Category Archives: Milton Abbas
Who built the new village of Milton Abbas?
It is not certain who was responsible for the design and building of the new “model” village of Milton Abbas. The names that have vied for credit are Sir William Chambers, one of Lord Milton’s architects, and Lancelot “Capability” Brown, … Continue reading
Bills and Receipts of the Overseers of the Poor of Milton Abbas 1787- 1823
In the Dorset History Centre there are some 140 pieces of paper catalogued at PE-MIL/OV/2. These are the bills and receipts of our Overseers of the Poor. We are in the process of transcribing them. They provide further information to … Continue reading
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Milton Abbas shoemaker
We have the account book of Joseph Rogers 1830 – 1839. It gives a unique glimpse into the life of a shoe maker in a rural Dorset village. The handwriting of Joseph Rogers, is small and cramped and this was … Continue reading
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Transcribing
This is a recent example of the kind of transcription that takes so many hours of painstaking work. It is a tiny part of the will of Richard Squybbe 1591. At least it is in English! Some wills of this … Continue reading
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A House Through Time, BBC2
We have been watching David Olusoga’s third series on ‘A House Through Time’ broadcast on BBC2 This is a fascinating programme showing how good research can bring to life ordinary people and how they faced tragedies in a particular household. … Continue reading
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Is there history in your attic, garden or fields, sheds or barns?
On 23-25 May 2020, Milton Abbas Local History Group will be holding a free entry exhibition in St James Church and the Reading Rooms, Milton Abbas, featuring village life before the 20th century. We are looking for any objects or … Continue reading
Posted in archaeology, local history, Milton Abbas, social history
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The People who were paid for catching vermin
From an analysis of the names occurring in the Churchwarden’s Accounts 1750 – 1752, it seems clear that it was mostly children and a couple of housemaids who were being paid for catching vermin. These came from many of the … Continue reading
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Overseers of the Poor
We are now working on transcribing Book 3 which covers the years 1818 – 1830. The way of accounting has changed from previous books – here the entries still include about 20 people being paid monthly on out relief, but … Continue reading
Movie Clip in Milton Abbas
This 5 second video clip occurred in the middle of the BBC Countryfile program broadcast 1 Sep 2019. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the program which concerned evacuees of Word War 2. We would love … Continue reading
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The Will of Sir John Tregonwell 1563
This is the longest, oldest, and certainly the most tedious will that we have ever transcribed. One of our transcribers has single-handedly completed the mammoth task of transcribing the 19 pages of tightly spaced, 16th century legal writing. We owe … Continue reading
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