The Priests' House (The Village Hall)
At the sale in 1927 Ernest Edward Boughton bought the Priests’ House. Very little is known about Ernest Boughton. He was born in Whitstable, Kent in about 1889, the son of a master mariner and by 1911 was a 22 year old bricklayer living at Shaftesbury Road, Poole. He married Margaret Curtis in 1914 in Poole and they had at least two children. He owned the Priests House for a very short time as in 1928 he exchanged it for the strip of land containing the chapel so that the Priests House could be used as a Village Hall. The chapel then subsequently passed to Mr Balcomb.
Since at least the 1940s, there have been two flats in the building, one on the upper floor and one at the side, both let to tenants. Between 1940 and 1959 Gertrude Emma Old, a widow who acted as the Village Hall caretaker, lived there with her two children, Ada and Kenneth. When Kenneth married Ivy Samways in 1947, Ivy moved in too. The upper flat was occupied in 1947 by Arthur and Annie Andrews, in 1949-1950 by Kate Trevett, her son Walter and daughter in law Joan, in 1951 by Frank and Margaret Maidment and from 1952-1959 by Leonard and Ethel Fricker.
During the WWII the building had many uses. There was a Youth Club in the upper room. The hall itself was used for civil defence activities and by the Rifle Brigade for showing training films and as a social club. One night the men were playing cards in a room upstairs over the Hall when “A nun walked slowly in and round the room. In amazement they stopped their game and watched her. She passed throught the door towards the stairs and walked away.” Later in the War, the Royal Engineers put on concerts for the villagers and soldiers. When the Rifle Brigade left US troops were billeted there and used the Hall to hold dances.
After the Americans left a Village Committee was formed to run fortnightly dances to raise money for a Welcome Home Fund for the returning Forces. The Youth Club also held dances in the Hall: the Band was The Modernaires and cost £3.50 to hire.
Until 1946 the villagers who originally purchased the hall had held it in trust; they then transferred it in a Deed of Gift to the Village.
In June 1953 George Marsh lent his television set to the Hall so that the villagers, most of whom did not own a television at that time, could watch the Coronation.
In subsequent years the Hall has been put to good use and seen many activities such as the WI, the Youth Club, playgroup sessions, evening classes, bingo sessions, Harvest Suppers, many fund-raising activities and, of course, many plays and pantomines from the infamous SODS (Spetisbury Occasional Dramatic Society). And for some years the upper floor was used as a small Costume Museum.
At the present time there are still two flats in the building let out to tenants, one on the upper floor, the other in what is known as the Lodge.
But what of the future? For many years there has been talk of the need for a purpose-built Village Hall and at the present time (2009) the pressure seems to be mounting. Perhaps the old Priests House will have a new lease of life in some other manifestation.