The Blandford Express

Hector’s Brewery could once be found on the bank of the River Stour at Blandford St Mary close to Blandford bridge. Described as ‘most delightfully situated’, it had gained its name from John Hector who bought the lease and ran the brewery with his sons between 1826 and 1879. Hector played an important role in the local community and was also a churchwaden. The brewery had been in existence since 1789. Before this, many houses had their own malt houses. In those destroyed in the 1731 fire, there were six in Blandford St Mary with malt houses. In 1879, Hector’s Brewery was bought by Horace Baydon Neame. He was a Kent farmer and hop grower and a member of the Kentish Shepherd Neame brewing family from Faversham. Neame then sold the brewery, together with two maltings at Winterborne Stickland and 15 pubs, to Hall & Woodhouse in 1882. Brewing by Hall & Woodhouse continued for almost 20 years at both Ansty and Blandford St Mary. Some 30 people were employed at Ansty and around 4...

  Nicknamed ‘ Diamond Pitt’, Thomas Pitt was a clergyman’s son who was born in Blandford St Mary in 1653. During his lifetime, he bought and sold a diamond considered by many to be the most pure and beautiful ever discovered. In 2018, it was valued at £14,000,000. Today, it is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is known as both the ‘ Pitt Diamond’ and also the ‘Regent Diamond’ . The diamond was found by a slave in southern India and he hid it in a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain found out about the diamond and lured the slave onto his vessel. He threw the slave overboard and stole the gem which he sold to a diamond merchant. The seaman later committed suicide. Thomas Pitt, who was the Governor of Madras and a testy character, bought the diamond for £20,400. His son, Robert brought the jewel back to England hidden in the heel of his shoe. The jewel was cut, a process which took two years and cost £5,000. The cut-off fragments fetched around £4,000. By then...

  Hall & Woodhouse have been brewing beers in the heart of Dorset for more than 200 years. Charles Hall began brewing in Ansty in 1777 and came to Blandford in 1883 when the business acquired Hector’s Brewery located on the banks of the River Stour. Established in the 1780s, it was named after John Hector who ran the business from 1827 to 1879. Sadly in August 1900, Hector’s Brewery was burned down. Such was the conflagration that villagers travelled into Blandford to view the spectacle. A local newspaper reported that the watching crowd was most orderly and all that went missing were just a few apples from Mr Woodhouse’s orchard. In October 1900, a new brewery completed its first brew. Hector’s Brewery was remembered many years later when a special ‘ Hector’s Ale’ was produced. While the ‘ Badger ’ has been the company’s hallmark for many years there was a dispute over its use with a Yorkshire mineral manufacturer. The dispute was resolved finally when Hall & Woodhouse ma...