On the following morning we bought snow boots. – for said the mouse, – ‘If I’m to freeze for three hours on the road again, – at least I’ll have warm feet.’ — Mr Lillywhite of Piccadilly produced the finest pair of woolly lined boots you ever saw and we started once more on our… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 24th December
December 23rd 1935. All the Christmas parcels were in the post, so what was there to stop us from making merry in the really old fashioned way in England – at the expense of some one else’s labour! Nice to think we could get up Christmas morning in leisurely mood, pry into “stockings” and eat… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: 23rd December
In 1935 an anonymous author penned a journey through Dorset and Hampshire, a journey undertaken between the 23rd and 28th December 1935. We have transcribed this account and we will be publishing an extract each day during this period, 85 years later. Part one of this journey will be published later this morning, and then… Read more “In Search of Christmas in England”: An introduction
We’ve come across these very seasonal photographs of Dame Elisabeth Frink’s Dorset studio grounds whilst cataloguing the collection. They date back to the 1980s and feature some of her most famous sculptures at Woolland blanketed in snow. These snow-covered sculptures are a way of dipping into the Frink archive and discovering some of her most… Read more Walking in a Woolland Wonderland
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. December 1851 We’ve reached the last month of 1851, and the final in our series of blogs! This month, the weather is a truly English mixed bag – hard frost, mild rain,… Read more The Diary of John Foss: December 1851
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 new series of blogs we will be highlighting some of the interesting articles within them! This is the third in our series… Read more The Journals of DHC: 1930s
One of the largest but least used collections at the Dorset History Centre is the records of the Dorset Quarter Sessions. The Quarter Sessions were local government and local justice rolled into one until the County Councils were established in 1888 and Magistrates and Crown Courts took over local court cases in 1971. Every English… Read more Quarter Sessions: What are they?
A Milton Abbas Local History Group member has discovered that in 1803 six men from Milton Abbas were charged under the Combination Act of 1800, for conspiring with others to increase wages. Their names and sentences of two months hard labour are given in the Dorchester Gaol Prisoners in Custody registers for March 1803. Described… Read more The Milton Abbas Martyrs
We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851. November 1851 The penultimate month of the year, November is frosty and clear, although there are some stormy nights throughout. The railroad continues to be a topic in the village, and it… Read more The Diary of John Foss: November 1851
Newspapers have been around for hundreds of years reporting on both national and local news stories relevant to the time. We read them and then (hopefully) put them out to be recycled. However, no matter their age they can hold information relevant to the local historian or genealogist. Dorset History holds a collection of local… Read more Newspapers: More uses than wrapping your fish and chips!
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