Draycot School (The Grey House)
The Grey House in Draycot Cerne was originally the village school, and was built in 1794-95, on the site of Longden's smallholding. Unlike Sutton Benger, which only had a school from the 1800s, partly funded by the church, the Draycot school had been funded by Lady Long from the early 1700s. There was a resident headmaster / schoolmaster for many years, and the Estate gangmaster (in charge of the labourers) lived in the cottage at the north end.
Draycot School closed in 1903, after which children attended school in Sutton Benger.
Nesta Heath, in her book 'Life and Herbing in Sutton Benger' records how children from the farms to the north, such as Mount Pleasant, had to walk cross-country through Draycot Park and down French Gardens Lane to get to school; as she says: 'Not a nice journey on cold wet winter's mornings, and again in the late afternoon.'
The photos show the building in 2022, and in 1920 when it was sold in the Draycot Estate Auction. It was Lot 35 in the Catalogue. The adjoining cottages were sold individually, as Lots 36 and 36A.
Mount Pleasant Farm
According to the Victoria County History, Mount Pleasant Farm was built between 1773 and 1808. It was originally glebe land, often combined with nearby Draycot Mill. Part of the Glebe was exchanged in 1879 and the remainder was sold by the church to Lord Cowley in 1894 and became part of the Draycot Estate. It was Lot No 7 in the 1920 Draycot Auction but did not sell straight away. The farmland was later sold piecemeal and added to neighbouring farms; the farmhouse was sold separately in 1923.
The farmhouse was a small thatched cottage with a white fence in front; it can be seen in the old black and white photographs, which probably date from the 1930s. It was demolished in the 1940s / 1950s when it became uneconomical to repair / rethatch the roof, and the land was divided between the neighbouring farms.