The Christmas Truce of 1914 has passed now almost into legend. Great armies engaged on the Western Front in the bloodiest of all wars called a ceasefire and instead came together in a spirit of peace to exchange gifts, play football and sing carols. Diaries held at Dorset History Centre provide a first-hand account of… Read more Christmas Truce recorded in WW1 diary
The Herbert collection contains numerous photographs of Weymouth pavilion during the 1950s and 1960s, capturing the moments of its demise as ‘the Ritz’ in 1954 and its re-emergence in 1960. Early 20th Century The Pavilion theatre was originally constructed in Weymouth in 1908 at a cost of £14,000. It became a key venue in Weymouth… Read more A photographic history of Weymouth Pavilion
With the help of volunteers, thousands of photographs from the Poole Borough Archive are currently being catalogued. Mostly originating from Poole’s planning department, the photographs range from the mundane (photographs of drainpipes, shop fronts and cracks in walls!) to fascinating images capturing Poole’s recent history. A picture is worth a thousand words…. The images provide… Read more A Snapshot of Poole’s Past
As a coastal town, Poole has always been vulnerable to attack by sea – from the Roman invasion, through the burning of the town by the Spanish in 1405, right up to the Second World War. ‘All my thoughts are directed towards England’ In the early months of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), the whole country… Read more The Napoleonic Invasion Threat
For hundreds of years, Poole was one of the few English ports to have its own admiralty court. Newly catalogued records in the Poole Borough Archive give an insight into the town’s maritime heritage. From time immemorial, Poole had its own admiralty jurisdiction. The Winchelsea Certificate of 1364 is the oldest surviving document in the… Read more Poole’s Admiralty Court
Dorset History Centre holds many historical and photographic records relating to the stonemason industry on Portland. It is an industry that has international reach and significance. With evidence of quarrying dating back to Roman times, stone-masonry has been a source of labour and wealth in the area for many centuries. Portland stone is an oolitic… Read more The Portland stone industry
Our intern has been working on digitising photographic negatives from the Herbert Collection, supported by Creative Dorset. She shares some highlights which allow us to peek through the keyhole into some of Weymouth’s popular hotels and businesses. The following are all pictures taken of interiors, mainly for businesses in the Weymouth area in 1963 and… Read more Through the keyhole: a historic view of Weymouth interiors
The Cooper Dean archive, which provides insight into the history of Bournemouth, is now fully catalogued and free to access at Dorset History Centre.
The collection is mainly made up of records relating to the management of the Littledown Estate, approximately 1000 acres of modern Bournemouth. (more…)
Explore Poole’s role in the Civil War through the Poole Borough Archive The Civil Wars The English Civil Wars were a series of conflicts which raged from 1642 to 1651, revolving around the struggle between the Royalists on one side and the forces of Parliament and its allies on the other. Parliament saw the King’s… Read more Poole at War
The Cyril Diver collection contains documents from Diver’s ecological study of the Studland peninsular.
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