Beauty is within the eye of the beholder….so it was then, so it is now, and for ever more shall be .

I was debating what to do my next blog on when I became sidetracked by a lively discussion going on in a Facebook group that i belong to. The first discussion, that was becoming a little heated concerned three new sculptures by artist Andy Kirby that had recently been unveiled in Weymouth. Some loved them, some hated…

1899; Ding dong dell…Mary’s in the well

The length of Weymouth’s ancient quayside is lined with an eclectic jumble of historic buildings, each one has a thousand stories to tell, they have witnessed fights, lovers, joy, tears, death and birth….the ghostly whispers of so many events lie within their walls, and under their eaves. This time, our story starts not in Weymouth,…

1889; Girl held against her will at Broadwey?

With all the media reports on the news recently concerning the shocking story of the 3 women imprisoned as slaves, Weymouth had it’s own version of the sorry tale back in 1889. Sarah Guy was born in 1865 into a less than ideal and loving family home. Her Dad John was a violent drunk, and…

1895 Wheeling and dealing ……..

The governments advice for people to get on their bikes and look for work is not a new sentiment. Even during the Victorian period people moved freely around the country following the work, such was the story of one northern family. In the 1860’s Enoch and Mary Ann Birkin had been living in their local…

1891; Wyke Regis church receives its new bells

There is a sound you don’t hear very often these days, the ringing of church bells. I loved to hear them. At one time their merry peel would call villagers to worship on Sundays, ring out joyfully at wedding ceremonies, or the solemn death knell  rung to mourn a person passing. In the Victorian era…

1872; Chesil Royal Adelaide shipwreck; part 2. Armageddon.

This is the second part of the tale of the sinking of the Royal Adelaide on Chesil beach that happened on the 25th November 1872. Well, in fact, it’s actually about what happened after…the dreadful scenes that hit the national papers and shook a lot of people. Despite there being many shipwrecks around the coast over…

1870; The Queens Own Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry week at Weymouth.

Weymouth down through it’s past history has quite a link with the military. In the late 1700’s The famous Red Barracks that sits up on the Nothe, its Georgian built accommodation blocks towering above the quayside cottages below, were built, first to house the cavalry troops, but then later converted to house infantry troops. The Nothe…

1868, Weymouth mayor in court!

We are going through a bad recession at the moment (as if I had to tell you that!) and when things get tough financial wise, somethings have to go. Such is the present day council’s dilemma…what to cut, what to keep. Well, it appears to have been the  old harbour area and piers that seems to be…

1861; World Famous Tightrope Walker Charles Blondin at Belfield Park, Weymouth.

In the Victorian era, there was actually a little known public park in Weymouth, the first to be created in the town. It was part of the grand Belfield estate. A 13 acre site, mainly parkland that surrounded a magnificent house built approx 1780’s for the Buxton family. Thomas Fowell Buxton became Weymouth’s MP between…

1863; Royal Wedding Celebrations at Osmington Village Dorset.

On the 10th March 1863, Queen Victoria’s son Prince Albert Edward, otherwise know as Bertie married the pretty young Danish Princess Alexandra. Bertie was the eldest son of Victoria and Albert and up till then had gained a certain reputation for enjoying the highlife and his scandalous dalliances, much to his parents disgrace. The couple…