Category: Local History

The Nonconformist Preacher’s Tale

Roger Guttridge recalls a minister who upset early women’s libbers, Marnhull’s bull-baiting habit and the legendary toad doctor of Pulham It’s not difficult to arouse...

The Bridge Street fire

Roger Guttridge has personal memories of the fire which destroyed Harding’s newsagent’s shop at Sturminster Newton in 1956 One of my most vivid childhood memories...

Postcards from a Dorset Collection

The BV first featured Barry Cuff’s collection in The Gardener with 10,000 postcards in April 2022. Each month the local postcard collector shares a...

The day the dam burst | Looking Back

In this month’s Looking Back column, Roger Guttridge describes a disastrous – and yet miraculous – day in North Dorset’s memory To those who’ve suffered...

The Dorset surgeon who changed the worlds of art and science

Hogarth paintings are undergoing restoration in London, but what do they have to do with a surgeon from North Dorset? Rachael Rowe reports St Bartholomew’s,...

Tales of a Blandford blizzard | Then & Now

Roger Guttridge recalls a Victorian snowstorm that cut the town off – and the local newspaper publisher who abhorred the evils of drink A light...

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Hayley Foy – Female Farrier

Hayley Foy is a 36 year old female farrier from West Dorset. Having completed a four and half year apprenticeship with well known Abbotsbury...