Contributors to the 2017-18 programme of Shaftesbury & District Historical Society lectures include a popular local history writer, a former Lord Mayor of London, an Ambassador to Japan, two leading academics, and a student of statues. The historical subjects covered include Dorset Smugglers, William Beckford Senior, Statues within 50 miles of Shaftesbury, Shakespeare’s Guildhall, and […]
Researcher Chris Stupples has listed 31 men from Shaftesbury and District who died in the ill-fated Allied offensive of autumn 1917, known also as the Third Battle of Ypres. The display in Room 8 of Gold Hill Museum highlights brief biographies of eight: Privates Harry Gray, Walter Hodder, Arthur Mayo, and Tom Roberts; Gunners Charles […]
Local History Librarian and Archivist Ray Simpson has created a new display on the histories of great estates within easy reach of Shaftesbury. These include Old and New Wardour Castles (film locations for Robin Hood and Billy Elliott respectively), Ferne House at Donhead St Andrew, Pythouse (scene of a Swing Riot in 1830), Stourhead, and […]
Readers of BBC History Magazine have voted King Alfred, founder of Shaftesbury Abbey, into third place in the History Hot 100 for 2017. Alfred was pipped to the post by Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard III. Decide for yourself whether Alfred deserves this rating by attending this year’s Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture at Shaftesbury Town […]
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society is shortly to publish its programme of lectures for 2017-18. At 2.30 p.m. on 02 January 2018 in the Garden Room at Gold Hill Museum historian and writer Dave Martin will discuss Cast Bronze Reputations; statues in the Wessex street. Dave promises that all the statues featured will be […]
At the July AGM of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society, four very good servants and supporters of Gold Hill Museum were elected or re-elected as Trustees. With King Alfred looking on, they were (from left to right) Ken Howe, Sheena Commons, Janet Swiss and Ray Simpson. After 15 years’ sterling service, John Parker has […]
Renowned wild bee advocate Brigit Strawbridge has expressed her delight at discovering a perfect location at Gold Hill Museum for two nesting boxes provided by Shaftesbury Bee Group’s Big Bee Project. The boxes, funded by Shaftesbury Town Council, are designed to provide maternity homes for solitary cavity-nesting species such as Mason and Leafcutter bees. The bees […]
The 06 June summer outing of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society brought 30 members to the site of William Beckford’s great Gothic folly at Fonthill Old Abbey. Only a fragment remains of the original cruciform pile, built on the proceeds of sugar and slavery. That the tip of the northern limb of the Abbey still stands […]
