Waterloo House
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The early history of "Waterloo House" is linked with "Granville" , the next door house. In 1803 Benjamin Diment, a Whitechurch Canonicorum yeoman, purchased it from Samuel Oliver for £150 and his son, Benjamin the Younger, erected the first blacksmith's shop. It was bounded on the west by a dwelling house belonging to John Ridges, who died in 1823. When he was Church Warden in 1798, the ringers of the Church bells were given 10/6 for Nelson` s Victory of the Nile. His granddaughter,Mary Ridges Hyde, married Charles Albert Target, a French Army officer and son of Col. Jean Target, military governor of Warsaw and nephew of Guy Jean Baptiste Target, who King Louis XV`s and Queen Antoinette's solicitor and acted for her in connection with the Queen's necklace scandal. Another uncle was in the French Navy and probably died when his ship "L`Orient" blew up during the battle of the Nile, Thus Mary Ridges Hyde was connected in two ways with the battle, She died in 1872. The families of Hyde and Ridges residents and owners of property in the village for many years. The last of the family, Louisa Hyde, died in 1900 aged 84, Her grave space had been purchased previously by Captn. Arthur Target, To come back to the Diment family, Benjamin made the iron railings in front of the Church in 1836 and died in 1853, The house to have been altered several times. In 1832 there were three tenements on the site, Robert Wilde and Robert Freyte being tenants, but in 1849 there were only two. The next blacksmith was Thomas Parrett and the house again divided into dwellings. It was sold by auction by Driver & Co. in 1867 and in 1887 the whole house occupied, and later purchased, by H. P. Childs. His son, A. B. Childs, followed. He was one of the volunteers who won the County Cup for gunnery in 1891; also he won 1st Prize in the County Shoeing competition at Dorchester. He was the last blacksmith as his son John was a smith and was water bailiff for many years. In 1900 the entrance to Chiles forge was through an archway the present shop window is, and a similar archway by its gave entrance to the small ironmonger's shop. One of these archways were found recently by John Childs when the shop was enlarged, A Tinsmith's shop belonging to Wilson of Lyme occupied the site of the present opening to the old forge. One day in 1921 Mrs, A .B. Childs entered the workshop to see a her father-in-law was shoeing. While she was there Childs heard a motor car up the hill, a great deal of noise. He and the other men in the workshop went out to see this unusual sight left unattended the pony, which took at the noise and breaking loose dashed about the workshop. Mrs. Childs terrified and took refuge on a bench. John was born a few hours later, The front room converted an ironmonger's which was afterwards transferred to "Wistaria", The forge is no more and the smithy is a pottery, The house below is "Waterloo House, In 1587 it was owned by Thomas Oliver and Mary his wife and was described as being a cottage with a garden; on the north side bounded by the lands belonging to the Manor: on the West by the house of Mary New,widow: on the east with the house of Benjamin Paine and on the South by the King's High-way. Where this cottage is difficult to locate as the King's Highway was on the south. The property in the sixteenth century probably included the land where "Waterloo House" was later built and the lower down. In 1711 it was sold to Nicholas and Thomas Follett for £ 0, and in 1732 owned by Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Follett, a victualler. It passed to Robert Fowler of Thornmouth, Devon. Later owners were John Bazely a husbandman and Sam Taylor, a mason, paying £15. In 1793 the property described as a messuage and garden, adjoining a dwelling for many years "prostrate", which was afterwards rebuilt, and a little orchard and in possession of Samuel Oliver of Lyme Regis. Oliver, in the deeds, is described as being a " Helier", or thatcher, and sold part of the property to Benjamin Diment in 1803, as already mentioned. In 1814 John Potter, a cord-wainer was in possession and in 1869 William, his son.One Christmas Eve in the 1880s it was destroyed by fire. Potter was carried the road and watched his house burn, seated on a chair. The house was rebuilt by the insurance company and the next tenant was W.G. Copp, a tailor. After he left, the house was purchased by Fred Hutchings, bootmaker, which was later inherited by his sons Ernest and Fred. The back of the house is very confused, the original wall on the north side still stands, but the old house occupied a space at least 8 feet further away from the pavement

1867 Auction Map
1867 Auction of Waterloo House when Thomas Parrett was the Blacksmith.