Author Archives: miltonabbashistorygroup

1921 Census

©Bryan Phillips May 2025 Our member and group secretary, Deborah Paterson, has carried out an enormous amount of work on the 1921 Census. This is not available on opc.dorset (nor is the 1911 Census). She has used the original Census … Continue reading

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Kings of Wessex Remembered

Exhibition and Talks

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Finds

©Bryan Phillips March 2025 Thanks to Charles Bullock for sharing his finds with us. He has been metal detecting in Milton Abbas for some time now and has found some extraordinary items which, with our existing knowledge of the history … Continue reading

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Graffiti in Milton Abbey Church, a first look

© Clive Barnes Jan 2025 We are not talking here about the kind of graffiti you can create with a spray can and you find on railway bridges and elsewhere. The graffiti that interests us are the ancient, often unnoticed, … Continue reading

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House History

© Anne Brown Dec 2024 At our meeting 4 December 2024 following Bryan Phillips’ presentation on ‘Researching Local History’, many members expressed an interest in studying their house history. Bryan gave an indication of how to start your house history … Continue reading

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“Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” – song, Good Charlotte

© Anne Litchfield Dec 2024 A peek into the life and lifestyle of Jacob Bancks 1704-1738 through his goods and assets as outlined in the inventory attached to probate documents in The National Archives. When he died in 1738 aged … Continue reading

Posted in Damer, local history, Milton Abbas, Milton Abbey, Old Town of Milton Abbas, records | 1 Comment

Markets and Fairs

©Bryan Phillips Nov 2024 See our new webpage for yet another mystery in the history of Milton Abbas. There is an explanation of St Sampson’s day fair on this website too. Milton Abbas fair was the second biggest in Dorset … Continue reading

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Blandford Literary Festival

1831 Riots ©Bryan Phillips Nov 2024 Blandford Museum has been been working with the University of the West of England (UWE) to bring the story of the 1831 Reform Riots to public attention. One of the riots took place in … Continue reading

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Cerne Abbas: its abbey and giant

©Bryan Phillips Oct 2024 We were at the recent conference ‘Cerne Giant and other Wessex Hill Figures’ at the Dorset Museum which discussed the dating of the phallic giant. There were some interesting talks: one by Barbara Yorke, University of … Continue reading

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Winchester College Archives – new findings

©Bryan Phillips Oct 2024 A huge thank you to Winchester College and their archivist, Suzanne Foster, for helping the Milton Abbas Local History Group with its medieval research. There are early manorial documents concerning many of Milton Abbey’s manors. These … Continue reading

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