A newly-published book takes an original look at Chesil Beach. Chesil Beach is unique: a bank of pebbles stretching for sixteen miles along the Dorset coast, from the Isle of Portland to West Bay. It seems a lonely landscape, deserted and unchanging. Yet there have always been people living here, concealed behind the shingle barrier.… Read more Chesil Beach: a peopled solitude
Sometimes forums such as the Dorset History Centre blog can uncover further stories in your family history or information on a village or house history to add to your research. The recent two part blog by Valerie Brenton (here and here) following a family in Sturminster Newton Workhouse, some of whom emigrated to Newfoundland, chimed… Read more The Rowlands of Hinton St Mary
When we can physically see smoke from chimneys and smell fumes from cars it’s clear that they are polluting our environment but when we can’t see the smoke for ourselves it’s easy to forget about the environmental impact. Invisible, yet all around us, the internet is quickly becoming one of the major contributors to our… Read more The Internet, the Environment, and Storing Records
Conservation Trainee Helen has been working on various things during her period with us at Dorset History Centre. In this post, she takes a look at some interesting glass plate negatives… — Dorset History Centre has recently acquired a new set of glass plate negatives, mainly of Thomas Hardy. As part of my placement here… Read more Conservation Tales: Glass plates of Thomas Hardy
If you asked someone for a food associated with Dorset, you might get the following responses Dorset Knobs, Dorset Blue Vinney, Portland Pudding, Dorset Horn, the Dorset Naga… Chances are though that the most popular response would be Dorset Apple Cake. The Dorset poet William Barnes mentions an apple cake of sorts in his poem… Read more Cooking the Books – Dorset Apple Cake
‘We love the look of your activities – can we try them?’ This was the message we received from the Stability4U group back in January. The group, made up of young adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities, had spotted us in an online directory. They were desperate to get beyond the lockdown and reconnect… Read more Creative engagement in 2021
The collection of Hardy-related material acquired in late 2020 offers some fascinating insights into Hardy’s world and the eclectic range of contacts and correspondents he maintained links with and the wider perspective on Hardy’s life that this important purchase provides. Below, we look at a few of the stories to have emerged. Hardy the son… Read more Thomas Hardy – exploring a new collection (part 3)
When researching your family history, you may discover one or two ‘Skeletons’, one possibly being that an ancestor was illegitimate. This is normally discovered when looking at their baptism record where, not only is the mother the only named parent, but the child is recorded as a ‘bastard’ in the register. In the example below,… Read more Bastardy records – what are they and what do they tell us?
In the local studies library at the Dorset History Centre you can find a large collection of journals. These journals are packed with fascinating articles and are often an underused resource. In this series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! This is the seventh in our series of… Read more The Journals of DHC: 1960s
In July, Dorset History Centre welcomed a new trainee Conservator… — Hello to all the blog readers! I’m Helen, a masters conservation student at Cardiff University and I am currently in the middle of an 8 week placement here, at the Dorset History Centre! As a local girl I was really keen to come back… Read more Conservation tales: A Conservation trainee
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