Genealogical Notes:-
Cards 31 & 32. CORNHILL 1903 & 1943 [Return to Card 32]
The premises on the left is the 'Antelope Hotel' with its distinctive bay windows and iron railed balconies. Its recorded as in Cornhill or South street as the latter becomes Cornhill as it approaches the High street. The sign can be clearly seen in the picture from 1943. The Antelope was one of Dorchester's oldest coaching Inns and predated the fire of 1613. It is not clear to me whether it was destroyed then by the fire and rebuilt, but there is evidence that the premises adjoining it was in ruins from the fire. It was two years before it was sold and rebuilt so the fire certainly reached that area. The Antelope was most famous for its 'Oak Room' which was the location of Judge Jeffreys famous 'Bloody Assizes' held on 5th September 1685. This is now a tea room off Antelope Walk, the front of the old hotel now acting as an entrance to an arcade of shops. From street directories we know the names of many of its past proprietors many of whom issued trade bills for debt incurred at the hotel. Some of these have survived and I have reproduced these below against the individual concerned.
(1). Thomas ATKINS: is listed as Governor of the Company of Freemen in Dorchester for the year 1689, and when the rates for the year 1737 were compiled for St Peters Parish he was assessed at 6d ' for his house 'The Antelope' (Municipal Records of Dorchester). He may therefore have been proprietor for many years. He was buried at St Peters Church on 23rd January 1739/40 and left a will so I would like to transcribe a copy for this site if anyone has it.
(2). James STENT: was proprietor before 1830 (Pigots directory) and the trade bill shown above was issued in 1831. The following year the newspapers report a court action that he took out against a Mr FISHER, an agent for the outstanding balance of recent election expenses incurred at the Hotel. Expenses reached the considerable sum of £29,000 of which £10,000 related to tavern bills.
(3). Charles PARSONS: (b. c1809) a native of Sopley in Hampshire is listed in the 1841 Census as the Innkeeper of 'The Antelope Tap' situated in Cornhill, which he appears to have run with his wife Sarah (she was born c1815 in Dorchester). Immediately preceding this entry is:-
(4). Richard GAUTON: whose trade is given as 'Hotel Keeper' and his household includes a list of 9 servants so it looks like he ran the hotel side of the business whilst Charles PARSONS and his wife looked after the Tavern. By 1844 (Pigots directory) Richard GAULTON is shown as proprietor of the 'Antelope' and Charles and Sarah are running 'The Dolphin Inn' located in Church Street.
(5). James HOARE: (b c1805) a native of Herefordshire was shown in the 1851 Census as Innkeeper of 'The Antelope Tap' in South Street. He was with his wife Harriet and his 4 children and 4 travellers, a post boy , an ostler and a coachman & his wife all clearly associated with the hotel/Inn.
(6). James YEARLEY: is shown in the 1852 Slater's Directory as proprietor of the Antelope Hotel in Cornhill but he died in 1858 and the 1861 Census shows his 17 year old son Stephen YEARSLEY as head of household. Stephen was baptised in St Peters church on 19th November 1843 where his mothers name is recorded as Elizabeth.
The 1861 Census also shows the presence of another victualler called James WATTS who was 28 years old and presumably helping Stephen YEARSLEY to run the business as Stephen is listed at the Antelope with 10 servants everything from a housekeeper and barmaid to waitresses, room maids, a boots, and an ostler. He left to become a dealer in horses, married a lady from Hatcham in Kent, had a son in Pechkam and was still living in 1901.
(7). James SLY: had taken over the Antelope Hotel at 14 Cornhill by the time of the 1871 Census which he was running with the help of his wife Harriett together with his daughter Emily, and 6 servants. The trading Bill shown above was issued that year. James SLY was baptised at St Marys church in Melcombe Regis on 19 Sep 1818, the son of a carpenter William Sly by his wife Sarah. Prior to James arrival in Dorchester he had already prospered to become the proprietor of the Cutter Hotel in Melcombe Regis. He married his wife Harriett Manning in her home parish of Taunton in Somerset in 1848 and had two children in Melcombe Regis (Emily Blanch 1849 and William in 1852, but William died there). The 1875 Post Office directory shows James SLY still in charge of the 'Antelope Family & Commercial Hotel & Posting House', in Cornhill but he died before the next census in 2nd quarter of 1879.
(8) In 1881 the hotel was run by a 61 year old man William TURNOCK and his wife Elizabeth who had run a hotel in Christchurch Hampshire in 1871. By 1889 however the Hotel was under the management of Mrs Jane DUNN.
(9) Jane DUNN was the widow of Charles DUNN (baptised Gillingham Dorset 1 Nov 1818 the son of a labourer Henry Dunn by his wife Elizabeth). Jane herself was born at Henstridge in Somerset c1826. Charles a porter and Jane a laundress initially worked in Wincanton but soon moved to Dorchester where they jointly ran the White Heart Hotel in High East Street. They had a son Clement Charles DUNN baptised in All Saints church on 16th May 1855 but Charles DUNN (1818-1863) died after a short illness aged 44 on 17th May 1863 and was buried at the Civic Cemeterey at Weymouth Ave in Dorchester. Jane now a widow moved to Fordington where she was the landlady of the Junction Hotel for many years. Her son Clement moved to London working as a commercial clerk in Finsbury (1881) and later at the Manchester Hotel in Aldersgate (1891). Jane was still running the Junction Hotel in 1881 but had moved to Cornhill to manage the 'Antelope' by 1889. She died in Dorchester at the age of 71 in 1894 and her son Clement returned to Dorchester to take over management of the 'Antelope'. In kellys Directory of Dorchester for the year 1895 the stables were being advertised (see below) by William HAMMOND Junior.
(10). Clement Charles DUNN married in 1900 in Newton Abbott to Helena Joanna MERRICK and they were still running the 'Antelope' in 1915.
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