Archival history
Cigarette Card – ‘Picturesque Villages // A series of 50 // 10 // Cerne Abbas, Dorset. // Nearest Town: // Dorchester, 7 ½ miles. // Nearest Station: // Maiden Newton, 5 ½ miles. // Cerne Abbas is a large village beauti-fully situated on the River Cerne, in a hollow of the chalk downs. The houses show a delightful variety of design, the street which passes the west end of the church being par ticularly attractive. Here are cottages with overhanging upper storeys, and a fine house with grey stone gables at the end. The abbey was founded in Saxon days, but the Gate-house and Abbey barn are all that remain. The Perpendicular church contains some interesting memorials, and there is a small earthwork nearby, probably of Celtic origin. // Issued by // Ogden’s // Branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co (of Great Britain & Ireland), Ltd.’, MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Set of 50 cigarette cards in the series 'Picturesque Villages' issued by Ogden's in 1936. // One village per card, with a b+w photo on the front and a description on the back. // See separate sheet for full list. // Issued by Ogden's, a branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. Ltd. // Dimensions // Each card 6.8 x 3.6 cm. // Purchased as part of the Collecting 20thc Rural Culture project. // References // See www. cigarettecards.co.uk', Collecting 20thc Rural Culture blog [Thursday, 18 February 2010] – 'Ogden's 'Picturesque Villages' cigarette card set, 1936 // This is the first in Ogden's fifty card series of Picturesque Villages. They run in alphabetical order of county, though the subject here, Coleshill, is now administratively part of Wiltshire rather than Berkshire. // There may or may not be deeper significance in the uneven spread of subjects across the country. Dorset, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire, for example, have three cards each whereas Sussex, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire have none, and the north west is hardly represented at all. // Looking at them all, a composite picture of the 1930s picturesque village would include plenty of cottages in the local vernacular style, the church, a village green or perhaps a market square, and a riverside scene with bridge. And almost no traffic. // The full list of subjects is: // 1. Coleshill, Berks. // Chenies, Bucks // 3. Pampisford, Cambs // 4. Morfa Nevin, Carn. // 5. Mousehole, Cornwall // 6. Polperro, Cornwall // 7. Castleton, Derbys // 8. Broad Hembury, Devon // 9. Clovelly, Devon // 10. Cerne Abbas, Dorset // 11. Corde Castle, Dorset //12. Milton Abbas, Dorset // 13. Finchingfield, Essex // 14. Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire // 15. Frampton-upon-Severn, Gloucestershire // 16. Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire // 17. Nether Wallop, Hampshire // 18. Wherwell, Hants // 19. Godshill, IOW // 20. Weobley, Herefordshire // 21. Aldbury, Herts // 22. Westmill, Herts // 23. Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire // 24. Chilham, Kent // 25. Otford, Kent // 26. Norning, Norfolk // 27. Upwell, Cambs & Norfolk // 28. Collyweston, Northamptonshire // 29. Wicken, Northants // 30. Bamburgh, Northumberland // 31. Blanchland, Northumberland // 32. Wroxton, Oxon // 33. Empingham, Rutland // 34. Dunster, Somerset // 35. Selworthy, Som // 36. Cavendish, Suffolk // 37. Kersey, Suffolk // 38. Shere, Surrey // 39. Marlcliff, Warwicks // 40. Lowther, Westmorland // 41. Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire // 42. Castle Combe, Wiltshire // 43. Lacock, Wilts // 44. Steeple Ashton, Wilts // 45. Broadway, Worcs // 46. Elmley Castle, Worcs // 47. Bishop Burton, Yorks // 48. Runswick Bay, Yorkshire // 49. Staithes, Yorks // 50. West Tanfield, Yorkshire'