Articles
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Fontmell Magna in Australia
Fontmell Magna in Australia In 2011 a couple, Brenton and Therese Leitch from Highbury, South Australia visited Fontmell where their their family lived and worked 150 years ago. They were shown round the village by Member John Enderby, to whom they sent a delightfully-written and illustrated, privately printed book of their family`s history. The book…
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JOHN BLOOM IN LONDON
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 Rose, the miller at Woodbridge Mill. JOHN BLOOM IN LONDON (All true) John Bloom he wer a jolly soul, A grinder o’ the best o’…
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The Devil’s Piece
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 distributed to residents and ex-residents only, website viewers may be interested in these intriguing tales based on an imaginary Fontmell of the past. The author…
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Reminiscences from past and present residents
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 taken which are interesting and should be recorded before memories fade – and the notes get lost! Happily the late Harold and Ida Stainer were…
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Manorial Court Records
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 the Manor of Fontmell. The first book commences with the court held in October, 1698; the 4th book ends with the record of the court held…
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A Village Built on Water
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 Dorset Landscape in Words and Pictures Course at Springhead in 1994 fully deserves to be read in its entirety. Far below ground clear water trickles…
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The War Memorial
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 parishioners in April, a “very beautiful, though not elaborate” design by Sir Richard Glyn was chosen. The cross itself was to be of Portland stone,…
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Fontmell Poems – Grave and Gay
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 also carries items of literary merit. There are now over 50 poems written by Fontmellians or about the village itself in the magazine. A selection…
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Brookland Wood 10 Years on
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 protect small woods, spinneys and copses and he recognised the value of these to people, the environment and wildlife. He could not have dreamed how…
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The Still Family of Fontmell Magna
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. It soon became apparent that their family stories revealed a vivid and detailed account of aspects of the village history which broad generalizations cannot provide.…