No 4 St. Monica's Priory

Between 1931 and 1933 the tenants of No. 4 were Thomas and Lilian May who appear on the electoral register at that time.

In 1934 Francis Ronald Mace and his wife Maggie Norah, who had just got married, moved into No.4. Their daughter, Eileen, was born that same year and their son, David, in 1942. In 1959 Mr. Mace was renting the cottage for 6/6 a week. When Mrs. Mace died Mr. Mace went to live with his daughter Eileen and her husband in Bere Regis.

On October 1^st 1972, John and Doreen Hanks of St. Martin’s Private Hotel, Whitecliff Mill Street, Blandford bought No.4 St. Monica’s Priory and a plot of land (not right down to the river) from Blandford Investment Company (their own company) for £500.

The plan below shows the house and the plot of land. At this time No.4 seems to have had its own garden as well as the patio at the back of the house (which is not the case today) although it does not go right down to the river as the garden of No.3 is now in an L-shape. The tenants would have had to walk through the garden of No.5 to get to their own garden.

On February 9^th 1996, Denzil Beckhurst, a financial advisor, bought No 4 St. Monica’s Priory for £56,500 from ? By this time No.4 had no garden at all as it had been amalgamated with the garden of No.5. After 10 years in Spetisbury, Denzil moved to Ringwood and on February 13^th 2006 sold the house for £190,000.

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Plan annexed to conveyance 1^st October 1972