According to Australian historians Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson the five months of the Battle of the Somme, starting 01 July 1916, claimed 432,000 British casualties, of whom probably 150,000 were killed. Volunteer researcher Chris Stupples has added to the current HLF Shaftesbury Remembers the Great War Exhibition the names of 36 men from war memorials […]
During the penultimate day of their residency at Gold Hill Museum, which coincided with the Sunday of Gold Hill Fair, the Tibetan monks of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery attracted a record number of visitors. 617 adults and 84 children came to view the finishing touches being put to the Mandala, an intricate representation of a palace […]
From Monday 27 June Tibetan monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery will be creating a colourful Sand Mandala in the Garden Room at Gold Hill Museum. This beautiful but short-lived work of art represents a Buddha’s palace and is composed of millions of grains of coloured sand, painstakingly put into place using hollow metal funnels […]
Each day of the season at Gold Hill Museum six volunteer stewards are needed to extend a warm welcome to our many visitors: on Saturday 18 June 100 adults and 12 children, followed by 100 adults and 18 children on Sunday 19 June. Our visitors, from all over the world, tend to be appreciative and many have interesting stories of […]
Fourteen British ships were sunk, and over 6000 Royal Navy personnel died, in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Two British battlecruisers blew up spectacularly with almost total loss of life. At least three local men died at Jutland: Gilbert John Maidment of Shaftesbury, Cecil Herbert Riggs of Berwick St John, and Harold Percival Hoskins […]
On 14 June eighteen members of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society enjoyed a privilege visit to The Salisbury Museum organised by Lavender Buckland. Curator Jane Ellis-Schon explained the rationale behind her design of the state-of-the-art archaeological display in the new Wessex Gallery. Chronology runs backwards from Norman Old Sarum to the Old Stone Age, […]
Local herbalist Kate Scott returns to the Garden Room at Gold Hill Museum at 10.30a.m. on Friday 17 June for another practical workshop. This month participants will be able to make and flavour soft cheese with hedgerow and garden herbs. Kate provides all the ingredients and a tasty light lunch. Further details are available on […]
Recent entries in our Visitors’ Book: 23 April 2016 A really fascinating place! Thank you. And we especially liked the basket of traditional toys, listening to the serpent and seeing the cat mummy. All the exhibits are so well researched and full of facts. Thanks too to the volunteers for being so welcoming. (A family […]
Claire Ryley (left) and Ann Symons are staging a “Shaftesbury Remembers the Great War” display in the Large Exhibition Room at Gold Hill Museum. This charts the progress of the Heritage Lottery Funded community project collecting evidence about the impact of the First World War on the people of Shaftesbury and surrounding villages in Dorset and Wiltshire. Currently on show […]
As part of the Shaftesbury Food and Drink Festival on Sunday 15 May, Gold Hill Museum volunteers will be turning the clock back to the Middle Ages. In period dress they will be offering visitors, especially accompanied children, sample tastings from the dinner table of seven hundred years ago. So why not follow the cheese […]
