Category Archives: local history
Court Roll of a manor of Milton Abbey
This is a snippet from a court roll for the manor of Sydling St Nicholas which was then held by Milton Abbey. This one is dated 11 Jul in the 8th year of the reign of Richard II which can … Continue reading
Milton Abbas First School 1985 – 1991
Former headmaster Ron Karley has written up the school diary. He has very kindly donated a copy of this 280 A4 page, lavishly colour illustrated tome to the Milton Abbas Local History Group. This has been added to our Records … Continue reading
Posted in books, local, local history, Milton Abbas, social history
Leave a comment
BALH The British Association for Local History
The Milton Abbas Local History Group has been a member of BALH since January 2022. The link to their website together with the member’s discount code has been at the head of all 10 issues of the member Newsletter this … Continue reading
Posted in history, local history, social history
Leave a comment
James Jacob of Waterloo
(1790-1856) Research by Clive Barnes Veteran of Waterloo The returning soldier was a common theme in early 19C literature. This illustration is taken from an 1803 collection by Whatcombe-born poet William Holloway. James Jacob was the third son of carpenter … Continue reading
Posted in Dorset, local history
Leave a comment
Milton Abbas Lake
Our member Clive Barnes gave a presentation summarising his excellent research on the design and building of the dam and lake by Lord Milton to our history group on 1 June. This presentation with maps ‘Lord Milton and the Lake’ … Continue reading
Posted in Damer, document, Dorset, landscape, local history, transcription
Leave a comment
Six Little Girls Dressed in Blue: Lady Caroline’s “Spinning School”
Clive Barnes writes: On September 7 1789, six village girls walked up to Milton Abbey mansion house to meet King George III and his wife, Queen Charlotte. When the queen returned to Weymouth with “the K”, as she referred to … Continue reading
Fisherman’s Grave
While researching the field names of Milton Abbas and adding to our spreadsheet of 1185 of them, I was reading A D Mills ‘Place Names of Dorset, Part 3’. Page 225 mentions a field called Fisherman’s Grave. He found a … Continue reading
Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Hutchins, local history, Milton Abbas, records
Leave a comment
Field Names in Milton Abbas
The Milton Abbas Local History Group have some great resources for locating the field names of this parish. We have large scale maps of 1652, and 1770 which name the fields. We have put all this information into a spreadsheet. … Continue reading
Posted in landscape, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbas
Leave a comment
Discover your Parish Boundary
When did parish boundaries develop? How has your parish boundary changed in the past 1000 years? Why? It surprises me that there are not many local history groups who explore their parish boundaries. The boundary is an essential part of … Continue reading
Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Domesday, landscape, local history, records
Leave a comment
Jack Hargreaves: ‘Why 79 Dorset Villages vanished’
Thanks to Jill Arnold who runs the Arnold Family Facebook page who for reminding me of Jack Hargreaves. I used to watch his series of ‘Out of Town’ every week. Jack lived in Belchawell, just 5 miles from Milton Abbas. … Continue reading
Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Dorset, landscape, local history, Medieval history
Leave a comment
Milton Abbas Local History Group, Dorset, UK 