All posts in Articles

  • Woodbridge Mill
    JOHN BLOOM IN LONDON
    08/04/2012

    This is a poem written in the Dorset dialect by William Barnes. It is reported to have been inspired by the visit to the Great Exhibition in 1851 of Job […]

  • The Devil’s Piece
    20/02/2011

    John Gadd, our accessions officer, is a local historian and writer.  He has published several short stories in Fontmell Magna`s monthly magazine “ The Gossip Tree”  As this periodical is […]

  • Reminiscences from past and present residents
    16/02/2011

    A few years ago  a supplementary meeting was organized by the Fontmell Society at which parishioners were invited to speak on their memories of people and events. Some notes were […]

  • Manorial Court Records
    20/04/2010

    Manorial Court Records At the Dorset History Centre can be found 4 books under the reference D/GLY/B/1,2,3,4.  These are the records of the court of the Hundred of Sixpenny and […]

  • A Village Built on Water
    18/12/2009

    The first part of this poem has already appeared in the article Fontmell Poems – Grave and Gay. The full version of the poem written by Jeany Poulsen during the […]

  • The War Memorial
    27/08/2009

    Names on the War Memorial The War Memorial In 1919, a committee was set up to look into the design and cost of a Memorial Cross.  At a meeting with […]

  • Fontmell Poems – Grave and Gay
    24/02/2009

    FONTMELL POEMS – GRAVE AND GAY The Gossip Tree, established in 1994 and now in its 180th edition, has always been more than just a monthly village newsletter, as it […]

  • Brookland Wood sign
    Brookland Wood 10 Years on
    25/02/2007

    Kenneth Watkins (1909-1996) founded the Woodland Trust in 1972 in Devon where he had built up a successful agricultural machinery business. At the time there was no conservation body to […]

  • The Still Family of Fontmell Magna
    25/02/2007

    INTRODUCTION During 2006 our website received many enquiries about Fontmell antecedents, and several from descendents of the Still family. With their approval, we put them in touch with each other. […]

  • Tithes in Fontmell Magna
    14/02/2007

    In a previous article we looked at the introduction and development of land enclosures in Fontmell Magna. There is, however, another aspect of agricultural economics that required legislation in the […]