The Blandford Express

This drawing by English artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) of Blandford Market Place in 1790 is one of the few of the town that pre-dates the photographic age. The artist, a Londoner, must have spent some time in Blandford to capture the scene in such detail. By this time, the town had fully recovered from its Great Fire of 1731. Blandford Market was held every Saturday and was well-known for its sheep, wool, cheese, buttons and great stock of butcher’s meat. It is believed the town’s Saturday market dates right back to 1216 when King John visited.  Other trades in the town included watch, glove, wig and shoe making. The previous year in 1789, George III and the Royal Family had received a tumultuous reception when they passed through on their way to Weymouth. Cleaning up the streets afterwards cost the town the princely sum of eighteen shillings and eight pence (93p) - being payment for brooms and beer. On the left of the picture the horse-drawn coach is just arriving from Londo...

  Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Seal (1793-1887) was a well-known Dorchester character, countryman and drover. He had a hat made out of hedgehog skins which it is said he wore to stop people patting him on the head. He was a self-appointed overseer of Dorchester Market. When the authorities tried to sack him, he threw a fully-laden beehive at the official market custodian. Before the railway age, the most important long distance travellers were drovers. This saw thousands of sheep, cattle and pigs being moved along roads to markets and abattoirs. Some of these journeys could be more than 100 miles. As a drover, Nat Seal had a particular talent of finding ways to avoid paying bridge and turnpike tolls. All types of meat would literally walk to market. Sometimes the lines of animals would be two miles long and householders would board themselves in until they had passed. Drovers used dogs to control their charges and these dogs would sometimes be sent home alone after a drove. At Poundbury Fair in...

Charles Gray was a Bournemouth born actor who has the distinction of appearing in two James Bond films playing different characters. He was arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in   Diamonds Are For Ever  and British intelligence officer Dikko Henderson in  You Only Live  Twice.  Born in August 1928, the son of a surveyor, he went to the same Bournemouth school as Benny Hill. The comedian was evacuated to Bournemouth during the war. Raised in Queen’s Park, Gray left his estate agent job to become an actor. He received voice training from the Royal Shakespeare Company and it was his voice which became his most valuable tool. Gray used this to play eccentric toffs and suave villains with oily malice to great effect. By the mid-1950s, Charles Gray was taking leading roles. He dubbed for actor Jack Hawkins when Hawkins was unable to speak his lines due to throat cancer. Gray’s distinctive voice was regularly heard on television commercials. In the decade from 1968, he ...

  This George III silver-gilt cup and cover was won by Moonlight at Blandford Races back in 1815. Silver-gilt is high quality silver carefully coated with a thin layer of gold, sometimes called vermeil. Today, the cup could be worth an estimated £17,500. At just 15ins (38cms) high, its inscription reads:     ‘Blandford 1815 Sir Richard Glynn Bart Steward.’ Horse racing started at Blandford in the 16th century and was both a sporting and social occasion. It took place where Blandford Camp can be found today. The  Sporting Magazine  of 1815 reported: ‘The course was well-attended, and sport on both days was excellent. The company at the balls was more numerous than for many years past, and the ballroom was graced by the fashion and beauty of neighbouring counties, as well as by the county of Dorset.’ Sir Richard Carr Glynn 1st Bt. (1755-1838) of Gaunt’s House, Wimborne was the steward of Blandford Races. In 1798, he was Lord Mayor of London and upon his father’s d...

  From Dorset Gallows to Van Diemen’s Land is the unlikely but true story of political corruption, hangings and transportation in the small market town of Blandford in Southern England.  It is available as a paperback from  Amazon in the United Kingdom, Australia and the USA. The book uncovers the extraordinary tale of two ordinary men, George Long a shoemaker and Richard Bleathman a butcher. Driven by belief and dissatisfaction they are swept along by events. Sentenced to be hanged in Dorchester Gaol for their protests against political corruption they are instead, following clemency appeals,  transported to Van Diemen’s Land -  on the other side of the world. ‘A fascinatingly  good read.  This book entirely complements the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs - also transported to Australia.’ (Richard Holledge, newspaper editor, freelance journalist - London. As read in the Independent, New York Times & Financial Times. Author of   Voices of the M...

West Bay is known for ice creams, fish & chips and holidays. Yet at one time Bridport Harbour, as it was then called, was famous for building ships. It was one of the busiest shipyards in the country. Bridport Harbour Shipyard was initially established by Nicholas Bools who had learnt his trade in a naval dockyard. He had moved from building vessels on the beach at Burton Bradstock to the west side of Bridport Harbour where slipways were built. First ship to be constructed in Bridport was the Northern Star in 1769 - a sloop of 52 tons. Timber was supplied locally and came from Marshwood Vale. During the Napoleonic War it is reckoned that 16 vessels were launched in the Harbour. It would have been a noisy, busy but hazardous place to work. In 1849 master shipwright, John Cox acquired the lease of the shipyard for £1,200 and he was joined by his son, Elias. They began building larger and larger vessels including the prestigious Speedy that was bigger than the Cutty Sark which is now ...

Some breweries are cherishingly remembered while others are now forgotten: Eldridge Pope  of Dorchester. Founded in 1837 by Charles and Sarah Eldridge, a new brewery was built near the railway line in 1880. Edwin Pope had joined in 1870 and was followed by his brother Alfred. The Huntsman   trademark (featured) was shared with Leeds based brewer, Joshua Tetley. Thomas Hardy Ale, a strong barley wine, was one their most famous beers. Eldridge Pope closed in 2003 and the site was sold to a property company. Bournemouth Brewery was founded at 117 Holdenhurst Road in 1858 in association with Heath Poult Inn.  One of its owners was a Mrs Hilda G  Ogden. The brewery was bought by Strong of Romsey in 1925 and survived just as a depot until 1973 when the site was redeveloped. Devenish of Weymouth. Originally the Flew Brewery, it was bought by William Devenish in 1824. In 1931,  Major J Devenish’s home was burgled but the stolen silver was discovered the next day by scho...

Beaminster Tunnel opened on 29th June 1832. It is reckoned to be the only pre-railway road tunnel in the country still in use. The tunnel was built to take the road under Horn Hill thus avoiding a 1 in 6 gradient which was particularly difficult for horse-drawn traffic. Teams of horses were required to pull the wagons and carts up and over the hill. Engineer Michael Lane on this project also worked with the Brunels on the Thames Tunnel linking Rotherhithe with Wapping. Lane rose from foreman bricklayer to become one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s most trusted assistants because of the quality of his work. He almost lost his life when the Thames Tunnel flooded. Michael Lane later became Chief Engineer on the Great Western Railway. The tunnel was opened with much ceremony with the day being regarded in Beaminster, according to the Dorset County Chronicle,  as something of a holiday. Promoter of the project was local solicitor, Giles Russell who raised £13,000 by public subscription. Ce...

Beaminster Tunnel is said to be the oldest pre-railway road tunnel still in use in Britain. It opened with great ceremony on 29th June 1832. Yet not too far away there was another even earlier tunnel. This opened in January 1832 with equally resplendent ceremony. This was Charmouth Tunnel built by the Bridport Turnpike Trust through Thistle Hill which eased the climb over the ridge on the road from Charmouth to Axminster. On the centenary of Charmouth Tunnel’s opening, the Western Gazette of January 8th 1932 reproduced  a 100 years-old report from the  Hants Advertiser: ‘The opening of the tunnel between Charmouth and Axminster took place on Monday last. It was arranged that His Majesty’s royal mail should first traverse the tunnel. About one o’clock both coaches were seen approaching the tunnel in opposite directions the one from London was first to pass through, and was almost instantly succeeded by the other from Exeter, amidst the loud cheers and congratulations of a delig...

  Henry, the diminutive vacuum cleaner with eyes and a cheeky grin was conceived in Beaminster. Today, Henry is the only mass-produced consumer vacuum cleaner still produced in Britain. Numatic, the company that produces Henry was founded in Crewkerne in 1969 with just six employees. In 1971 the business moved to a Yeovil watermill and with  continued growth transferred to Broadwindsor Road,, Beaminster in 1974. During a trade show in Portugal in the 1970s, business owner Chris Duncan chalked a a wide grin under the hose outlet of the latest model together with a pair of eyes above. The model was then named, Henry. This caused such an amused reaction among onlookers that  Chris Duncan realised he had stumbled upon a potentially winning concept. The Henry model was then introduced commercially in 1981. To meet the growing customer demand, the company had to move production to Chard, Somerset in 1990. Henry also has sibling model variants named Hetty, Harry and James. There...

James Shatford was the talented but quite eccentric actor/manager of Blandford’s Theatre. He was a clearly recognisable character around the town. Typically, he might be wearing an outfit of a spangled waistcoat, peach coloured silk stockings, a hat with gold tassels and red slip on slippers. One of his foibles was an utter distaste for umbrellas. He preferred to get wet to the skin rather than hoist an umbrella above his head. Likewise, he would wear ill-matching clothes and shirts with huge frills and deep ruffles on his hands.  Usually, he would take breakfast around midday. While in a barber’s chair, he might impatiently write some half a dozen letters and then stand up and quit the chair half-shaven with his chin bleeding. He might then go shopping to buy a pie and wine for his evening dinner. Despite being an exceedingly slim young man with his taste for the good things in life he soon acquired a bulky appearance as he grew older. Theatre tickets could be bought from him ...

Today, most rail  travellers cannot buy a cup of tea or even a packet of crisps on a train. Yet in days gone by, in the era of the  Bournemouth Belle, things were quite different. With full onboard dining facilities, this named train from July 1931 was made up of De Luxe  Pullman car, chocolate and cream coloured    rolling stock. Each car was given a name such as Topaz, Ruby or Philomel. Smartly dressed stewards would show passengers to their seats. In the 1930s even an Inspector was employed to taste the quality of the travellers fare. Tasty afternoon teas were a speciality which could be ordered for just three shillings (15p) in the early 1960s. ‘How nice to live at Bournemouth And come up on the Belle. So chic with pale pink lamp shades A golden name as well.’ (G.B. Berry.) The Bournemouth Belle ran daily from London-Waterloo to Bournemouth and then back to the capital. Initially it was non-stop to its destination but then a Southampton stop was incorporated...

In April 1819, a notice was posted up in one of Blandford’s main shops. It stated that a fifty Guineas bet had been wagered that a newly invented and fashionable hobby horse would make the journey from London to the Crown Hotel, Blandford quicker than the mail coach. The hobby horse was the forerunner of the bicycle. It was invented in France in 1817 and introduced into England the following year. It had no pedals or brakes and was propelled along by the rider pushing on the ground with his feet and dragging the feet to slow the machine down. From about an hour before the mail coach was due to arrive in Blandford, a large crowd began to gather outside the Crown Hotel to witness the event. However, upon the arrival of the mail coach, it was discovered the whole thing was a hoax. A small boy appeared carrying a placard on a pole which read, ‘This is the first of April!’ That year fashionable society had become gripped by the new craze of hobby horse riding.

Bridport’s bread riots were unusual for their times because they featured three female rioters. They were  Elizabeth Phillips (25), Susan Saunders (22) and Hannah Powell (21) and all three were twine spinners. Twine spinning was part of the rope making process. The riots took place on 23rd April 1816 when hundreds of Bridport people came onto the streets to protest against the high price of bread. In the previous twelve months wheat prices had doubled with the consequential effects on bread prices. This was caused by an extremely poor harvest. Wages were particularly low in Dorset and many men returning from the Napoleonic Wars could not find employment. The weather that year was bad such that the year became known as ‘eighteen hundred and freeze to death!’ Bakers were a particular target because they had a reputation for corruption. As it was usually the women who bought bread they probably knew which bakers overcharged and provided short measure. Some of the Bridport bakers had t...