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The Balston
family was first recorded with John living in Bridport in 1500. His sons
leased land in Chideock and Hawkehurch while his grandson, William was first
to come to Martinstown in about 1560 when he leased Townfield Farm from
Viscount Howard of Bindon. They are shown in a Manorial Survey of
1640 as occupying land in the village
In addition to the leased land they also acquired
freehold strips that are clearly shown on plans of Townfield and Perkins
farms surveyed in 1763. Some properties shown on the plans are numbered to
accord with schedules describing them and their owner-occupiers. The presence of this family continued in the village
and once more they are shown in official records of 1798.
Clearly shown opposite the village pound is the
property known today as Balston Cottage and owned by Miss Balston (probably
Elizabeth born 1735 who married John Chilcott). She owned many strips of land
including one called Kites Tail that adjoined the old road from West End
Corner diagonally to Pen Barn. This lead to the Common lands upon which she
had "a right to depasture 60 sheep and 3 cows in right of her
freehold". Oliver Duke gave Balston Cottage its name when he
redeveloped it in the early 1974. While it was probably built in about
1760 it's more recent history can be traced from the particulars of sale when Lord
Alington's three Dorset Estates were offered for sale by auction in 1912. It
was then catalogued as Lot 22, Like most other lots it was unsold at the auction
but was purchased in 1914 by Henry Duke’s Grandfather Edward and added to
other Alington lands he had purchased (having been tenant of Grovehill Farm)
to form East Farm. Mr. W.W. Westmacott is thought to have lived here until in
1926/27 when a new dairy house was built (now demolished to be replaced by
the newly developed Duke’s Close). Bill Westmacott rented a dairy of cows with the
house and several fields, a usual custom at that time and since. After he moved
to Rew Manor Farm the dairy unit was taken in hand and became known as West
End Dairy managed by Smiths, Samways and Pashens until transferred to
Grovehill when drainage and the driving of cows on the road became difficult.
The cottages
had by then deteriorated to become a hay store and bullpen while the barn was
used as a milkroom and tractor shed. The present day Balston Cottage was created from the barn and former cottages which were linked in a major redevelopment to provide the present accommodation. It was designed by Geoffrey Ferris who was then a Building Surveyor with Hy Duke & Son. Gerald Duke (eldest son of Oliver Duke) and his family occupied it until 1988 when it was sold to Robert and Carol Ormsby. When they left, Oliver Duke was glad of the opportunity to own it once more and he lives there today.
Abridged by Gerald Duke from
detail given in a Christmas card by his father, Henry (Oliver) Duke
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