Thomas Rowlandson’s Blandford

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 London having avoided the prospect of being attacked by highwaymen on its journey from the capital via Salisbury. No doubt the travel weary passengers were looking forward to re-victualing in one of the town’s twenty-one hostelries. In the Market Place there were the Greyhound and Red Lion Inns while opposite could be found the Blue Boar on the site now occupied by the Corn Exchange. After refreshments, the coach will continue its journey to Exeter..

Thomas Rowlandson was also a caricaturist and satirist known for his biting portrayals of politicians, fashions, gambling and even the Royal Family. His other Dorset illustrations include the King’s Arms Dorchester and a View near Bridport. When he died in 1827, he had been so prolific in his work that it was said they could have papered the walls of China with his drawings. Rowlandson had lived his life to the full as a heavy drinker, gambler and womaniser but he left behind a remarkable record of what life was really like in this Georgian era.

Thomas Rowlandson - probably a self-portrait.

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The Blandford Express

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