{"id":1931,"date":"2020-10-16T08:30:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T08:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2020-10-19T08:44:22","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:44:22","slug":"the-big-church-project-history-and-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/10\/16\/the-big-church-project-history-and-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Church Project: History and Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Big Church Project<\/a>, launched in 2018, focuses on the future use and development of Blandford Forum parish church. A central aim of the project is to engage with diverse communities and to record their contribution to the history of Blandford Church and its surrounding area. Using parish registers and other records such as censuses and legal documents, research has begun into the history of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in the Blandford district.<\/p>\n

Some of these records reflect the dehumanising brutality of the slave trade that saw an estimated 3.1 million slaves transported across the Atlantic by British merchants between 1640 and 1807. For example, on the 25 February 1701, the burial took place at Winterbourne Stickland of \u2018an unbaptised negro slave (belonging to Mr Vine)\u2019. In the parish register<\/a>, only a reference to the affidavit of this individual\u2019s burial in woollen cloth (then required by law) reveals her gender. Since she had no \u2018Christian\u2019 name, she was recorded anonymously. It is the identity of the man to whom she \u2018belonged\u2019 that is provided.<\/p>\n

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For BAME people who were baptised, the information provided in parish registers can also be brief and difficult to interpret. \u2018Hannah\u2019, who was baptised at Blandford Forum on 5 June 1770 is described in parish records<\/a> as \u2018a Black Woman Servant of Mrs Holder\u2019. Was Hannah the name given to this woman at birth or at baptism? Unlike most other records of baptism, no reference is made to her parentage. Hannah\u2019s status remains unclear. Was she \u2018free\u2019, or was her baptism considered to be a step towards establishing her freedom? The description \u2018Black\u2019 does not necessarily mean that she was of African heritage, since that term could be used to describe anyone of non-white ethnicity. The over-riding question prompted by this record is: who was Hannah?<\/p>\n

Most visual representations of BAME people in the 18th<\/sup> century are of individuals in European dress. A wax seal attached to a Blandford deed, dated 1733, provides a welcome and possibly rare exception. The seal image is of the head and shoulders of an (unidentified) African man in tribal attire (DHC D\/BLD). It is a portrait that appears to celebrate African culture. But was it the possession of someone of African heritage, or an item that reflects the 18th<\/sup>-century European fashion for \u2018Blackamoor\u2019 jewellery and artifacts? The owner of the seal is impossible to identify with certainty, but was probably either the signatory to the deed, Robert Weston, a barber of Blandford \u00a0Forum, or one of the witnesses, Thomas Waters \u2018gentleman\u2019 and Charles Day.<\/p>\n

The records so far found are, without exception, thought-provoking. They indicate the long history of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in north Dorset. The project continues, and will include similar research into other minority groups, including the Traveller community.<\/p>\n

A guest blog written for Dorset History Centre by Judith Ford.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Big Church Project, launched in 2018, focuses on the future use and development of Blandford Forum parish church. A central aim of the project is to engage with diverse communities and to record their contribution to the history of Blandford Church and its surrounding area. Using parish registers and other records such as censuses… Read more The Big Church Project: History and Diversity<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,227,226,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1961,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/1961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}