The opportunity to uncover Family History with the help of experienced researchers via the Ancestry website has been snapped up. Claire Ryley and Ann Symons organised the Ancestry Afternoon at Shaftesbury Library on Friday 26 February from 1.30 to 3.00p.m. under the aegis of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society’s Heritage Lottery Funded Great War Project. All the […]
In conjunction with Shaftesbury Library, Claire Ryley and Ann Symons are running a Reminiscence Afternoon on Tuesday 23 February from 2.30 to 3.30p.m. Participants in this free event at Shaftesbury Library will be able to discover more about life in Shaftesbury and the surrounding villages at the time of the First World War. There will […]
Take refuge from February’s biting winds in the light and warmth of Gold Hill Museum. Bring a young family member to one of the snowdrop-themed craft workshops on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning, 16-18 February. Learn how to make a Dorset Button at one of Anna McDowell’s expert tutorials on Friday morning or Saturday afternoon, […]
Jane Ellis-Schon brought a tiny sample of the 15,000 objects in Salisbury Museum’s Pitt-Rivers Collection to her compelling and comprehensive February lecture at Gold Hill Museum. In 1880 Augustus Henry Lane-Fox inherited the Pitt-Rivers title and 27,000 acres of Wiltshire estates from his great-uncle. Already a serving soldier in the Grenadier Guards, Pitt-Rivers applied his […]
Anna McDowell, seen here [left] with her cousin Catherine Erskine planting snowdrops in the Gold Hill Museum garden in October, returns for two Dorset Button-making workshops on Friday 19 February 10.30a.m. – 1.00p.m. and Saturday 20 February 2.00 – 4.30p.m. Participants will leave with their own Dorset Singleton Button featuring snowdrops or a Dorset Cartwheel Button […]
Steve Harris, “Breakfast in Dorset” radio presenter based in Dorchester, is seen here talking to Marjory Kellett in the Gold Hill Museum Library on 27 January. Steve was collecting sound-bites to illustrate the answer to the quiz question: “What connection does Dvorak’s New World Symphony have with the town of Shaftesbury?” The answer, well known […]
TV archaeologist and Shaftesbury resident Julian Richards attracted a bumper audience to his engaging January Gold Hill Museum talk on “Operation Warhorse.” Late-comers and obliging members had to stand at the back and in the corridor to hear Julian describe his 2014 dig at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. No substantial remains were found of the temporary buildings of […]
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society’s January lecturer is local archaeologist and broadcaster Julian Richards. At 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 05 January 2016 at Gold Hill Museum, Julian will be telling the real story of horses during the First World War, based on his recent excavation of an equine hospital on Salisbury Plain. This lecture is free to members and […]
Visitors to Gold Hill Museum’s late-night Christmas shopping experience on Friday 04 December were welcomed by a cast of historical characters. Ken Howe could have stepped down from the traction engine steaming in The Commons, and Janet Swiss out of her Tudor mural of the Byzant ceremony. Elaine Barratt in full Victorian garb of bonnet and crinoline […]
December’s lecturer, Robert Lancaster, brought an array of examples and a wealth of knowledge of his subject, Dorset clay pipes. By looking at the size and shape of the bowl, and any imprints on the bowl or stem, he could identify the period of a pipe and frequently the location and name of its maker. Pipes were […]
