When my father came to Charmouth in 1877 with my mother and two sisters he rented 'Grasmere", the first house on the north side of 'The Street' below 'Portland House', from Miss Hyde, with stables and coach house. The latter were converted into a laundry with a nursery upstairs. The yard in front was cobbled with a sink in the centre. The double gates still stand but are part of the railings. My sister Marguerite and I were both born in 'Grasmere” and as the house became too small the family moved to 'The Limes' with our nurse Sarah Prince (Teddy) who remained with us for over forty years.
'Grasmere" has been greatly improved by the addition of bow windows - it is still connected with 'Omega'. Mrs. Bush lived there for many years until she died in 1949- Her father, Deputy Surgeon General Charles A. Innes. R.A.M.C. came to live next door, then called 'Lynwood'. He fought in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny and looked forward to the centenary of Waterloo in 1915, as he hoped to wear his father's medals with his own at the Waterloo banquet. His father Lieut. Alexander Innes served at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo. It was a sad day when the banquet was cancelled owing to the war with Germany. He died in1920 aged 88. The house in former years was owned by Miss Hyde and occupied by a family called Furlong. Young Furlong was one of those who rolled the last tar barrel down The Street on Guy Fawkes night. The barrels were lighted and started at the New Inn, guided by men with poles to keep them in the centre of the road, the surface of which was composed of loose flints, and finished at the "Coach and Horses" in a glorious blare.
5th November played a greater part in the activities of the village in the nineteenth century. A.B.Hann told me that on one 5th. Nov. Fippen and Harry Cook set fire to Love's slaughterhouse in the field opposite the Court. Fippen gave evidence against Cook and had a free pardon. Cook went to prison. They said that it was only an old house and thought that they must have a good bonfire on. the 5th. I don't know what prison Cook was taken to, - neither have I any record where our local prison was. In 1827 Samuel Dunn repaired the prison door, supplying two large hooks costing 9/ — and six "bars for the window costing 6/-. He also erected a cage "By order of the Vestry, which cost £15 - 18 - 3. Where or what the cage was I do not know. In the School Log Book G.H.Trott., Headmaster made the following entry "Nov 5 1869. Attendance rather slack this morning, but very so this afternoon, several being absent, engaged in taking the Pope round the village prior to being burnt." The last record I can find of a village celebration was on 5th. Nov. 1945 when the effigy of Hitler, made by Sidney Herbert, the chemist, was carried by the children in their Peace Procession to the bonfire "built by Prank Turner and other men, on Gear's Car Park in Lower Sea Lane where it was burnt.