November 2014 - Somerset & Dorset Family History Society

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William Rowland – iron founder of Sherborne.

Posted on 23rd November 2014

William Rowland, one of Sherborne's iron founders, whose name can still be seen on gratings around the town, featured in one of Graham Bendell's talks at our Industrial Archaeology Day on 22 November William Rowland was born in Bristol about 1840 By 1851 his family had moved to Salisbury where his father was in business as an engineer and iron founder employing three men William was working for his father in 1861 as an engineer An advertisement in The Western Gazette, dated 11th October 1867,... more

Industrial Archaeology Day

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Our last Saturday event of the year was a real tour de force by Graham Bendell and Barry Brock who described aspects of Sherborne’s industrial heritage in a series of short illustrated talks which contained a positive wealth of information ‘Industrial Archaeology Day’ (held at our Family History Centre in Sherborne on 22 November) was chaired by George Tatham who said in his introduction that the afternoon could only provide a ‘taster’ of the subjects to be discussed and that he... more

Identifying a mystery object

Posted on 18th November 2014

Barbara Elsmore tells the fascinating story of an unusual object which she first encountered as a child in her grandparents' home in Nether Compton and with which she was recently reunited in Sherborne Ann-Marie Wilkinson, in her Chairman's musings in the latest Greenwood Tree, ponders on souvenirs and other items that our ancestors might have collected and prized and she suggests we should ask our relatives, if we can, why these items might be important to them I very much regret not asking... more

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