We’ll start with a touch of Christmastide shenanigans. A well respected farmer and businessman, Thomas Hole, was stood in the dock garbed only in a sheet and rug, much to the amusement of the court’s public attendees, in stark contrast his hands and face were blackened. Thomas was accused of being drunk and disorderly at the Crown hotel.
Smugglers Secrets Revealed 100 Years Later! Weymouth’s George Inn.
I know, I know, I’m always banging on about my love of old newspapers, but they really are fascinating. They fittingly flesh out Weymouth’s history. Such was the case when I read an article in the Dorset County Chronicle of Thursday 5th June 1884. It’s headline revealed ‘A Record of Smuggling Days.’ Apparently some modernisation…
When Andromeda and the Naval Fleet went Walkabouts from Weymouth. August 1899.
via When Andromeda and the Naval Fleet went Walkabouts from Weymouth. August 1899.
And the Band Played On; Music from the British Royal Navy
Originally posted on NOTHE FORT AND BEYOND…:
Someone once asked me why I write posts about the navy when my blog and book were entitled Nothe Fort and Beyond. ‘Beyond’ maybe gives a clue because the Victorian fortifications weren’t built as a stand alone defence. They were not only designed to protect our south coast…
Yohoo, I’m back…..
Hello folks, you have noticed (or more likely not) that I have been missing for a while from my page. That is because I have been struggling to finish my book and get it into print and with a great deal of help from my long suffering family I finally reached my goal! Yipee…mentally turns…
Worth a Thousand Words?
Originally posted on Kathy Sharp:
Once upon a time novels used to be illustrated. My copy of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which belonged to my late mother-in-law, is a dull little book at a glance – until you open it and find the illustrations. Your feeling for the story – your curiosity – is awakened…
Granfer Henry Reads the News; Every Day Lives in Weymouth; 1884.
What I find fascinating about mooching through old newspapers is not only the sensational crimes and usual misdemeanours that fill the columns of the local papers, but also those mundane snippets that give us every day glimpses of our Victorian ancestors lives. In some sense, they really weren’t that much different from us. Take The…
Weymouth’s invasion by the Dorset Rifle Volunteers; 1867.
Originally posted on NOTHE FORT AND BEYOND…:
A taster of my book soon to be published The Nothe and Beyond… Weymouth was about to be invaded. For the first time, in September 1867, it had been chosen as the training venue for the Dorset Battalion of Rifle Volunteers (DRV). This was the ‘citizen’s army’ hastily…
Naughty Naughty…Knocker Wrenching.
Originally posted on NOTHE FORT AND BEYOND…:
Throughout its history, Weymouth’s Red Barracks and Nothe Fort have seen various troops come and go. Some good, some bad, some just plain bored and a few high spirited. Their boots marched through the town on parades, they wooed and (sometimes) wed the local girls, or maybe snatched a sneaky bit…
Men of the Sea; Greenhill Weymouth 1869
Folks lined the grassy slopes along Greenhill common, watching as men dragged their wooden boats and heavy rope nets down the beach and into the water. Time after time they rowed out into the wind swept bay, laying nets behind them. Having circled round, they then began the hard work. Men heaved and hauled in their cumbersome nets, moving ever closer to shore.
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 