Entries by Ian Kellett

Thank You, Ma’am, for a Lifetime of Service

As many people of the UK, the Commonwealth, and throughout the world mourn the passing of our remarkable Queen Elizabeth II, the Trustees of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society offer sincere condolences to her family. Gold Hill Museum was closed on the day of the State Funeral of her late Majesty.

The Unsung Dorset Pioneer of Vaccination Against Smallpox

With the next booster campaign of Covid vaccines due to begin on 05 September, it is perhaps worth revisit-ing the early days of the practice of vaccination to uncover a surprise or two. In 1796 Gloucestershire country doctor Edward Jenner inoculated his gardener’s 9 year-old son with serum taken from cowpox blisters on the hands […]

Laser-Cut Steel Artwork Inspired By Gold Hill Museum Displays

Artist Bruce Williams has completed several commissions for the Lidl supermarket chain, as he explains in an audio interview with Keri Jones of ThisIsAlfred. At Filton his frieze incorporated two Concordes trailing great vortices. In Shaftesbury he was influenced by the softness of a townscape mellowed by age, and wished to reference the history of […]

Thirty / fifty years of hurt? A century for women footballers

The Lionesses’ superb victory in the 2022 Women’s Euro Final at Wembley on 31 July ended a long barren spell for England in international football tournaments. In the lyrics of ‘Three Lions on a Shirt’, written in 1996, Baddiel and Skinner were lamenting the passage of thirty years since England (men) had won the World […]

Blue Plaque Trail for Shaftesbury

Most Shaftesbury residents know of the existence of the town’s Blue Plaques, but like other familiar street furniture they tend not to be noticed as we scurry about our everyday business. The most recent was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset in August 2021, outside the HSBC Bank in The Commons. Eleven were installed […]

The Finest in Motion Picture Entertainment at the Savoy April 1958

Gold Hill Museum was delighted recently to receive from Mrs P.A. Gigg of Gillingham the donation of a Savoy Cinema promotional leaflet dated April 1958. The 382 seat Savoy showed its last film in 1984, and the only trace of its existence is the preservation of the name in the apartment block now occupying the […]

Pre World War One Shaftesbury Through The Camera Lens

Early, mostly open-top, motor vehicles parked in Shaftesbury’s The Commons. The drivers, in suitably long coats, are perhaps chauffeurs (or cabbies?) waiting for their employers to return from business in town. Or are they just proud owners bursting to pose with their vehicles? Could it be an early rally or organised event, given the presence […]

Beckford’s Stairway to Heaven, to “the Finest Prospect in Europe”

Visitors from The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society were able to test out the validity of William Beckford’s assertion on their 07 June Summer Outing to Beckford’s Tower and Museum at Lansdown, Bath. From his youth Beckford had been fascinated by towers. Aged 21, he writes of the fictional Caliph Vathek : His pride arrived […]

Hardy’s Wessex Landscapes – From Casterbridge to Shaston

The largest ever multi-venue show of objects from the life and times of Thomas Hardy opened on 28 May and runs until 30 October 2022. Apart from four distinct exhibitions at the Wessex Partnership Museums in Dorchester, Poole, Salisbury and Devizes, there are satellite displays in nine community museums and visitor centres, including Gold Hill. […]

Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey Treasures – Where Can They Be Seen?

To settle enormous debts, slaveowner William Beckford put the money pit that was Fonthill Abbey up for sale in 1822. Where did his treasures go? In the first instance, to a single purchaser – John Farquhar, a Scottish gunpowder manufacturer. This was not the outcome of the much-hyped public auction, but a private sale negotiated […]