The signpost on the main Salisbury to Blandford road (1 m. S.E.) reads ”6D HANDLEY”. Many a visitor has been known to wonder what unit of length goes with '6d.' when trying to decide how far away is the village of Handley.

But money has nothing to do with the name of the village, which is derived from the two medieval hundreds of Saxpena and Hanlege (meaning 'Saxon hilltop' and 'high clearing').

The village is the largest in North Dorset and lies on Cranborne Chase, between the old Romano village of Woodcutts and the roman road of Ackling Dyke.

During the Middle Ages, King John regulary stayed at Cranbourne Manor during his hunting trips to Cranbourne Chase.  Thomas Hardy named Cranbourne "Chaseborough" in his Wessex novels and the Fleurs de Lys Hotel is his Flower-de-Luce in "Tess of the D'Urbevilles".

 The village church St Mary the Virgin on the hill overlooking 'Handley' dates back to the 13th century still remains and is in use today, and several traditional pubs and shops line the main street.

In the late 18th centrury Handley was supposed to be one of the homes of the notorious Isaac Gulliver [1745-1822] whose smuggling operations spread from Poole to Lyme Regis. He married innkeeper's daughter Betty Beale at Sixpenny Handley parish church in October 1768 but Issac never actually lived in the village.

Late in May 1892, the whole village was virtually destroyed by a devastating fire which started in the wheelwright's shop and left many people homeless.

The following extract from a newspaper article of the time tells . . . . .

Of the 86 houses in the village only 31 remained. The fire had started by sparks from a wheelwrights shop near the church, and during a hot, dry summer being fanned by high winds the flames spread rapidly through the hamlet.
The tragedy caught the public imagination because people rallied around and it was said that you could always tell a Sixpenny Handley man for some time afterwards because he usually wore two if not three waistcoats.
A great deal of money was collected and after all claims were met, at least £1,000 still remained. But so much squabbling arose over how this large (in those days) sum was to be spent that it was put into Chancery and remained there, possibly to this day.
 

EDWARD DUTCH was landlord of the Roebuck Hotel and it is rumoured that he tried to save his hostelry by offering free beer to all who would stand by and help him. What is now the Roebuck Inn had to be re-built after the fire, as was most of the village.

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Visit Sixpenny Handley, in Dorset...

• www.sixpennyhandley.org

• www.handleychurch.org.uk

• www.opcdorset.org/SixpennyHandley

• The Downsman - Parish magazine

• Our Home - Sixpenny Handley

• Flickr - Sixpenny Handley

Information about Sixpenny Handley...

• Dorset Life Magazine - Misfortunes of Sixpenny

• Wikipedia - Sixpenny Handley

• CuriousFox UK Gazeteer - Sixpenny Handley

~ ~ WHERE WE USED TO LIVE ~ ~

The city and county of  BRISTOL

The market town of  CHIPPENHAM

CORSHAM  in West Wiltshire

The city of  SALISBURY,  the county town of Wiltshire

The Dorset town of  WEYMOUTH

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