The Blandford Express

Gathering of moss in Dorset on a commercial basis is now a lost trade. This used to take place on Okeford and Belchalwell Hills in North Dorset. Some mossers would use rakes while others would gather the moss using their bare hands. Orders would arrive from Covent Garden merchants in London . Bags of moss were labelled and despatched from Shillingstone by train to London - Waterloo via the junction at Templecombe. Bad weather did not deter the gatherers and snow was removed to access the moss. Shillingstone moss was valued by Covent Garden traders for its ability to hold moisture around plants. It was used for packing and decoration purposes.  In June 1906, three men and two women from Woodcutts, Salisbury were apprehended by police constable Bleathman for gathering ‘two or three bags’ of moss, valued at five shillings (25p). This was taken from land at Melbury Abbas belonging to Sir Richard Glyn. Each was fined five shillings with costs of thirteen shillings and four pence (circa ...

Panda  Blue Rasperry Ade, Strawberry Jelly & Ice Cream and Casper Ghostly Limeade were all unique soft drink flavours produced by the Panda Pops brand owned by Badger Beers. Panda Pops were often sold in small bottles of fizzy drink that were as sweet and sticky as it was as possible for them to be. Other popular Panda Pop flavours were Cherry Ade and Bright Green Cola. Even more singular blends could be concocted by mixing two or more flavours in a Panda Pops mixing bowl. Panda Cola achieved a sort of cult status and there is even a song, ‘ Warm Panda Cola’ . While among Panda aficionados there was even the spoof blend of Princess Diana Memorial flavour! The Blandford drink competed remarkably well against American giants Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. Panda Pops date back to the 1960s when the Blandford brewer dropped the name of Sunparlor for its soft drink brands. Sunparlor had also been the name of a winning race horse owned by a member of the Woodhouse family. Cream soda was...

These days most toys seem to be made in China. Yet 70 years ago, some very fine toys were made in Blandford. Wend-al was a Blandford company which was a highly regarded maker of aluminium toy figures. Edgar Kehoe was its founder. Immediately after World War II he was looking for a business opportunity. Travelling in France, he discovered his opportunity in the town of Luxeuil-les-Bains where a company named Quirala was making die cast aluminium figures. At the time, lead was more commonly used in the manufacture of toy figures. This company, located in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Compte, did not use lead but solid aluminium. Quirala was a combination of the company founder’s surname Quirin and the word aluminium. Edgar Kehoe realised that solid aluminium was stronger and lighter than lead and would not break. As a consequence, he struck up a deal to use French moulds and so production began in Blandford in 1946. He opened his factory in the former Blandford Isolation Hospita...

Although Blandford is known today for brewing and for button making in the past, gloving has also been an important industry in the town. Gloving dates back to at least the early 1700s as glover, John Creech is recorded as suffering great financial loss due to the Great Fire of Blandford in 1731. Robert & Edward Fisher in the Market Place, John Homer & Henry Edmunds in East Street and Thomas Bennett in Salisbury Street were all involved in the glove making business. The Will of John Homer, glover of Blandford Forum can be found in the National Archives. It is reckoned in 1851 there were some 1,700 people in Dorset described as glovers. The trade employed a significant number of outworkers with many living in the villages around Blandford. This enabled women to supplement their husband’s low agricultural wage while remaining at home to look after children. This system also made economic sense as the sale of gloves was highly seasonal business much dependant on the weather. Wool ...

A Portland man claimed he was brought up as a child to help smugglers run cargoes ashore at Church Hope Cove - a small, secluded beach on the eastern side of the Isle of Portland. Later, as a young man, he remembered one night landing 150 kegs of brandy there and then hurrying home to bed. He had not been in bed long before a coastguard officer knocked on the door asking him to help the Service out. He agreed and did this for several days and was then offered a job onboard the Revenue cutter Eagle. This meant chasing smugglers up and down the English Channel, confiscating their goods and sending them to Dorchester Gaol. Curiously these coastguard officers were smugglers themselves continuously making flying trips across the Channel and bringing home cargo after cargo of contraband goods. They would then sail out and capture some poor smuggler who never did half the business they did in a month. This group of reprobate officials was led by a former lieutenant in the British Navy. (Sourc...

In the Bridport News of Friday 6th February 1903, nonagenarian Digory Hopkins Gordge recalled his time as a Charmouth smuggler. With agricultural wages depressingly low, at around 16 old pence (6p) per day, merely carrying goods from a smuggling vessel to shore could earn around 30 old pence (12p) per night. This was an attractive proposition and could help to put food on the table. While farmers might complain about the effects of smuggling on their workforce, they would also be grateful to make gains from the trade themselves. Born in Bridport in 1809, Digory remembered in the 1830s a French lugger, carrying kegs of brandy, lying about four miles off shore. French crews, mainly from Cherbourg, would ship cargoes to the Dorset coast. They were guided to favoured landing places by fast growing clumps of trees planted on hills behind each inlet. Only the darkest nights were chosen for a smuggling job. As many as 70 men, drawn from local villages, put off in boats and came back with two ...

  Blandford’s 1891 Census lists the following people in Alexandra Street: Ambrose Tiller            (48)      Head               Marionette  Proprietor Elizabeth Tiller            (61)      Wife Ambrose Tiller             (22)      Son                  Musician Lucy Tiller                    (19)      Daughter         Costumier   Walter Tiller               (25)      H...

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.)

Charles Weeks, like many men and women in Dorset in the early 1700s, was deeply enmeshed in the smuggling trade. He operated at Lulworth and all along the Dorset coast and would land goods like brandy, tea and tobacco to evade paying heavy taxes. The rugged coastline provided secretive landing spots that were difficult for customs officials to patrol. Charles Weeks’s house was described as ‘a general magazine of snuff, pepper, cocoa nuts (beans), coffee and other goods.’ Weeks acted also as an organising agent for other smuggling merchants. He lived at Winfrith and recruited most of the village to work for him in the smuggling trade. He had a particularly crafty method of evading customs officials. He would mix seized contraband goods, which he bought at auction, with his own illicit smuggled items. When challenged, he was able to produce legitimate receipts. If this was not accepted, he would threaten litigation knowing that custom officials would be unlikely to follow up as they were...

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...

  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...

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 ...

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...

Beaminster Tunnel opened on 29th June 1832. It is reckoned to be the only pre-railway road tunnel in the country still in use. The tunnel was built to take the road under Horn Hill thus avoiding a 1 in 6 gradient which was particularly difficult for horse-drawn traffic. Teams of horses were required to pull the wagons and carts up and over the hill. Engineer Michael Lane on this project also worked with the Brunels on the Thames Tunnel linking Rotherhithe with Wapping. Lane rose from foreman bricklayer to become one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s most trusted assistants because of the quality of his work. He almost lost his life when the Thames Tunnel flooded. Michael Lane later became Chief Engineer on the Great Western Railway. The tunnel was opened with much ceremony with the day being regarded in Beaminster, according to the Dorset County Chronicle,  as something of a holiday. Promoter of the project was local solicitor, Giles Russell who raised £13,000 by public subscription. Ce...

  Henry, the diminutive vacuum cleaner with eyes and a cheeky grin was conceived in Beaminster. Today, Henry is the only mass-produced consumer vacuum cleaner still produced in Britain. Numatic, the company that produces Henry was founded in Crewkerne in 1969 with just six employees. In 1971 the business moved to a Yeovil watermill and with  continued growth transferred to Broadwindsor Road,, Beaminster in 1974. During a trade show in Portugal in the 1970s, business owner Chris Duncan chalked a a wide grin under the hose outlet of the latest model together with a pair of eyes above. The model was then named, Henry. This caused such an amused reaction among onlookers that  Chris Duncan realised he had stumbled upon a potentially winning concept. The Henry model was then introduced commercially in 1981. To meet the growing customer demand, the company had to move production to Chard, Somerset in 1990. Henry also has sibling model variants named Hetty, Harry and James. There...

James Shatford was the talented but quite eccentric actor/manager of Blandford’s Theatre. He was a clearly recognisable character around the town. Typically, he might be wearing an outfit of a spangled waistcoat, peach coloured silk stockings, a hat with gold tassels and red slip on slippers. One of his foibles was an utter distaste for umbrellas. He preferred to get wet to the skin rather than hoist an umbrella above his head. Likewise, he would wear ill-matching clothes and shirts with huge frills and deep ruffles on his hands.  Usually, he would take breakfast around midday. While in a barber’s chair, he might impatiently write some half a dozen letters and then stand up and quit the chair half-shaven with his chin bleeding. He might then go shopping to buy a pie and wine for his evening dinner. Despite being an exceedingly slim young man with his taste for the good things in life he soon acquired a bulky appearance as he grew older. Theatre tickets could be bought from him ...

  When a Langton Long postman opened up Blandford Post Office on a Sunday morning in April 1949, he discovered quite a surprise. A London based gang had blown the door of the strong room wide open. The robbers had got away with £12,000 worth of cash, stamps and savings vouchers (about £445,000 in today’s money.) The thieves were apparently aware that the Post Office would be unoccupied from 9.00pm on Saturday evening until its opening early on Sunday morning.  Post bags had been placed around the door to muzzle the noise of the explosion and the door of the strong room had been completely blown out. The Head Postmaster’s office had also been completely ransacked. The police suspected the raiders made their getaway along the Blandford-Warminster road. So, a 25 mile search was carried out along the road behind walls, hedges and fences looking for gelignite and other equipment. The police regarded the break-in as highly skilled. At the time, Percy Carter was the owner of the to...