Smallpox -it sounds innocuous enough, particularly when the great pox was syphilis, but historically, depending upon which population it affected it killed between a third and a quarter of its victims. Today we know it to be an infection but in the 17th century even this simple fact was not […]
The process of implementing the Tithe Commutation Act was vested in three Tithe Commissioners based in London. The Chairman was William Blamire, whose simple description was ‘Cumberland farmer’. Born in 1790 he was educated at Westminster School, Christchurch Oxford and was friends with the Vicar of Dalston – William Paley, […]
Place names have a particular significance and are a source of considerable interest. Their primary purpose is functional. They help identify the position of a place for example, although not always precisely. At the time of Domesday three villages, Child Okeford, Okeford Schilling [Shillingstone] and Okeford Fitzpaine were all referred […]
The most famous historian of Dorset was John Hutchins and his most famous work was the ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset’. For anyone interested in the people and places of Dorset it essential reading. Hutchins was born in 1698 at Bradford Peverell just a few miles north […]
Tithe and inclosure maps were not the only maps to be produced by surveyors and estate maps were probably more commonly produced than indicated by the number that survive or are known about. Two maps relating to Child Okeford were given to the village archivist [not me] in the parish. […]
Hares were widespread in Dorset, surprisingly so when you consider what they had to suffer. Living and breeding on the surface and, being particularly swift when running, they were an obvious animal for hunting. There are broadly three ways they can be hunted. The first method mentioned in the diaries […]
That the 21st March 1832 was a Wednesday is easy to determine and might lead you to suppose it was Ash Wednesday – but it wasn’t. Behind these four words is a fascinating story which writing today in 2020 has a particular resonance. The story begins not in Dorset but […]
