Thanks to funding from Dorset Archives Trust, DHC acquired an interesting if rather battered item at auction in November 2023. This was The Old Kings Arms Hotel, Dorchester, a short historical sketch (D-3353). Written in 1914 by notable antiquarian Harry Pouncy in large format paper typescript, it provides a fascinating account of one of the… Read more Hotel History – The Kings Arms, Dorchester
Welcome to the tenth part of our series exploring the history of Icen Cottage, Fordington. In previous blogs, we have introduced you to the cottage, shown you some of the earliest documents relating to the cottage, discussed some of the problems when trying to identify the people who lived in the cottage, introduced George Cull as one of… Read more Icen Cottage – The Porter Family
In January 2024 Dorset History Centre will be undertaking two collections weeks and we will be closed to the public for this period. Whilst staff and volunteers will be getting on with the important work we have to do during this period, we have this two-part guest blog for our readers, from Martin Gething. On… Read more Queen v Frampton [Part 2]
In January 2024 Dorset History Centre will be undertaking two collections weeks and we will be closed to the public for this period. Whilst staff and volunteers will be getting on with the important work we have to do during this period, we have this two-part guest blog for our readers, from Martin Gething… —… Read more Queen v Frampton [Part 1]
If you’ve been reading the account of Frederick Keynton, early twentieth century Landlord of the Black Dog at Broadmayne, you’ll remember that his father, George, was a Foreman with GWR’s locomotive division at Weymouth, but in 1892 George Keynton changed tack. He moved to become the Landlord of the Black Dog in Broadmayne – still… Read more The Black Dog and a Slew of Christmas Weddings [Part 2]
Christmas Day weddings were common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as this was one of the few days off granted to working people, and on Christmas Day, 25 December 1863, George Edward Smith, engine fitter, married Sarah Lester at Swindon, Wiltshire. And so begins a story, threaded through with Christmases, which we uncovered because… Read more The Black Dog and a Slew of Christmas Weddings [Part 1]
Our new Reprographics Assistant Tara has been getting her hands on a collection of glass plates, and has been fascinated by what she has found… — When I started my job here, I learned of a collection of glass plates that had been donated to DHC and that were part way through being digitised. Having… Read more A Glass Plate Mystery
In 2021 DHC was delighted to take custody of the archive of renowned designer Reynolds Stone. Thanks to the hard work of one of our volunteers, the catalogue of this collection can now be viewed online at: https://archive-catalogue.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/records/D-RYS We are pleased to publish below a blog by Reynolds Stone’s son Humphrey. — Reynolds Stone CBE … Read more The Remarkable Combination of Reynolds Stone
At the time of the First World War 16 nations mobilized over 65 million soldiers; of these 8.5 million were killed, over 21 million were wounded and nearly 8 million were recorded as captured or missing. The First World War brought new, more brutal and more catastrophic methods of warfare and the condition known as… Read more A Soldier’s Struggle
Welcome to the ninth part of our series exploring the history of Icen Cottage, Fordington. In previous blogs, we have introduced you to the cottage, shown you some of the earliest documents relating to the cottage, discussed some of the problems when trying to identify the people who lived in the cottage, introduced George Cull as one of… Read more Icen Cottage – The First School
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