A PEARCE & CO

The buses of Cattistock

The village of Cattistock nestles in the Dorset downs to the north west of the county town of Dorchester. It is known to many as the home of the Cattistock Hunt.  It was also home to a returning soldier called Pearce who set up in business as the local carrier a few weeks after the end of the first world war after buying a coal round and carrier service from fellow villager Percy Shorto.  Prior to this the business had been with the Shorto family since at least the 1890's.  Albert Pearce and his wife Susan, their family and their descendants, were to serve the transport needs of the local area for over seventy years, and their buses and coaches were to become an integral part of day to day life in this quiet corner of the county.

At the start in 1919, Albert used horse and cart and mule-drawn van. On Wednesday and Saturday market days he carried passengers into Dorchester whilst on other days he delivered coal in and around the village.  Trade was good so extra help was taken on in the form of another ex-soldier George Collins, who was subsequently to marry Pearce's daughter Ethel.  Motor vehicles were acquired for the first time, including the purchase new of a 14 seater Ford Model T bus in 1923.  The honour of providing the first motor bus through Cattistock fell however to Legg's of Evershot in 1920.  A new service to Yeovil via Evershot was started at this time with the motor bus, running on Fridays and alternate Mondays, but did not last for many years (until reintroduced in 1954).  Horse drawn vehicles continued to play a role in the goods side of the business well into the 1930's.  School transport was an important part of the business as well, and for some years there was competition for school work - even in the home village of Cattistock - from Mearns of Maiden Newton. The growing business became a partnership between Albert Pearce, daughter Ethel and son-in-law George in 1925, and traded as A. Pearce & Co.
		Albert Pearce outside Cattistock garage in 1948, with the firm's second bus, dating from 1929

The main bus service was from Cattistock through Maiden Newton, Frampton, Grimstone and Stratton to Dorchester, terminating in the Council Yard off Trinity Street.  This was then a wonderful place to be with a rich galaxy of independent operators vehicles gathered together from all the villages around the county town.  For many years the Dorchester service was a market days only (Wednesdays and Saturdays) operation. But Pearce's did not have the road to Dorchester entirely to themselves. An Evershot operator called Frank Legg also ran via Rampisham,  Cattistock and Maiden Newton on his way to Dorchester - and on the same days as well.  Like Pearce, this route had started in the 1920's but in those far-off carless days there was enough trade for all -and of course buses were also very small in seating capacity compared with today. Legg also operated from Evershot to Yeovil three days a week and added a post-war route to Sherborne on Thursdays.  

Other operators ran locally between Frampton and Dorchester as well - a route that changed hands several times over the years - originally started by Bertie Cox of Stratton in 1925 it passed to Mrs Platt of Frampton for a few months in December 1937  and then to Frank Whitty of Dorchester in February 1938, before passing with the sale of his business to Bere Regis and District in 1942.  And lastly there was a horse drawn carrier service provided by Jack Record of Rampisham which survived into the 1940's!

		The Tompkins family name has many close connections with the Pearce business over the years.  Three generations of the family have worked for the firm over the years.  Henry "Lew" Tompkins started with Pearce in 1930 at the age of 20 as a coal delivery driver, wages thirty shillings a week.  After the war he returned to Pearces, now at a wage of eighty six shillings a week, firstly as a coal driver again, then as a bus and coach driver until his retirement in the 1970's.  Lew's son David, who was born in 1931, followed in his father's footsteps and worked for Pearces firstly as driver, then foreman fitter and eventually became a director of the company until the close down of the garage at Cattistock in 1990.  Lastly Lew's grandson Paul drove part-time for the company on peak summer Saturdays in the 1970's, usually on the Maiden Newton to Bridport route.
Lew at Cattistock with Bedford WTB CAR 244 (25 seater) - in the Pearces fleet from 1947 until 1953 (photo courtesy of Paul Tompkins)
		In the next valley over to the east from Cattistock lies the village of Sydling St Nicholas, which enjoyed the luxury of two operators (Albert Lovell and Jimmy Crabb in post-war years; Crabb and Frank Terrell pre-war), both providing near identical services into the county town of Dorchester. As with Albert Pearce and Frank Legg in Cattistock, both Lovell and Crabb ran only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and at very similar timings albeit with smallish vehicles.  These routes shadowed part of Pearce's route from Grimstone and Stratton into Dorchester.  Jimmy Crabb, farmer, carrier and coal merchant of South View Farm, Sydling died in the village in 1950 at the age of 67, followed twelve years later by his wife Nellie also aged 67.  After Jimmys death, Pearce acquired both operator's Sydling - Dorchester routes in 1952.  Also acquired was Albie Lovell's pre-war BedfordWTB 26-seater  JP3302.  For a few years the route was extended back to start from the small settlement of Up Sydling, and an additional Friday service introduced.  The Pearce fleet had now grown to five vehicles, all Bedfords, with seating capacities ranging between 25 and 33.
Dave Tompkins in Cattistock yard in the 1960's - with a couple of Bedford SB's and a go-kart!  (photo courtesy of Paul Tompkins)

About this time, in autumn 1951, another new feeder route to the long standing main Cattistock - Maiden Newton - Dorchester service was tried, this was to last for about ten or so years.  These connecting services included Chantmarle - Chalmington - Cattistock - Dorchester on Saturday afternoon.  This service was primarily for the benefit of staff and trainees at the Police Training Centre at Chantmarle.  An express service was also operated, linking Chantmarle to the three railway stations at Yeovil (Pen Mill, Town and Junction), so that trainees could go home for the weekend.  It ran northwards to Yeovil at Saturday lunchtime, and returning southwards to Chantmarle on Sunday evening.
		Bedford SB FFV35 (33 seater) waits time at Dorchester Council Yard in the 1950's before leaving for Sydling St Nicholas

The areas to the west and south of Maiden Newton also received bus services at this time.  A Wednesday morning market day service was introduced in summer 1949 which started from Hooke, and came by way of Kingcombe and Toller Porcorum to Maiden Newton and Dorchester.  A Saturday afternoon service from Hooke was added in 1953.  Another Saturday service came from Compton Abbas (also known as West Compton) by way of Wynford Eagle and Toller Fratrum to Maiden Newton and Dorchester.  This started in the autumn of 1952, along with a Tuesday evening cinema bus to and from Cattistock.  In 1953 the West Compton service was shortened slightly at Shatcombe Farm (not altogether surprising as West Compton parish population in 1951 was but 51 people).  The Wednesday service from Hooke was discontinued in 1954 and the Saturday service was diverted to incorporate Toller Fratrum and Wynford Eagle on route to Maiden Newton.  Then in 1955 this was cut short to start from Toller Fratrum.  The Tuesday evening cinema bus to Cattistock went in 1957 and in autumn 1961 the remnant of the Saturday operation was altered to fortnightly on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month.  These wanderings around the lanes had become a much truncated minibus feeder linking just Toller Fratrum and Wynford Eagle to Maiden Newton on alternate Saturday afternoons and this lingered on until 1969.  (Doesn't Dorset have some lovely place names)?

More expansion of routes was to come. Late in 1954 Legg withdrew from the bus business and his four routes were acquired by Pearce on 1st November.  Relations between the two operators had always been cordial.  This resulted in the introduction of a through Dorchester - Maiden Newton - Cattistock - Evershot -Yeovil route for the first time, based largely around the longstanding days and traditional times of operation of the individual component route sectors, but with some journeys working through from end to end.  The summer of 1955 saw the introduction for the first time of daily morning and evening workers buses between Cattistock and Dorchester.  The fare was 1/4d single or 2/- return from Cattistock to Dorchester.  The 1958 timetable is below.  By 1959 the fleet size had reached eight vehicles, and in 1964 the business became a limited company.

But the major change was to start from 1st August 1967 when the railway stations at Cattistock and Evershot and several other villages locally were closed to passengers.  Pearce's main route from Dorchester to Yeovil was enhanced in frequency and there were now several daily journeys between Evershot and Dorchester.  The 1967 timetable is below.  A new connecting facility to and from the still open Chetnole Halt was provided morning and evening from Cattistock for several years, to enable passengers to access Yeovil on a daily basis.  Like many rail replacement bus services this was to have a comparatively short lifetime and was gone by 1971. A request was made in 1967 to extend the service from Dorchester to Weymouth to avoid the need for passengers to change services.  However this was refused. 

By the 1972 the fleet size had reached eleven vehicles (including two minibuses), employed on the usual country operator's mix of stage work, school contracts, private hire, excursions and tours.   At this time Pearce's entered a long and fruitful period of co-operation with Darch and Willcox, coach operators based at Martock in Somerset, who had advertised their five coach business for sale in 1971.  The Collins family thought the time right for expansion and took over the Martock business, with Glen Willcox staying on as adviser.  Eventually in 1978 the two companies  combined as Pearce, Darch and Willcox Ltd, both using  the ComfyLux trading name, but retaining their respective operating bases at Cattistock and Martock.  By then there were twenty seven vehicles in the fleet.
		some ComfyLux tickets

In 1975 some journeys on the Dorchester service were diverted at Stratton to double run to serve Bradford Peverell following the withdrawal of the parallel Bere Regis & District service between Dorchester and Frampton. Charminster was also now served for the first time, a populous village near to Dorchester with several housing estates which Pearce's route had had to by-pass previously.  Another event in May 1975 was the closure of the Maiden Newton to Bridport rail branch.  From May Pearce operated a rail replacement bus service of a basic four return journeys a day plus market day extras.  This route was to change hands several times as a consequence of the triennial county council retendering of local bus contracts.

Deregulation of buses in 1986 was to bring further major changes.  Like many operators only a few journeys were registered initially to operate commercially, but the firm was successful in winning the county council tender for their main route from Dorchester through Maiden Newton and Cattistock to Yeovil.  At this time the tender for the route between Dorchester and Sherborne via Cerne Abbas (operated for many years by Bere Regis & District) passed at deregulation to a very unlikely named bus operator called Air Camelot, based in Wincanton.  (And yes - they were in the airline business too)!  Because of unreliable operation the contract was withdrawn from Air Camelot by the county council and passed for a while to Pearces in 1988, who for the second time were running buses outside of their traditional patch. 

		Deregulation of buses in 1986 was to bring further major changes.  Like many operators only a few journeys were registered initially to operate commercially, but the firm was successful in winning the county council tender for their main route from Dorchester through Maiden Newton and Cattistock to Yeovil.  At this time the tender for the route between Dorchester and Sherborne via Cerne Abbas (operated for many years by Bere Regis & District) passed at deregulation to a very unlikely named bus operator called Air Camelot, based in Wincanton.  Because of unreliable operation the contract was withdrawn from Air Camelot by the county council and passed for a while to Pearces in 1988, who for the second time were running buses outside of their traditional patch.
Pearce's in action as fondly remembered - a Comfy Lux Bedford pulls into Evershot in 1986 (photo courtesy of Joanne Paul, Los Angeles)

In November 1989 the Cerne Abbas route passed from Pearce's to Southern National as their route 216.  At the same time an even greater calamity befell Pearce's as they also lost the contract for the Cattistock route to Southern National, which became SN route 212.  This was a major blow and ultimately led to the close down of the operation at Cattistock, with coach operations now primarily based in Martock. The following year 1990 the firm lost its school contracts after a rebidding exercise and this prompted Nigel Collins to sell Pearce, Darch and Willcox to the Cawlett group, the parent company of Southern National.

The contracts for the 212 and 216 were retendered by the Dorset County Council in 1992, and they now passed from Southern National to Oakfield Travel.  In turn Oakfield lost the contract for these routes because of unreliable operation (it must have been very difficult to control and supervise buses running 40 miles away from your base in Blandford on the other side of the county), and the routes passed back to Southern National, by then associated with Pearce Darch and Willcox as fellow members of the Cawlett group.   The direct connection with the founding family was lost when Nigel Collins (Albert Pearce's great grandson) left the company in September 1994 to pursue other interests, and operations from Cattistock ceased.

From 1926 onwards, Pearce's operating base had been West End Garage in Cattistock, where Albert had built corrugated iron sheds to house his fleet. Having originally dealt in coal as well, the firm later expanded into motor car repairs and petrol sales.  After standing empty for some years in the mid-1990's, the garage disappeared and the site is now a new housing development of six dwellings called Mulberry Orchard.

Whilst day to day operations on the ex-Pearce Cattistock 212 route and the ex-Bere Regis Cerne Abbas 216 route were then with Southern National (by now part of the First group), there was still a Wednesday only market bus run by Comfylux (Pearce Darch and Willcox)  from Beaminster through Cattistock and Maiden Newton to Dorchester until the summer of 2000.  But now the Pearce's name and operation are no longer part of  their home village of Cattistock except in memory, although Nigel Collins still lives in the village. Recently a new link between a Dorset operator and a Somerset operator (both of whom used to run into Yeovil so their buses would meet there) when Nigel became coaching manager at Wincanton for South West Coaches, the new operators of the ex-Wakes services!

The ex-Legg Thursday service to Sherborne which passed to Pearce in 1954 and continued for many years afterwards through a succession of different operators after Pearce themselves had withdrawn from bus operation finally expired on 16th October 2003.  For some time there had been only two regular passengers, a lady from Batcombe and a lady from Leigh.  Wonder how they will get to the shops now?  In 2004 Rampisham has lost all its buses and Sydling St Nicholas has only one bus on a Wednesday service to Dorchester and Weymouth that comes through from Broadwindsor on First route 213.

And a further change!  From Monday 5 September 2005 Sureline of Portland have taken over the operation of both services 212 Dorchester - Maiden Newton - Cattistock - Yeovil and 216 Dorchester - Cerne Abbas - Sherborne - Yeovil from First.   The timetables have been placed on a basic two hour frequency on each route with the two routes linked operationally at Yeovil to operate as a circular, although that is not advertised.  Easter 2007 saw further changes with Sureline still operating commercially on the 212 through Cattistock from Monday to Friday, but Saturday operation of the 212, together with the Cerne Abbas 216 route and the Damory routes through the Piddle Valley will largely be replaced by Door-to-Dorset flexible demand responsive services, as has already happened on the Maiden Newton - Bridport service as well as north of Wimborne on the ex-Stanbridge routes, also east of Dorchester on the route to Wool, Bovington and Lulworth.

Incidentally, the picture on our main index page is Pearce's Bedford WTB JT8077 on a private hire at Milton Abbas in the mid-1980's.  For a few years at this time the WTB (once owned by singer Adge Cutler) was used on summer routes in the Weymouth area in 1987/88, whilst a Bedford OB operated a seven day Vintage Coach Tour to Torquay.

  This is Pearce's 1958 bus service timetable

Why not join me on a country bus ride around Dorset over some of Pearce's routes back in 1972 ?

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