The Blandford Express

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Eric Cobham, Poole Pirate and the Pirate Queen.

In times gone by, Poole was notorious for its fearsome pirates. Among the most terrifying was Poole born Eric Cobham. In his first act of piracy he stole £40,000 worth of gold and goods from a French vessel. From his base in Newfoundland in Canada, he practised piracy on the high seas. It is said he operated out of Sandy Point on the island’s west coast. Throughout his ventures between 1740 and 1760, he was accompanied by his wife, the formidable Maria whom he met in a Plymouth tavern. It was a time when piracy was an all male club and Maria was one of the few exceptions. Both were notorious for their cruelty and for sparing no quarter. Captured crews were murdered with some survivors even used for target practice. This left no witnesses. Then, their vessels were sunk to the bottom of the sea. Chillingly and frighteningly, Maria has been described as Canada’s Pirate Queen . She was definitely not a lady with which to tangle. By all accounts, Maria did not play second fiddle to her husb

Transports of Delight

Going for a spin around the Market Place - reckoned to be Blandford's first motor car. North of the town - Blandford's airfield in the 1930s. West Country locomotive Blandford Forum. 1919 transport to Blandford Camp for clerical staff. Bere Regis coaches - gone but not forgotten. Sprackling of Winterborne Stickland's double decker in the Market Place (1930s). Wilts & Dorset bus depot - no More!

'One for the Road!’

Drunkenness was an issue both within and outside the Dorset Constabulary in the mid 19th century. Dorset Constabulary Records - General Orders: 23 rd January 1862. ‘The conveyance of prisoners is one of the most important duties connected with the Constabulary. On 24 th December last a prisoner named Jeremiah Fudge was brought into Headquarters by PC Collins under the influence of liquor. The Chief Constable finds upon inquiry that he was given over to PC Marsh at Buckland Newton who took him to the Royal Oak Inn and gave him a pint of ale having been marched from Sturminster. He then brings him onto Piddletrenthide (4 miles) to PC Collins, who directs PC Marsh to go with the prisoner to the Green Dragon Inn where they were served with two pints of strong beer and PC Collins marched him on from there to Dorchester, going into a public house on his way and of course brings him in drunk. Persons in custody are to be allowed ordinary refreshment and nothing more but it appears that

Holton Heath's Tragic Explosion

Ten were killed and 23 were injured according to newspaper reports at the time. This made it one of Dorset’s worst ever industrial accidents. Holton Heath employees were blown into unrecognisable fragments necessitating a roll call of the factory’s entire staff before the identities of those killed were identified. Eleven men were originally believed to have been killed but when a roll call was held one turned up. A crimson red plume of acid vapour had towered into the sky resembling the shuddering eruption of a volcano. It was caused by the bursting of a sulphuric acid tank. Close by low buildings vanished and the shock affected houses for 20 miles with roof slates dislodged, ornaments knocked down and windows broken. The sound of the explosion could be heard at Shillingstone some 18 miles away. Closer to the factory, a hoe was wrenched from the hands of a gardener who was flung against a tree. One fortunate employee, Charles Rogers owed his life to having to leave, just before the

Bridport’s French Twin Town.

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in Normandy.

‘Stingo’, Dorset’s finest!

Stingo was a popular Dorset drink in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a barley wine yet it was not a wine. The drink was a strong ale. It was called a wine because Stingo was known for its high alcoholic content similar to wine and for its rich and complex flavours. It was most definitely a drink for sipping rather than quaffing. Barley wine was produced elsewhere in England and was also known as Ind Coope Triple A and as Tennant’s Gold Label but in Dorset it was definitely known as Stingo. Produced by Hall and Woodhouse in Blandford, it was brewed at a time when the company was managed by brothers John and Edward Woodhouse. The latter was a fine cricketer who captained Somerset County Cricket Club. Such was the fine pedigree of Stingo that it was truly a time in Dorset when you could truly claim: ‘I’m only here for the beer!’

William Chafin - Sport Mad Parson

He was the high-spirited parson initially of Lydlinch and then Chettle who was mad about sport. However, these were the uncivilised ‘ past times’ of the 1700s such as bull baiting, cockfighting and owl hunting. It was said he hunted ‘everything from the flea in the blanket to the elephant in the forest.’ He was also an author and a magistrate although writer Desmond Hawkins reckoned he regarded the law as an inconvenience to be broken or upheld according to what suited him. William Chafin was a crusty character and rural eccentric who wore old boots and greasy leather breeches even when dining with royalty. Young William’s sporting career began when he accidently shot and killed an old lady called ‘Goody’ . Somehow, the future cleric avoided court conviction but his father insisted he spent a month in a loft as a penance on just bread and water. During this confinement, he passed the time trap baiting sparrows. Only four of his eleven brothers and sisters survived which his fath

Blandford 34107

There were Shaftesbury, Blackmore Vale and Templecombe… and also Blandford Forum. All were railway locomotives from the age of steam with names from the West Country. Appropriately as a class, they were known as the ‘ West Countries’ . Because of their distinct and streamlined appearance they also became nicknamed the ‘ spam cans'. The ‘ West Countries’ were designed by Oliver Bulleid who was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway Company. The company ran trains in the south and west of England from Cornwall to Kent before the railways were nationalised in 1947. Locomotive Blandford (34107) was built by British Railways (Southern Region) and was the 1,000 th to be constructed by the Brighton Works when completed in April 1950. In November 1952, it was renamed as Blandford Forum. Initially Blandford was allocated to Bournemouth motive power depot which resulted in its use on the Weymouth-London (Waterloo) line. Occasionally, it might pass through Blandford on the

King Charles and the Hidden Trousers

With a large bounty for his head and after the execution of his father, King Charles II was prepared to pay virtually any price for help to flee the country. The King was hiding away from his pursuers in the home of Francis Wyndham at Trent on the Dorset/Somerset border. Wyndham was given the task of finding a vessel to convey the Monarch across the English Channel to safety. Mariner Stephen Limbry from Charmouth was due to take a cargo from Charmouth to St Malo in France on 22 September 1651. After some tough negotiating, a consideration of £60 was agreed to secure a crossing for the King’s party. (This would be around £25,000 in today’s money!) Disguised as a servant to a married couple, the King arrived at the Queen’s Arms Inn at Charmouth. The building gained its name, it is said, from it housing Catherine of Aragon for a night soon after she arrived in England. So as not to be recognised because the Inn was busy, Charles remained in the stables. Francis Wyndham and his servant

Dorset’s Smallest Station

Chetnole Halt, 20 miles north of Weymouth on the Heart of Wessex Line, is Dorset’s smallest station - around 1,000 passengers use it annually. It’s also a train request halt so passengers on the station platform have to signal to the driver to stop. Opened in September 1933, it was originally constructed of wood as in the above photograph. In the early 1960s, the Government tasked Dr Richard Beeching with reducing the cost of running the country’s railways. Dorset stations such as Wimborne, Lyme Regis and Blandford closed. How did Chetnole, a village with a population of just over 300 people, keep its station? Maybe it was an administrative oversight by the British Railways Board bureaucrats at 222 Marylebone Road in London?

Dorset Places 'Down Under'.

There’s many a link between the county of Dorset and place names ‘ down under’ . On the Australian island of Tasmania, nicknamed ‘Tassie’, the Tolpuddle Vineyard can be found. Located in the Coal River Valley, some twenty minutes north-east of Hobart, it is reckoned to produce some of the country’s finest wines. It gained its name from the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were transported to Australia for forming an agricultural trade union. Leader of the Martyrs, George Loveless, served his sentence working on a property which is now the Tolpuddle Vineyard. A bottle of Tolpuddle’s finest can be bought at Fortnum & Mason in London for a modest £100 and a London restaurant can charge even more! While if your preference is for a beer there is a Dorset Lager produced in a brewery a few miles south of Bridport. Tasmania has its own Land District of Dorset in the north-east of the island. Near the most north-easterly tip is Cape Portland , while some 50 miles to the west is the seaside h

Langton House

Langton House was at one time an exceedingly fine country house which could be found a couple of miles to the south of Blandford at Langton Long. Surrounded by trees, it was the home of the Farquharson family and was located on a bend in the River Stour. It had been built for James John Farquharson (1784-1871) who was renowned for his obsession with fox hunting and for his extravagances. As an example, to celebrate his coming of age, he held a great celebration which lasted four days and seated 300 guests. He became a Master of Hounds at Blandford and also the Sherriff of Dorset. Langton House had been built for Farquharson in the 1820s and in the 1840s had a staff of 30 servants. Much later, Langton House became, during World War II, the headquarters 0f the 1 st United States Infantry Division. Known as the ‘ Big Red One’ , they had already fought in Sicily and North Africa. Much of the detailed work for the US Forces assault on Normandy was carried out here. It is believed both Eise

Just three shillings a week!

In 1840, 13 year-old Alfred Chilcott of Burton Bradstock was signed up to a seven year rope making apprenticeship with Ephraim Matthams from Bridport. He was to be paid three shillings a week (15p) during the first year rising to seven shilling (35p) in the final year. His contract required him, during the term of his apprenticeship, not to: 1) Marry or commit fornication. 2) Play at cards or dice tables. 3) Haunt taverns or playhouses. 4) Absent himself from his master’s services unlawfully day or night. Young Alfred Chilcott, in agreeing to sign the contract, agreed to forfeit also any right to follow the trade of a miller or baker. In 1851, he was to marry blacksmith’s daughter Maria Knight in Burton Bradstock. A decade later, with a young family, they had moved to Portsea Island, Portsmouth. No doubt he was attracted by better pay making ropes for the Royal Navy. Around 1870, Alfred moved to the growing commercial port of Southampton living in the St Mary district. Burton Bradstock

‘Arripay’ - Poole’s Most Feared Pirate

Harry Page, also known as Harry Paye, was a notorious pirate, smuggler and adventurer from Poole. Scourge of the Spaniards and the French, they nicknamed him ‘Arripay’. Operating in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, he would attack Spanish and French vessels and bring their cargoes of gold, wine and exotic goods back to Poole. It has been claimed that he liberated so much alcohol on one occasion that it kept the whole of Poole drunk for a month. Harry was given permission by King Henry IV to inflict as much damage as he could to the King’s enemies. Harry led raids on the French and Spanish coasts from Normandy right down to the Bay of Biscay. To the people of Poole, he was an adventurer and a hero but to the Spaniards and French he was a criminal. In his home town, Harry was regarded as a maritime Robin Hood. In 1398, he sacked the town of Gijon in Northern Spain and stole a famous cross from a church in Finisterre. Six centuries later, Poole sent a replacement wooden cross over