In two previous blogs we looked at the excitement surrounding Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Dorchester in 1904 before it arrived; and then how the day of the show unfolded. As seen in the previous two blogs the Dorset County Chronicle reported extensively on the show, detailing its arrival, the show itself and its… Read more The Wild West Comes to Dorchester! (Part 3)
This is the second blog on the history of Icen Cottage in Fordington, looking at the earliest documents we hold concerning the cottage. If you have missed the first blog, giving an introduction to Icen Cottage, we’d recommend you give that a read first! In the collection of Andrews, Son and Huxtable Solicitors of Dorchester… Read more Icen Cottage – The Earliest Documents
By 2030 the sale of cars running on petrol and gasoline will be banned in the UK, and with this date getting ever closer we have seen the growth of the electric vehicle industry. Tesla is perhaps one of the best-known brands that has accelerated on to the new sustainable car market with others following… Read more The First Car Made in Dorset
In two previous posts, we introduced you to the author John Fowles, and gave you some background on his life, and discussed his interest in Lyme Regis’ own Mary Anning. This time, DHC volunteer Graham takes a deeper look into Fowles’ life and how he settled in Lyme Regis… — How He Came to Live… Read more John Fowles (Part 3)
Despite his surname, trumpet-sergeant Blandford came from the North Dorset village of Pimperne. So, when in 1780 he was posted to Blandford, he was delighted to renew acquaintances with his old chums. A popular character around the village, he was known for his dry sense of humour. Like his Pimperne pals, Blandford had a lucrative… Read more Pimperne Churchyard’s Ghostly Severed Hand
With expected fanfare, Beales department store was set to end its 139 year tenure in Bournemouth’s town centre in April 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic intervened. The institution was instead quietly shuttered by a nationwide lockdown in March. While Poole still boasts a Beales store, the organisation founded by James Elmes Beale had ceased to… Read more A Local Institution Quietly Closes
For centuries autumn has been a crucial time for the people of Dorset. A successful harvest with an abundance of crops was literally a matter of life and death for rural communities and their animals. We can see the importance of harvest and the celebrations surrounding it reflected in our collections. Everyone pitched in Our… Read more Harvest tales
For a recent visit to the searchroom, we produced this photograph of Mrs Waygood, postmistress of Glanvilles Wootton. The inscription on the back proudly proclaims her ‘The oldest postmistress in England, probably’. Colour us intrigued! As we took a closer look at her life in our records, a tangled knot began to reveal itself… Simple… Read more Detangling a family tree
House history research is one of the most common reasons for people visiting the History Centre. Tracing the history of buildings can be very difficult and the documents available to researchers vary greatly from building to building. Over the course of this series of blogs, we will show you what it is possible to learn about… Read more An Introduction to Icen Cottage
Rural Dorset in the late 19th century was a distinctive yet hardwearing place to find yourself. Among the vast spans of idyllic fields and picturesque scenery was an overwhelming agricultural depression and spiralling economic hardship. The dominating occupations at the time in Dorset were waged labourers and small tenants who held very few rights and… Read more Food Theft in 1870s Dorset
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