Car Dyke is spanned by the “Wath Bridge” - “wath” - a dyke which was in the road instead of under it. Dyke’s one street follows the firmest path through what was marsh. Dyke contains 84 houses. Many bungalows built during last five years, some owned privately, other by Bourne Urban District Council. Several old buildings have been replaced by modern ones.

“It is remarkable for its lack of beautiful buildings; the only picturesque spot is the Green when its surrounding horse chestnuts are in bloom.”

Houses & buildings:
The mill - originally built in Deeping Fen circa 1650. Steam pumping made these mills obsolete and this one was dismantled and rebuilt at Dyke in 1840. Built as a corn mill with three pairs of stones - two for flour and one for cattle feed. Also a flour dressing machine.

John Thomas Summerfield of Hanthorpe bought mill in 1876. His family worked it until 1927,when machinery was sold. In the 1890s complete restoration, with four new sails etc. Tower was re-boarded 1926 - one sail broke off - beginning of the end. Still kept in good repair by Mr and Mrs B Hall - tarred and grinding stones preserved.

Redmile Farm:
Redmile House is one of the oldest cottages, belonging to Bettinsons of Birmingham and tenanted by the old Dyke family of Waters. Earliest deed gives 1707 as date but no doubt it existed earlier than that. Built of stone with thatched roof which is wired and well preserved. The five front windows were originally six. Cottage is let with farmland scattered around the village.

Dyke House:
In process of being pulled down. Large stone built property let by a farmer, Mr Sewards, to Mr Edward Pollock (later became Lord Arnsworth and Master of the Rolls). Used as a holiday residence by Lady Pollock and her daughter. Then it had to be broken up into two houses but costs made sale imperative; bought by Scrupps, drainage contractor. On 12th March 1965 demolition began. To be replaced by modern bungalow and machinery workshops to be built by J Creasey.

St George's Mission Hall:
Originally a corrugated iron army hut. Transferred from Belton Park in 1920 in sections by traction engine and trailer, arranged by R K Wadsly (sic), a farmer living in Dyke and supervised by J Walpole. Erected on land supplied by Bettinson. Army had used it as a church called St. George’s Mission.
At present (1965) Sunday School three times a month, Evensong at 3 pm every third Sunday and Holy Communion at 9 am every fourth Sunday in month. Average attendance “often as low as five”. Bourne vicar or curate conducts services. Used for secular activities - sanctuary partitioned off by a blue curtain.
Uses include - Women's Institute and youth club meetings, Christmas parties, whist and beetle drives, dances, concerts, rummage sales, village meetings and receptions. Kitchen and toilet facilities added in recent years; also a stage in four sections. Re-opening was in February 1965 at harvest festival in October - a congregation of 25. Canon Lawrence and the Rev Summers took the service.

Baptist Chapel: Baptist movement began in Dyke in 1808. First building on a site where railway later ran, was built in 1843. Present chapel in 1879. Day and Sunday School buildings added in 1895. Rooms used for chapel activities. Sunday evening service - average attendance 18. Sunday School has an average of 30 children divided into six classes. (Notes give a list of year’s special evens - 21 in all - including Sunday School anniversary - “a packed chapel, afternoon and evening” - a fete - Sunday School outing to Mablethorpe - harvest supper - indoor fete - Sunday School party - flower service - various talks with slides or films - a nativity mime, etc.

Methodist Chapel: Has been one for at least 100 years. Present one is rented from Mr William Morton, who inherited it from his father. Mr Morton’s dwelling, adjoining, used to be a pub - The Plough. Around interior wall are the old desks, used when the building was a school, 80 or 90 years ago. Service every Sunday afternoon - about eight present.

The shop: Owned by Mr and Mrs H. Futter for last twelve years, is also a Post Office. Opens 8am - 8pm on weekdays, with half-day on Thursdays. About 90 years old and has always been the village shop.
Two daily collections of letters and one delivery direct from Bourne. Some of the goods on sale include - cigarettes, sweets, groceries, frozen foods, soft drinks, hardware, bandages, wool, ornaments, children’s books, greeting cards, paint. Cheese is a best seller - so many packed lunches are made. Mr and Mrs Futter also deliver newspapers from Warners, Bourne, before they open the shop. He delivers, by bicycle, ten weekly orders. Also runs a taxi service when required.

The Crown: Rumour said once four pubs, The Crown sole survivor by 1965. First mentioned in 1729 - “a cottage built in or on a Toft with one acre of land” - belonging to the Manor of Bourne. 1879 - purchased by Melbourn’s Brewery and became a pub circa 70 years ago, a timber yard at rear making hurdles. By end of 1965, the pub was “dry”, trade having dwindled so much. [It was re-opened in 1973 as The Wishing Well.]

The School: A state primary school, leased from Baptist Chapel trustees; same managers as Bourne County Primary School. One large classroom, a dinner room, cloakroom and tarmac playground. 24 pupils.
Originally opened in 1896 as Dyke Board School, with 38 on roll. By 1929, over 70 children crowded into the one classroom. During World War II, 30 boy evacuees and teachers were sent to Dyke from Hull.
1948 - ceased to be an all-age school and sent 11+ pupils to Bourne. Mrs J Hallam, the headmistress, since 1940. Has a half-time assistant, taking mainly infants.
Average of 19 pupils stay for school dinner - cooked in Bourne and served by Mrs C Stubbs, who has been there since school meals began 17 years ago. The children have now, nine times over, won the Junior Achievement shield at Bourne & District Primary School Sports.

The railway: Opened in 1872 - GNR line, Bourne - Sleaford. No station but a small gate-house for gate keeper. Crossing gates were operated until six years ago. 15th June 1964 - line was officially closed. But until 31st May 1965 a small goods train ran periodically, for beet, wheat and fruit. Then complete closure. (During last few years, trains had to stop so that stoker could open, and guard could shut, the gates).

The Council Houses: 10 bungalows - Stubbs Close built 1960-62 on the site of 10 condemned dwellings. (Councillor Cecil Stubbs died before the buildings were finished). Four council houses nearly opposite, built in 1952. Eight council houses at other end of village, built in 1937.

New bungalows: A number built recently, by private owners. Of new residences built since 1945, only one is a house, that of Mr Philip Ash. On Meadow Drove is a wooden bungalow, creosoted, built in 1927.

The Garage: Opened by R Cooper in 1959 on a site once occupied by the groom’s cottage of Dyke House. Petrol at 5s. 3d. a gallon. Maintenance of tractors and farm machinery is also done.

Old Houses: Charlie Broxholme lives in an old farmhouse near the Green - mullion windows. One of the few houses built in stone. The Dovecote, north of the Green, was built exactly square - one room downstairs and two bedrooms; a lean-to kitchen and porch added later. Has been unoccupied for seven years. Due for demolition.
Brittain House - named after a family once living there. Large building whose deeds go back to 1707. Belongs to Bettinsons - really two houses (rear one used for storing furniture) - only three storey house in village.
Orwell House (Mr Philip Ash) - is built on site of two old lime kilns, now defunct for circa 70 years, but once supplying customers as far away as Peterborough. House named after Eau Well - an artesian spring opposite the house. Adjacent house (Mr J Ash), built in 1868, has some bricks made from clay at an old clay works in the fen.
NB: Below Mrs Fenney’s house there used to be a stone pit.

Amenities: 84 houses - four unoccupied. Most have three bedrooms. 21% have no bathrooms, 15% have no hot water. 74% of the people use gas for cooking and 76% own washing machines.
Coal still main source of heating, only 3½% having central heating. 64% of the properties are occupied by tenants.
Buses only on Thursday to Bourne. Allis Chalmers collects workers daily by private bus.
45 car owners, seven “learners”. Many people use a bicycle as their main method of transport.
Travelling salesmen are important, mostly coming from Bourne (five grocers visit Dyke, three butchers, a fishmonger, three bakers, a greengrocer, two milkmen, six coal merchants, ironmonger once a fortnight, laundry once a week. “Meals on wheels began circa 2½ years ago. Three elderly people are recipients.

Our People: Ash family moved from Holbeach in 1838. Came to live at the present No 85, and then built farmhouse No 87 on same pattern (for a blind relative to find her way about in both). Mrs Fenney, at No 89, was Mr J Ash’s sister. (No 89 was built as two cottages in 1844).
Wright and Fisher-Smith are also long-established families. So are the Mortons, Coopers and Laxtons.
Bourne UDC built three sets of council houses in 1927, 1937 & 1952, but this did not halt the tendency of people to move away from Dyke. But motor transport, work at Blackstones and Allis Chalmers [both in Stamford], arrival of gas, water, electricity and drainage, etc - all caused a revival of Dyke’s population: 249 in 1965 with 22 new bungalows. 167 adults compared with 135 in 1961. 27 of these are old age pensioners. George Wright, aged 89, “can still be seen riding on the trailer behind the tractor to his fields in the fen”.

Occupations: 19 farmers and sons, 14 farm workers, one horticulturist, one forestry worker, one agricultural contractor, two garage proprietors, 15 engineering factory workers, one transport driver, one garage foreman, two garage mechanics, one shopkeeper and postmaster, five carpenters, three electricians, two typists, five clerks, three laundry workers, four knitwear factory workers, one publican, two builders, two maltsters, two teachers. Many women do part time work.

Cost of living:

Leisure time pursuits: Older folk - knitting, sewing, sleeping, watching TV (especially sport, Coronation Street, Emergency Ward 10).
Most men are keen gardeners - few now have allotments. Poultry and pig-keeping have declined; few, if any, kill a pig for home consumption. Many do their own decorating. Some housewives do their own jam making, chutney making and preserving; one or two make their own wine. Nearly all village children attend Baptist morning Sunday School and 12-15 attend the Young People’s Fellowship on Thursday evenings. About 12-15 attend evening services on Sundays and about 20 the monthly Women’s Meetings. Afternoon service each Sunday at Methodist chapel. A monthly service at C of E Mission Hall.
Youth club (founded in 1955) meets weekly in Mission Hall and attracts some support from Bourne, especially Bourne Congregational Church. Women’s Institute (founded in 1960) is flourishing. A bus comes into village on Bourne Market Day (8d. fare). (Also mothers walk to Bourne on Thursdays in “Dyke Pram Parade” to the clinic).

Personalia - 1965 includes:
17 year old John Seymour of Dyke, was one of 19 survivors of Hull trawler Kingston Turquoise which struck a shoal off Orkney in January and sank in four minutes. Seymour, a learner deck hand, though he could not swim, jumped overboard to right an upturned raft and he and some of his shipmates were able to get on to it. A Hull newspaper said: “The men were full of praise and admiration for the courage of Seymour.”
First wedding of the year was a runaway one. In February Gerald McNab Dunn, son of the publican, eloped with Miss Pamela Bird, and they were married in Forfar Registrar’s Office three weeks later. Aged 24 and 18 respectively. They stayed with relatives in Forfar.

Crops - 1965:
Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes (including “Records”, a variety used in the making of potato crisps), beet, clover, mangolds, strawberries, grass (hay). Practically all the corn was combined, and most of it needed drying (a particularly wet year). Dried corn is stored in various types of bins. Some straw was baled, but much was burnt on the land (an increasingly common practice).
Most potatoes lifted by potato harvesters, but a small percentage picked by hand. (Some still in the ground at end of November). Mainly stored in graves or clamps. Some farmers have sold under Potato Marketing Board’s scheme at £12 15s. to £13 10s. per ton. But an unsatisfactory price and demand in 1965.
Most of the beet crop drilled with precision drills and thinned either mechanically or by hand. All was lifted by sugar beet harvester. Under and acre of strawberries grown in the fen. All were sold from the house, many buyers picking their own fruit.
NB: No peas now grown by farmers because of damage done by sparrows and pigeons in past years.
NB: Chemical sprays used to protect most crops from pests and weeds.

Livestock - 1965:
Six farmers keep pigs. For two of them, this is their main enterprise. Approx 110 sows - Landrace and Large White. Pig club, which flourished for many years closed in 1965, records being deposited in Lincolnshire County Archives.
Two farmers produce beef. One of them has Hereford and British Friesian, breeds Angus X and Hereford X and has one Charollais by AI which is being used experimentally.
One farmer had a herd of ten British Friesians and he sells milk. Two farmers occupying Kesteven County Council holdings (four of these built 1954-56 on council owned land, around 50 acres each to give man a chance to start farming with a workable unit) have quite large poultry units, using mainly deep litter systems. Each have 300-500 laying hens. One farmer produces 7,000 broilers under contract and both keep cockerels for the Christmas trade. One farmer has this year, for the first time, injected his birds against disease.
One farmer has 230 breeding ewes and five Suffolk rams. Lambing season averaged 1½ lambs per ewe.
The sole remaining horse in the village, belonging to W H Ash and Sons is still used occasionally. “25 years ago there were at least 36 horses up and down the village each day.”

Machinery:
Farms now highly mechanised. New machines bought in 1965 included: a hay turner, a potato harvester (£1,100), a potato sorter, a manure spreader, a field sprayer, a pick up baler, another potato harvester (£1,050), a combine (£3,500), a manure loader and a beet harvester.

Wild flowers: Over 50 different specimens collected and pressed in Dyke in 1965.

Birds: Most of the common British ones, including owls and nightingales. Many plovers in the fen. Kestrel hawk had returned after several years. A large rookery on edge of village. Magpies are increasing in numbers. Also plenty of game birds (e.g pheasants) and water fowl.

Social pursuits: See Leisure Time Pursuits.
Only the men are without a club but many do not finish work until 8 pm. The Village Party: - held on first Saturday of New Year. Originates from the Second World War when Dyke Comforts Fund Committee provided gloves, helmets, blankets etc for the forces. At end of war, it became the Welcome Home Fund Committee, and then Dyke Social Committee. In 1965, about 120 people at the party. Began with tea for children and old people. At 7 pm Santa Claus gave gifts to children, from the Christmas tree. 8 pm - midnight, a social evening (dancing and games) with supper at 10 pm.
Youth Club - 25 members. Highlight was a week’s trip to Belgium. Women's Institute 56 members, 36 (including friends) had a one-day flight to Paris in May. Previous year - a trip to tulip fields of Holland. Garden fete in July, including maypole and ladies and gents cricket match. Village produce show in September organised by WI.

Some references to by gone days:
"Evacuated children from Hull cheered as they rode on the last wagon bringing the harvest home. “The old village taps have disappeared, the footpaths are mostly overgrown”. “Nobody walks right round along the Ramper, Mill Drove and Meadow Drove”. “The hilarious Sunday School outings when rock was thrown from the train windows to those waiting in the street below.”

NOTE: This précis was compiled from the original scrap book by J D Birkbeck, author of
A History of Bourne (1970), as part of a small archive he was preparing and
has now been lodged with the Heritage Centre in Bourne. I have made small
editorial amendments to ensure that it is more accessible to the modern reader.

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