By Friday 01 March Shaftesbury & District Historical Society Trustee Claire Ryley will have contributed to three educational events in ten days. At Gold Hill Museum on Wednesday 20 February, 10a.m. till noon, the education team from Gold Hill and Shaftesbury Abbey Museums will be helping workshop participants make Chinese Dragon Lanterns. On Thursday 21 […]
Shillingstone Station opened in 1863 lit by oil lamps and closed just over a century later, still without gas or electricity. Built by the Dorset Central Railway, it became part of the Somerset and Dorset Junction Railway which provided a through route from Bath to Bournemouth. From 1910 The Pines Express gave holidaymakers from Manchester […]
Shire Hall in Dorchester was Dorset’s courthouse from 1797 until 1955. Through that time, it saw everything from the 1834 trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs to the 1856 domestic abuse case that inspired Thomas Hardy to write ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’, to victims of mesmerism, child perpetrators and American GIs tried during the Second World […]
David Carter, Trustee of Portland Museum, brings an illustrated talk about the eventful life and times of the founder, benefactor and first curator of Portland Museum, Dr Marie Stopes (1880-1958), to the January meeting of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society. In 1923, in the wake of a protracted and ultimately unsuccessful libel case, Marie […]
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society is delighted to be hosting at 5.30p.m. on Tuesday 04 December in Gold Hill Museum the formal launch of Sir John Stuttard’s new book on John Rutter (1796-1851) The Turbulent Quaker of Shaftesbury. As the author states: “Rutter was an extraordinary man, a polymath, who did so much for society […]
Gold Hill Museum is hosting an Autumn Crafty Afternoon on Wednesday 24 October. Activities include apple pressing, making clay night-light holders, and creating autumn wreaths from natural materials. Pumpkins will be involved somewhere. Open to all ages, but children must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Entry is free; donations towards the cost of materials […]
This earthquake was political rather than tectonic. In March 1655 Cavalier gentleman John Penruddock of Compton Chamberlayne led an armed uprising against the republican government of Oliver Cromwell. His followers, the only branch of the Sealed Knot to carry out their part of a planned nationwide rebellion, seized near-by Salisbury, proclaimed the exiled Charles II […]
Aeronautical engineer David Morris has devoted his spare time to researching, restoring and writing about Shepherds’ Huts and Living Vans. In particular he has rescued and rebuilt a derelict hut, the last one used for shepherding at Waterston Manor near Puddletown, Dorset. Waterston was transformed by Thomas Hardy into Weatherbury Upper Farm in his novel […]
The founder of what grew into a multi-national pharmaceutical corporation, the first President of the American Institute of Architects, and the executioner of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly: all share the surname Upjohn and similar humble origins in early nineteenth century Shaftesbury. Archivist and Librarian Ray Simpson has created a fascinating display on Shaftesbury-born William and […]
Former Lord Mayor of London Sir John Stuttard (above) has, with the assistance of Gold Hill Museum Librarian and Archivist Ray Simpson, written a biography of prominent early nineteenth century Shastonian John Rutter. Originally from Bristol, Rutter set up a printing and publishing business in The Commons, Shaftesbury, producing local historical and topographical guides. As […]
