At DHC we are delighted to welcome our new volunteer Steve, who has lots of experience of creating interactive online maps. This can be a very engaging way to present material and we are already benefitting from Steve’s expertise as he’s made a map of the various fairs mentioned in Hutchins’ History and Antiquities of… Read more Mapping the Past: Hutchins and Dorset Fairs
During the pandemic, we published a blog about online maps, noting three different sources of information and how you might use each of them to help you with your research. This blog has proven to be one of our most-read blogs ever, and hopefully it has acted as a useful guide to many people. Whilst… Read more Exploring Dorset through Dorset Explorer
In January 2024 we undertook Collections Fortnight, a two-week period where we closed to the public and worked on many behind-the-scenes tasks. These weeks were a fantastic time for us to focus on the documents and make a start on auditing our archives. This also gave us a chance to uncover some weird, beautiful, and… Read more Weirdness from Collections Weeks
People have been travelling the roads of Britain for hundreds of years. How, you might wonder, did they know where they were going? Without Sat Nav and Google Maps, it would be a miracle if most of us could get anywhere these days! If you have been questioning this too, then you may be interested… Read more What did people do before Sat Nav?!
‘Everyone loves a map’ – it’s a common refrain and although we’re sure there are people out there who don’t cherish cartographic items in the way that DHC does, many certainly do like to peruse them in order to gain a sense of where things are and to understand the relationship between places and communities. … Read more Mapping History – Recent additions to DHC’s collection
In this guest blog, one of Dorset History Centre’s volunteers, Louise, has taken a look at a recent acquisition made by DHC, and what it tells us about Corfe Castle’s past… — In the parish of Corfe Castle lies a place called Bushey just north of the Studland Road. If you’re a keen walker or… Read more Bushey in Purbeck
What is an Icehouse? Icehouses, also known as ice wells, ice pits or ice mounds, were structures built fully or partially underground for the storage of ice and snow throughout the year, which in turn led to them being used for the preservation of food. A precursor of the modern refrigerator. The first ‘modern’ Icehouse was commissioned by James I of England… Read more Dorset Ice Houses (part 1)
Thanks to the Dorset Archives Trust Document Purchase Fund the Dorset History Centre recently purchased a beautiful 1802 manuscript map of an estate in Thornford. Thornford is in the north west corner of Dorset near Sherborne. It was prepared for George Tilly Gollop and surveyed by John Davioge of Ansford (probably near Castle Cary) in 1802. George Tilly Gollop was a Dorset landowner who actually lived in Netherbury but, in common with most 18th and 19th century landowners, held lands… Read more Mapping the County: The Thornford Estate
There are a number of resources online to be able to view modern and historic maps of Dorset. In this blog we will explain a little about how to access some of these maps and offer some tips on how to make the most out of your searches. Dorset Explorer DorsetExplorer is Dorset Council’s online… Read more Online maps: Where are they and how can you use them?
Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594) never travelled very far. Apparently, he was a bit of an armchair traveller, which is most relevant today as, due to the lockdown, none of us can go very far. However, in 1569 he designed the map of the world that we all still recognise today. His principle known as… Read more Armchair Travellers – Maps in a time of lockdown
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