Monday 5th January 2015
View over Spurt Mead at Boreham, Warminster. In the background, Bishopstrow College (on the left) and Boreham Mill (on the right). Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Monday 5th January 2015.
Tuesday 23rd December 2014
The former Rip Off shop at 166 Boreham Road, Warminster. Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Tuesday 23rd December 2014.
Monday 19th May 2014
Under threat from developers.
Beautiful Bishopstrow and Boreham (photo by Alexis Marsh on the East Boreham Residents Action Group ~ EBRAG ~ Facebook page, click here.):
Danny Howell writes ~
Bishopstrow and Boreham ~ a beautiful place in the big wide world! What a tragic loss it will be if this scene is irreversibly destroyed forever by bricks and mortar? I hate to imagine what this scene from Battlesbury Hill will look like if the developers get their way. We owe the preservation of this countryside to generations to come.
Sunday 26th January 2014
Dark clouds over Bishopstrow ~ in more ways than one ~ Bishopstrow’s identity is threatened by the proposal by HPH Ltd. to build on Spurt Mead, connecting town and village forever. Photograph taken by Danny Howell. The view is from St. George’s Playing Field at Boreham.
Wednesday 8th January 2014
A photo showing how water-logged and saturated
the ground is at Boreham, Warminster, at the moment.
Photograph taken by Danny Howell
on Wednesday 8th January 2014.
Sunday 5th January 2014
Nick Dombkowski has launched an online petition to get the ‘Boreham’ signs reinstated.
He writes ~ “I feel that the identity of the hamlet of Boreham and its placename have been stealthly taken away by the removal of the road signs that once stood at either end of the hamlet in recent times. I feel that their removal was a step towards absorbing Bishopstrow into Warminster East (formerly Boreham). It is only by the beady eyes of some local wise folk, who have lived here for decades, that this has been drawn to my attention. They have asked me ‘What can be done?’ They say they have challenged the local parish authority to no avail. The response was ‘They wouldn’t do such a thing as that!’
So, I am asking local people, past and present and even new to the Boreham area to sign a petition which we will present to Wiltshire Council, asking to reinstate the Boreham signs.
Boreham can boast an agricultural history, being predominantly a farming community. It once had its own post office and a couple of shops. One of the shops was Webb’s Convenience Store, now the empty Rip-Off building. Click here to go to the Boreham Page on Vision For Britain.
The old Boreham Farm now lies buried under St. George’s Playing Field. My late father worked as a farm labourer in turn at Boreham Farm (for Tom Bazley) and also Home Farm, Boreham (for Bert Legg). I would like to reinstate the name Boreham with its own signs, in memory of my father and to all the people who have served the Boreham community all of their lives.
Incidentally, the word ‘Boreham’ appears on the BBC Weather app on one’s Smart phone or Ipad, so I think it is important that we protect the name of a place I’m immensely proud to be part of. Hope you feel the same way too. Thank you for reading this. Please support this cause.”
To sign the petition online, click here.
Danny Howell replies ~
Thank you Nick for letting us know about your initiative. I applaud your action and I will certainly sign your petition. I will encourage others to do likewise. By the way, I raised the matter of the removal of the Boreham signs, on this website, back on Sunday 21st October 2012, after Jean Whelan had raised her concerns about the matter at the first public meeting the East Boreham Residents Action Group (EBRAG) held at St. John’s Church that autumn.
Sunday 10th November 2013
The view east across the field between Grange Lane and the drive to Home Farm at Boreham, Warminster. This field was the site of the mediaeval village of Buriton Delamere (the forerunner of Boreham) in the 13th century.
Photographs taken by Danny Howell on Sunday 10th November 2013.
Friday 5th July 2013
Richard Dombkowski has contributed some more of his song lyrics to dannyhowell.net for our readers to share. These particular lyrics are truly local, are partly in the regional dialect, and give an insight into Richard’s late father, Bruno (Michael) Dombkowski, who worked for many years for Tom Bazley at Boreham Farm, Warminster.
A Farm Worker From Boreham
(Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-rieu)
Come on everybody
Let’s sing
And let’s dance
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-rieu
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-ray
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah
Loo-lah-lay
A farm worker known as Michael
From Boreham
Had muscles like Popeye
‘Ee ‘ad to insure ‘um
He was strong as an ox
Could juggle hay bales and rocks
And once pulled a combine
With a rope to the docks
From Warminster and all the way down
To Southampton
Only stopping once for a break
To ‘ave a sandwich a cup of tea and a cake
And ‘ave a row with the coppers
Who’d clamped ‘um
A farm worker known as Michael
From Boreham
Give him his due you’d ‘ave to applaud ‘um
Always graftin’ laughin’ and wearing a grin
Scratchin’ his gurt dimple and stubbly chin
A true gent with an outstanding decorum
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-rieu
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-ray
Corn and straw ~ turnips ‘n’ swede
And a whoppin’ juicy lookin’ monstrous pumpkin
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-rieu
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-ray
If you’re from Wiltshire
It’s good to be a country bumpkin
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-rieu
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-ray
Oh ooh arrrh ooh arrrh ooh arrrh ~ hey hey
Doo-lah-loo-lah-loo-lah-ray
A farm worker is a good trade to ‘ave ~ to be
Hey hey.
Photograph of Bruno (Michael) Dombkowski.
The photo is taken by Richard Dombkowski
from the original 1986 portrait
created by Steve Dombkowski.
Tuesday 21st May 2013
Dandelions a’plenty in the Boreham part
of the 70 Acres field,
at Bishopstrow Farm, Bishopstrow.
There’ll be no trouble telling the hour
with these dandelion clocks.
The photographs are taken from the
Morgan’s Drove side of the 70 Acres.
Middle Hill in the background.
Photographs taken by Danny Howell
on Tuesday 21st May 2013.
