The Blandford Express

  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...

Henry Kentfield (also recorded as Kenfield) was a guard on the mail coach which ran from Dorchester to London back in the 1830s. As a defence against highwaymen, he carried a blunderbus, two pistols and a cutlass in a long tin box in front of him. Both post and passengers were carried and horses were changed every ten or so miles. He would have been the sole Post Office employee onboard as the driver would have been provided by a contractor. To ensure the driver kept strictly to the schedule, the guard carried a locked timepiece regulated to London time.  Kentfield would blow his horn at every place where a mail bag was to be collected. Dressed in his red frock coat uniform with blue flaps to the pockets and a blue collar, he had a sideline hustle which was a nice little earner. In collusion with the coachman, with the route passing through Blandford and Salisbury, he would take packages to the capital on his own account. He used to have eggs and butter brought to him by old dairym...

Archie Wellman, a Dorchester postman and his friend, Owen Wicks, a hairdresser’s assistant who worked on South Street, were both charged at Dorchester Assizes in May 1910 with fraudulently seeking to obtain money from a football betting company based in Holland. To secure their ends, the two men put together an ingenious scheme.  The betting company, owned by Fred Archer & Fred Bacon offered money prizes if the match scores were accurately predicted in return for an entry fee. All entries had to be posted before 2pm on Saturdays. Legal restrictions in Britain on betting were quite restrictive at the time and this is probably why the scheme operated out of Holland. Wicks made arrangements with a Cheshire based newspaper, the Athletic News to have the result of Saturday’s football matches telegrammed to him as soon as the games finished. These he would later post up in the hairdresser’s salon where he worked. Wicks received the football results at 4.56pm on the Saturday in questi...

  Such was the sympathy among Dorset folk towards smuggling that sometimes in the Dorchester Courtroom there were unexpected legal outcomes. Two Dorset men, James H Adstock and William White, who were natives of Portland, appeared before Justice Sir Stephen Gaselee at the Dorset Assizes in July 1826. They were charged with making signals to smugglers at Chesil Cove on the Isle of Portland. Their actions, on the 8th April, provided the bootleggers with the opportunity to make their escape from the pursuing customs men. It was a fine night so the officers said they could see clearly what was happening. It was reported in the Dorchester Courtroom that the two men were loitering on the beach at around two o’clock in the morning and were heard whistling extremely loudly after they espied two Prevention Officers approaching. Both men were known to these Officers. Upon hearing the whistling sound, a small boat carrying five men quickly departed the shore. Others ran towards the cliff. The...

It was something of a mystery why hundreds of rooks were falling from the skies. This was happening in January 1934 and all within just a few miles from the village of Melcombe Horsey, near Dorchester. The birds appeared to be flying from the direction of Wareham and Lulworth. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the county although there was some talk of it previously happening once in Hampshire. Hundreds were found dead in the woods and locals in North Hampshire were warned not to eat the dead birds. Local rookeries contained thousands of birds which proved unwelcome pests to the Dorset farmers. One theory expressed was that a farmer who had fields of young corn had steeped grain in arsenic or some other poison such as strychnine and scattered this over the land where the rooks fed. All the dead birds were either rooks or jackdaws and it was reported four cats, a dog and a fox also died in the neighbourhood. Followed the analysis of one of the dead birds, it was revealed it ...

Thomas Hardy wrote of this Barley Wine style beer: ‘It was the most beautiful colour that the eye of an artist in beer could deliver full of body yet brisk of as a volcano; piquant, yet without a twang; luminous as an autumn sunset, free from streakiness of taste but fully rather heady.’ ( Trumpet Major) Named after the Dorset author and poet, it was created by Dorchester brewers, Eldridge Pope to mark the 40th anniversary of Hardy’s death. However production ceased when the brewery closed in 2003 following its sale to a property company. In 2013 the recipe was acquired by Italian  brewer, Interbrau and from time to time they arrange for special batches of Thomas Hardy Ale to be produced. It has been claimed that Thomas Hardy Ale will last for 25 years.

Genges, at the corner of Dorchester’s High West Street and Trinity Street, was once the largest store in the town. Each year, Genges would have a Santa’s Grotto. At Christmas time, back in 1951, Dorchester children in the Grotto, waiting their presents, experienced something of a surprise. Father Christmas lit up a cigarette and his beard just burst into flames. The name of Genges can be seen above the former store’s frontage in High West Street. (Source: Sunday Express - 16th December 1951.)

  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...

Some breweries are cherishingly remembered while others are now forgotten: Eldridge Pope  of Dorchester. Founded in 1837 by Charles and Sarah Eldridge, a new brewery was built near the railway line in 1880. Edwin Pope had joined in 1870 and was followed by his brother Alfred. The Huntsman   trademark (featured) was shared with Leeds based brewer, Joshua Tetley. Thomas Hardy Ale, a strong barley wine, was one their most famous beers. Eldridge Pope closed in 2003 and the site was sold to a property company. Bournemouth Brewery was founded at 117 Holdenhurst Road in 1858 in association with Heath Poult Inn.  One of its owners was a Mrs Hilda G  Ogden. The brewery was bought by Strong of Romsey in 1925 and survived just as a depot until 1973 when the site was redeveloped. Devenish of Weymouth. Originally the Flew Brewery, it was bought by William Devenish in 1824. In 1931,  Major J Devenish’s home was burgled but the stolen silver was discovered the next day by scho...

Dorset clergyman, Henry Moule’s claim to fame was the invention of the earth closet toilet. Born in 1801, he was the sixth son of twelve children of a solicitor, went to Cambridge University and was appointed Rector of Fordington in 1829 -  now part of Dorchester. In 1860, he patented his invention. At the time, Fordington had an inadequate water supply from polluted shallow wells. All the closets in the village were cesspits or privies and as a consequence fever was hardly ever absent. Conditions were ripe for the spread of cholera and he became convinced that its spread was caused by appalling sanitation. Cholera outbreaks in Fordington in 1849 & 1854 had a devastating effect on the clergyman. The village suffered in particular from crowded dwellings, filthy courtyards and a poverty stricken population. When administering to a dying man, Moule witnessed sewage bubbling up through the cottage’s floor. Within a space of no more than five acres some 1,100 people were congregat...

Rampisham Down was a major BBC World Service shortwave transmission station and home to a vast array of antennae and masts. Its location, between Dorchester and Crewkerne,  was chosen for its remoteness and suitability for radio transmissions with little interference. The station supported services in multiple languages including English, Russian and Arabic. BBC Rampisham Down was established in 1939 just before World War II and during the war’s early years it was subject to several attacks from the German Air Force. Transmission halls on the 189 acre site were separated by heavy blast walls. The facility played a key role in international broadcasting for several decades and represented an alien landmark on a rural landscape. During the Cold War, Rampisham provided broadcasts to countries where access to news and information was restricted. Transmissions in Russian were regularly jammed by the Soviet authorities. During the severe winter of 1963, heavy snow falls caused Rampisham ...

  Dorset clergyman, John White (1575-1648) did as much as any person to set up the colony of  Massachusetts leading eventually to the establishment of the United States of America. He was Rector of Holy Trinity and St Peter’s Churches in Dorchester, England from 1606-1648. For organising and encouraging emigration to the New World, John White has been described as the Founder of Massachusetts. Yet he never visited the new colony. He was a puritan at a time when there was much religious persecution in England. His first colonial project, the Dorchester Company failed but his second involving the forming of the New England Company was more successful. In March 1830, the Mary  and John  set sail from Plymouth for the New World with 140 passengers on board. Upon landing after a ten week crossing the settlement of Dorchester, Massachusetts was founded. Many were from Dorset, Devon and Somerset. Weeks later other ships followed and the Great Migration began. John White was...

Back in the 1600s, attendance at church on Sundays was compulsory, particularly in Dorchester.  Failure to do so could lead to a fine of one shilling (5p) - at a time when the average weekly wage was around six shillings (30p). Costs could also be added to the fine. Legislation on church attendance had been introduced back in 1558. Going to church was not only required on the Sabbath but also on all Holy Days. Both constables and church officers regularly called into the homes of non-attendees. Excuses were varied and those received  in Dorchester included: John Facy and his wife said they were too busy baking to go. While a man who missed an afternoon service claimed that his constitution could not cope with three sermons in a day. Despite this he was still fit enough to walk two miles to fetch a horse. Other excuses made included coming home from Blandford and making a deal at Fordington. Barber-surgeon Gabriel Butler was allowed one absence by pleading he was attending a pa...

  Featured is Coryates Halt which could be found on the Abbotsbury branch line. It opened in May 1906 but closed in December 1952. Other now almost forgotten Dorset railway stations include: Abbotsbury opened in November 1885: closed in December 1952. Broadstone opened in December 1872: closed for passengers in March 1966. Bridport East Street opened in March 1884: closed in September 1930. Bridport West Bay opened in March 1884: closed for passengers in September 1930. Blandford (Blandford Forum from September 1953) opened in November 1860: closed for passengers from March 1966. Charlton Marshall opened in July 1928: closed in September 1956. Creekmoor Halt opened in June 1933: closed in March 1966. Lyme Regis opened in August 1903: closed for passengers in November 1965. Portland opened in October 1865: closed for passengers in March 1952. Powerstock opened in November 1857: closed for passengers May 1975. Sandsfoot Castle (on Portland branch line) ...

Francis Fane was the silent but rather mischievous Dorset MP who loved a joke and can  also  be regarded as the founder of the village of Spetisbury. Francis Fane was born in the village in 1750 and served as the Member of Parliament for Dorchester from 1790-1807. In line with his taciturn reputation, there is only one record of him speaking in Parliament where he raised just a single question. One day Frances Fane was travelling up to London sitting comfortably inside a horse drawn mail coach when sitting above, in the open, was a barber from Dorchester. The latter’s heavily laden coat pocket hung temptingly over the MP’s open coach window. Francis could not resist slitting the inviting pocket and salvaging its contents which turned out to be a large bundle of bank notes. These had been entrusted to the barber to deliver safely to London. When the Dorchester hairdresser realised his loss he was in a state of apoplexy and extreme desperation. The mischievous MP then produced...

  Otto Koehn was a Dorchester prisoner of war nicknamed ‘ Jack in a Box’ for his extraordinary exploit. He was a distinguished-looking young man with fair hair and a slight fair moustache. Just 22 years old, he wore a pince-nez. Travelling on a Dutch vessel from the USA to Germany, Otto had been arrested when it berthed at Falmouth. At the start of World War I, he was interned in the prisoner of war camp at Poundbury just outside Dorchester. This was a large camp with as many as 4,500 German and Austrian prisoners. No sooner had Otto arrived in Poundbury, he started to scheme his escape. The opportunity arose when he heard that a group of elderly interns were being sent back to Germany, for humanitarian reasons, as a part of a prisoner exchange agreement with the British. They would travel to Tilbury by train and join the steamer, SS Batavia. After arriving in Rotterdam, they could easily return to the Fatherland. In the prisoners’ canteen Otto bought a box which had contained mat...