Volume 10 of Hutchin’s Extra Illustrated mainly focuses on North Dorset and includes Shaftesbury, Gillingham and Cerne Abbas.
—
The volume contains a large amount of material connected with the Earls of Shaftesbury, including letters, portraits, printed leaflets and a poster advertising some music composed in honour of the Countess of Shaftesbury and her daughter Barbara.
—
One of our favourite additions to this volume is this wonderful document describing people who have been treated by an unnamed doctor. It seems to have been cut from a larger page and, as with so many documents in these books there is no context given to the document. We do not know when it was created or who wrote it. The document describes how on Christmas day ‘66’, Richard, servant of the Earl of Bedford, shot himself through the body with an iron rammer, but was successfully cured in six weeks.
It also tells of three Dorset women; Widow White, who was treated for cancer of the mouth at the age of 71 and was now living in Cerne Abbey; Anne Clarke, aged 53 from Bere; and an unnamed farmer’s daughter from near Dorchester. The latter two are described as having ‘cancerous tumours’ eating away at their faces, but who were both cured without deformity.
—
Volume 10 also includes pictures of the Silton Oak, which is the oldest tree in Dorset. It is also known as ‘Wyndhams Oak’ after Judge Hugh Wyndham, who owned the manor at Silton and used to sit under it whilst considering his cases. Wyndham served as a judge under both Oliver Cromwell and Charles II and was one of the judges who sat at the Fire Court in London after the Great Fire of 1666. The judges of this court worked for three or four days a week and their hard work allowed the rebuilding of London to happen much more quickly. A picture of the monument erected in memory of Wyndham is also included in this volume.
—
People interested in researching family history may find a lot of interesting information in the notes that are included about the parish of Cattistock. These seem likely to have come from the grandfather of A M Broadley, the man responsible for adding the extra documents to these volumes. The Rev. Robert Broadley was the vicar of Cattistock from 1804 until 1815, and the notes included in this edition record things such as confirmations, poor rates and the size of farms.
—
Those interested in the history of architecture will find drawings of a wide variety of buildings. These include a copy of one of John Constable’s paintings of Gillingham Mill. This painting was based upon a sketch he made in 1823, just 2 years before the old mill burnt down. There are also pictures of both the interior and exterior of the house at East Stour that the novelist Henry Fielding inherited and lived in for three years.
—
Finally, Natural historians may like to look at the index of the Birds, Plants and Shells of Dorset created by botanist Richard Pulteney, which is included in its entirety in this volume. Pulteney moved to Blandford in 1764 and became the doctor there in 1767. He died in 1801 and is buried in the town.
—
This blog is part of our monthly series on the 12 extra-illustrated volumes of “Hutchins’ History and Antiquities of Dorset.”
Part one: An introduction to the history and antiquities of Dorset.
Part two: The Pitt family, a piano player, and a plague of caterpillars.
Part three: Coastline, Castles and Catastrophe
Part four: A Phenomenon, Fake News and a Philanthropist
Part five: Antiquities, Adventurers, and an Actress
Part six: A Gaol, a Guide and a Man of Great Girth
Part seven: Physicians, fires and false allegations
Part eight: Graves, Grangerising and a Man who wore Green
Part nine: Desertion, Drinks and a Diarist