01935 429609

The SDFHS Blog

Lust and Litigation in 17th Century Dorset

Posted on 24th January 2021

Family history research can sometimes reveal the most fascinating and unexpected results This happened to me recently when I was researching my FULFORD ancestors I discovered details of a lawsuit that gave startling insight into a family member Margaret JEWELL was born in 1665 daughter of Anne Jewell (neé Fulford) The first name of her father and the marriage details of her parents are unknown (records are scarce for the Commonwealth period) On 4th August 1685 at Sydling St Nicholas she... more

Keeping Occupied

Posted on 14th January 2021

Keeping occupied during these strange times is a major challenge so I would like to take you back to the day I saw a wooden box of dominoes in the window of a charity shop and I bought it for the princely sum of £10 The dominoes came in a baize lined wooden box with a satisfactory brass catch and on the base it said ‘hand crafted by Tiverton craftsmen’ I gave the box a polish and put it up on a shelf in the sitting room The following week I was passing the same charity shop and there in... more

A Family Tradition of Bakers

Posted on 23rd December 2020

When I first tasted the delicious mince-pies on sale at The BakeOut my interest was sparked mainly because of the welcoming smiling face of Marcus, who is a great communicator, and so I asked him a couple of questions and I discovered that the mince-pies are made to an old family recipe and he showed me the machine that is used I found all this very intriguing —the 100 year old machine, the fact that I could buy items in Waitrose with the name Thomas Fudge on them and I was... more

Dorset’s Poldark?

Posted on 11th December 2020

The Captain Poldark of Winston Graham’s novels and the television series is well-known to many He was not though the only such military officer to have exciting adventures at the time of the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards Dorset too had such a hero Naval General Service Medal 1847 Photo courtesy of Hugh Pitfield - see below Joseph Edward Chilcott PITFIELD was baptised in 1788 in Buckland Ripers, the eldest son son of Joseph Pitfield and Mary SLADE,... more

Old yet ever Young

Posted on 9th December 2020

We have been presented with a magnificent new book for our library in Yeovil - Old Yet Ever Young - A New History of Sherborne School by Patrick Francis and David Ridgway Those of us who live in Sherborne often see the boys going about their daily lives as they walk from one part of the school to another We are invited to attend special events, such as the regular plays that are staged by the school together with Sherborne Girls' and Leweston School and the town is sometimes full of the... more

Member and Guest Blogs Welcome