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 […]
Gold Hill Museum closed its doors at the end of the regular season on Sunday 01 November. About 25 of the volunteer stewards who contributed the 2580 hours required to keep the Museum open every day from 28 March attended a social event, at which they were thanked for their dedication. As a result 20,267 visitors […]
New President of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society, Jo Rutter [photograph, left] prefaced the Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture given in Shaftesbury Town Hall on the evening of 06 October by Professor Peter Clarke [photograph, right] with some amusing recollections of Noel Teulon Porter in the 1950s. In his lecture “Sin in Salisbury Diocese” Professor Clarke set […]
