The Blandford Express

  Twenty-year-old Scottish seaman, Robert Banks (right) from Greenock arrived at Blandford Station in December 1914. The young recruit slowly made his way up the muddy unmade track connecting the town with the newly opened Blandford Naval Camp. Upon the outbreak of World War I, he had volunteered with thousands of others to join the Royal Navy. This meant leaving his marine engineering job in Glasgow’s River Clyde shipyards. Robert Banks was joining the Anson Battalion of the newly formed Royal Naval Division. Another recruit was his long standing pal, Henry Short (left) who was a trumpeter.  As a break from training, the Mayor of Lyme Regis, Alban Woodruffe invited the Battalion to spend time at the seaside in early February 1915. Local resident, Mrs Emmett invited Robert to stay with her. Before leaving Lyme Regis, the Mayor gave the Battalion this message: ‘We hope you will take away pleasant memories of your short visit here and we wish you God-speed and all good luck.’ ...

Keith Floyd was a flamboyant celebrity chef and popular television personality who had strong links with Dorset. He filmed one of his early programmes Floyd on Fish in the George Inn in South Street, Bridport. Floyd developed his own unique and eccentric presenting style, which often involved haranguing his cameraman, while he cooked with a glass of wine in his hand. However, he did not consider himself to be a chef as he had not been professionally trained. Keith Floyd was born in Sulhamstead, near Reading in December 1943 and joined the British Army in 1963. He left after three years reckoning that he and the army were mutually incompatible. After the army, he became a dish washer, vegetable peeler and eventually a restauranteur. One of his restaurants was in the Vaucluse Department in Southern France. In 1984, he was offered his first television series Floyd on Fish. One of the scenes featured Floyd cooking on a trawler.  Floyd on Food, Floyd on Great Britain and  Floyd on ...

Woodyates Inn, located between Salisbury and Blandford, was before the motor car age an important coaching inn. This was an inn on a route followed by horse-drawn coaches at which the horses could be changed.  Hiding from his pursuers, the rebellious Duke of Monmouth stayed there in 1685 disguised as a shepherd. Despite his disguise, the illegitimate son of King Charles II was captured near Horton and was beheaded for treason. It was said the ghost of Monmouth appeared each year in the inn on the anniversary of his death. Woodyates Inn did not enjoy the best of reputations and in 1793 a traveller wrote: ‘I look upon an inn as the seat of all roguery, profaness, and debauchery; and sicken of them everyday by hearing nothing but oaths and abuse of each other and brutality to horses.’ This traveller, John Byng was a retired army officer and he also described Woodyates Inn as ‘miserable’ and ‘beds shocking’. He could not wait to leave but  he had trouble waking anyone to pay the b...

Pimperne Churchyard is said to be haunted by the severed hand of a soldier called Blandford. Despite his surname, trumpet-sergeant Blandford came from the village of Pimperne. So, when in 1780 he was posted to Blandford, soldier Blandford was delighted to renew the acquaintance of his old chums. A popular character in the village, he was well known for his dry sense of humour. Like his Pimperne mates, Blandford had a lucrative pastime and that was poaching. A local tenant farmer wrote at the time to his landlord: ‘ Poaching has got to such a thing in our parish, that almost every boy at the age of 14 years practises it, which I fear will lead to further mischief.’ Most popular location for poaching deer was Cranborne Chase, particularly around the village of Sixpenny Handley. So, trumpet-sergeant Blandford soon organised a group of Pimperne poachers to head north in the direction of the Chase. Sadly, for the villagers, there had been loose talk and a group of local gamekeepers had been...

  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...

Julia Rosamund Harrison was the daughter of the Reverend John Harrison of Toller Porcorum, near Bridport and Julia attended the local village school. As a 17 year-old she won the title of Dorset Youth Clubs Hostess of the Year. For the offspring of a Dorset clergyman,  her career was to go off in an unexpected direction. One of her first jobs was working as an air hostess and then as a nanny for the actress, Diane Cilento - the first wife of James Bond actor, Sean Connery. She then became a Bunny Club  croupier. Julia met the Soho club owner and magazine publisher Paul Raymond and embarking on a new career as an actress and glamour model she decided to use the alias, Fiona Richmond. As a sex-symbol of the times, she appeared in stage plays and magazines and had a talent for self promotion. Fiona Richmond was in the forefront of the sexual revolution in the 1970s and once rode naked Lady Godiva-like through the streets of Soho. She was fined twenty pounds. In 1976, a national n...

Do you remember Mick Robertson - presenter with Jenny Hanley on ITV children’s programme Magpie  in the 1970s. For many years, Mick lived just outside Blandford in the village of Ibberton in the shadows of Bulbarrow Hill. Living nearby was Jack Hargreaves another television presenter and writer who had a keen interest in the North Dorset countryside.  Initially, Mick trained as a teacher before working in television as a researcher. After presenting Magpie, Mick produced many award winning programmes for children. In 2007, he was given the Special Children’s BAFTA Award for his television work . Although now retired Mick retains an interest in television as a family member is the Executive Producer on the popular television series the  Repair Shop. He is a lifetime follower of both County Cricket and Portsmouth Football Club. Together with  ex-Magpie presenting mate Tommy Boyd,  he is a regular contributor to internet radio station  Pompey Sound.  Mick...

West Dorset village of Toller Porcorum was in ‘a state of great excitement’ one Sunday night in October 1902 when, according to the Bridport News,  its little wooden station was destroyed by fire. Opened in March 1862, Toller Station could be found on the railway branch line which connected Maiden Newton with Bridport. It appears that the station-master, Mr Bradley was in his office and had an accident with a lamp. There was an explosion and the place was soon ablaze. Overlooking the station was the Vicarage where the Reverend D Clarke detected a strong smell of burning wood and resin. Seeing a cloud of smoke, the clergyman hurriedly dressed and ran outside to see what assistance he could give. He saw that the station-master had his arms severely burnt and his fingers badly cut. Reverend Clarke hurried onto the platform and threw what water there was at hand over the fire. Unfortunately by this time the whole place was ablaze. At one moment both the Vicarage and the Old Swan Inn, w...

  West Bay, or Bridport Harbour as it was once called, is not now somewhere normally associated with shipbuilding. Yet, around two centuries ago it was an important shipbuilding centre with around 350 vessels being built there. Most of the workers were from Bridport while others came from Eype and Burton Bradstock. The clipper, Speedy  was the largest vessel ever built there. Some 200 feet in length, it took several attempts in 1853 to launch her. She sat firmly aground for two weeks, awaiting a higher tide to float her. The vessel was featured in a December 1853 edition of the Illustrated London News. It was said it was ‘very lofty between decks’ and the passenger cabins were ‘of the highest order.’ Like the Cutty Sark , which can still be viewed at Greenwich, the Speedy was constructed for the Australia run. She was constructed of teak and English oak and first arrived in Sydney on 22nd March 1854. This passage took 83 days with the Equator being crossed on the 20th day. Bui...

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...

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 ...