilton
Rev. Francis Kercheval M.A. The Rectory
Hilton
Rev. Louis Kercheval M.A. (Rector) The Rectory
Pike,
Frederick, Musters
Stanley,
Rev Wm Peter, The Manse
COMMERCIAL
Baker
Austin Tom, Chaldicotts Farm
Baker,
Harry, Marsh Farm
Baker,
Robert, Westwood
Bignal
James E, Railway commercial hotel and posting house, Semley station
Burden
Rice, shopkeeper
Burrows,
Percy, Farmer]
Burrows,
Theodore, Farmer
Creed,
Charles Edward, Wheelwright
Doggrell,
Tom, farmer East End Farm
Doggrell,
William, Farmer Kirton and Oysters Farms
Foot,
Edwin, Farmer, the common
Ford
William, Farmer Hook Farm
Fowler
Elizh (Mrs), Baker and Shopkeeper
Gray
Samuel, Farmer Westwood
Herrington
Bros, Farmers Church Farm
Holloway
John A, Farmer
James
Edwin Joseph, Butcher
James
Ernest, Farmer Conduit and Malthouse Farms
James
Tom, Farmer Leggats farm
King
James, Benett Arms Inn
Maidment
Henry, Farmer Knipes and Glebe Farms
Merchant
Henry Thomas, Wheelwright
Pike
Walter S, Farmer Whitebridge Farm
Pitman
Bros, Game dealers
Rogers
Sarah Jane (Mrs) & Son, Grocers, Bakers and Drapers and Post office
Salisbury,
Semley and Gillingham(The) Dairies Ltd, (William Davitt mgr.)
Sully?
Wm , Blacksmith
Westcott
J & Son, coal and manure merchants
White
Robert, farmer, Billhay and Amberleaze farm
Worthy
James, Farmer Bowmarsh Farm
Young
Ernest G, frmr Harthill farm
**OPC
NOTE
Historical
background
During
the Land Wars between the Maori and the Pakeha (European settlers):
At Gate Pa the
Māori withstood a day long bombardment in their bomb shelters. One
authority calculated that Gate Pa absorbed in one day a greater weight of
explosives per square metre than did the German trenches in the week-long
bombardment leading up to the Battle of the Somme. Many British troops were
killed by “friendly fire” during the bombardment When the pallisade was
destroyed the British troops entered whereupon the Māori popped out of
their bomb shelters and killed a hundred of them in only a few minutes. They
then abandoned the Pa .
NB a “Pa”
is a kind of fortified village.