A few winter weeks have seen the passing of three strong supporters of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society. The death of Rachel Caldwell was followed on 28 December by that of Trustee and Treasurer Marjory Kellett (above). A graduate of Glasgow University, Marjory taught A Level Maths in Hamilton, Carlisle, Sherborne and Shaftesbury, and began […]
A full house at December’s Shaftesbury & District Historical Society lecture heard a lively presentation from Dr Wayne Bartlett on Cnut the Great – a Shaftesbury Perspective. The English crowning of the conceivably twenty-one year old Cnut took place at Christmas 1016 and by 1027 he was a major figure at the coronation of the Holy […]
At the AGM of the Dorset Museums Association held on 24 November Chris Stupples of Shaftesbury was honoured as one of the Dorset Museums Volunteers of the Year. Chris was nominated by both Shaftesbury Abbey and Gold Hill Museums, and received his award at the newly-opened Steve Etches Collection, a remarkable display of marine fossils at […]
A moving commemorative event organised on Saturday 12 November by volunteers of the Gold Hill Museum Shaftesbury and the Great War Community Project attracted over 130 people to St James Church. Against a background of images recorded during the Heritage Lottery Funded Project, relatives of World War One participants, Shaftesbury School students, and the Community Choir […]
Chris Jones of Smith and Jones Design Consultants popped into Gold Hill Museum to position the graphic panels for the North Dorset Museums’ Cabinet of Curiosities publicity campaign at half-term. Pride of place on the front page of the campaign leaflet goes to Gold Hill Museum’s medieval carved alabaster panel showing the entombment of St Catherine […]
On Tuesday 01 November at 2.30p.m. in the Garden Room at Gold Hill Museum, Parliamentary and constitutional consultant Barry Winetrobe will talk about Langport’s most famous son Walter Bagehot. One of the early editors of The Economist, Bagehot stressed the importance of the central bank as a bank of last resort in the event of a financial crisis, […]
Ninety-plus Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members and guests crammed into the Town Hall on Tuesday evening 04 October to hear Professor Caroline Dakers give an engaging and informative Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture. The advertised title was The Beckfords at Fonthill but in fact Professor Dakers ranged over the builders and owners of six mansions […]
The subject of the 2016 Teulon Porter Lecture for The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society, given by Professor Caroline Dakers, is “The Beckfords at Fonthill.” The venue is Shaftesbury Town Hall (above), at 7.30p.m. on Tuesday 04 October. This event is free to S & DHS members, while non-members may pay £5 at the door. […]
The next Shaftesbury and the Great War Community Project Reminiscence Afternoon takes place at Shaftesbury Library on Tuesday 30 August from 2.30 to 3.30p.m., when the theme will be Plants and Gardening. This is an opportunity to hear about the research being carried out by project volunteers and to share family stories over tea and cake. […]
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society’s season of winter lectures begins in the Town Hall at 7.30p.m. on Tuesday 04 October with the Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture given by Caroline Dakers, Professor of Cultural History at London’s University of the Arts. Professor Dakers has published a number of works on nineteenth and early twentieth century British figures and […]
