It has not been possible to find any historical name associated with this orchard and it has been called "The Denziloe Orchard" for this page because about a third of it has now become the Denziloe housing development which in turn was named after Mary Anna Denziloe who owned the orchard from 1833 until 1879.

The earliest known owner is named in an Abstract of Title drawn up in 1937. This traces ownership of the plot back to Roger Gillop by quoting from an Indenture that was drawn up when William Le Gros Denziloe sold the same plot to William Read in 1880 listing Roger Gillop, his Widow Jane Gillop, John Clift, Mary Searjean and Mary Annie Denziloe as previous owners.

Unfortunately it has been impossible to find any record of Roger and Jane Gillop with links to Netherbury. However Roger and Jane Gollop are documented. Roger was baptised in Netherbury in 1701. He married Jane Baker at Pilsdon in 1757 and then died only four years later having drawn up a Will leaving everything to Jane, his "dear and loving wife", the year before. Jane lived for another 29 years until, having attained the age of 84, she was buried at Netherbury like Roger before her.

The Abstract contains further errors in the names it lists. Mary Searjean should be Mary Searjeant and Mary Annie Denziloe was, elsewhere, always named Mary Anna. These mistakes were copied into a second Abstract fifteen years later in 1952.

Mary Searjent's Will mentions the same plot as "all the orchard which I bought of Clift of Powerstock (the house being already sold)" and she leaves instuctions that it should be bundled together with some other plots and sold, the procedes going to her great-niece Mary Anna Denziloe. We know that the land didn't attract what was considered a good enough price when it was auctioned and some plots were sold off individually and the rest were made over to Mary Anna. The "Denziloe Orchard" is shown as plots 633, 637 & 638 on the Tithe map of 1835.

When Mary Anna Denziloe died in 1879 the plot passed on to her nephew William Le Gros Denziloe. He was a medical doctor based in West Allington, Bridport but, in 1880, he sold this and other properties that he'd inherited from his Aunt and by 1885 he was listed as practising in London.

The orchard, including some "cottages and buildings" in the south-west corner was sold to William Read the tailor and owner of the house and shop (now called The Redes) on Bridge Street. This meant that Read now owned all the land on the eastern side of the High Street (now St James Rd) from Bridge Street as far as Bay Tree Cottage. Five years later he also acquired the house that is now Footfalls as settlement for a debt.

When William Read died all his property was made over to his wife Elizabeth and in 1923 she sold the orchard, buildings and "cottage (now pulled down)" to William and Bessie Stone who, it is thought, had previously taken over the Reads' shop on Bridge Street. The Stones then raised a mortgage on the property from the Bridport Lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows.

The first indication we have of the large orchard plot being broken up is in 1930 when the Stones, with the agreement of the trustees of the Oddfellows Lodge, agree to sell a very small plot, just 33ft by 44ft 6ins, in the far south-west corner of the orchard to the Postmaster General for the purpose of building a Post Office. It is thought that this plot is now taken up by the off-street parking area for Bay Tree Cottage.

The following year, 1931, the Stones sold off another bit of the south-west corner of the orchard, next to the proposed Post Office. With 48ft of frontage onto the High St and extending 167ft back from the road the plot was sold to Charles Willey who was described as a Dairyman of Netherbury.

At some point over the next six years a bungalow was built and eventually bought by Phoebe Blair the Head Teacher at Netherbury Elementary School who gave it the name "The Gables". The bungalow was replaced in 1995 by a four bedroom house - Jasmine Cottage.

Over the years the orchard has been replaced by more houses and their gardens: Atlasta, Corner Cottage, the Telephone Exchange, the Denziloe flats and bungalows, Little Orchard and Orchard Lodge as well as Jasmine Cottage .