Villages of Easton & Wakeham

The villages of Easton and Wakeham to which Robert¹ moved (and presumably Richard, because that is where he met his death) lie at the heart of the Isle of Portland. Settled for hundreds of years and probably from Roman and Saxon times, the villages ran along two exceptionally broad streets, Easton Street and Wakeham Street, which both rise fairly steeply to the north, and where between them is a level stretch known as Straits. Very little has changed through those centuries and probably Robert and Richard would feel at home today.

85 Easton, father’s old family home with a green to the front, was situated on the west side and at the northerly end of the built up portion of Easton Street. The house lay virtually opposite Crown Farm and at the junction of Grove Road. Other earlier Flann grandparents lived at the lower end of Wakeham Street.

In Easton Square, the hub of the Island, which was transformed in 1904 by the construction of ornamental gardens was the village well, and off it went Reforne Street and at its head St George’s Church, West Cliff and a road to the village of Weston. At the lower end of Wakeham lay Rufus Castle, the East Weares and Church Ope Cove. Beyond was the Southwell Road, the village of Southwell and Portland Bill.

Around these villages were the strips of agricultural land slowly being encroached upon by the new quarries, once the earlier quarries at the cliff edge had given up their best stone. Later too came the stone and masonry works, the railway completed in 1906, and the typical late 19^th century terraced houses on the perimeter of Easton in New Street, Grosvenor Road and the well named Channel View. All this is shown on the extract from the 1926 Ordinance Survey Sheet.