Category Archives: social history

Blandford Literary Festival

Posted on November 6, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

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 →

Posted in local history, social history | Leave a comment

The Lives of Ordinary People

Posted on June 23, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Jun 2024  A recent article by Ruth Goodman in Who Do You Think You are? July 2024 p20 asks why the educational curriculum for history is full of Hitler, Napoleon, and Britain’s kings and queens. Where are the … Continue reading →

Posted in local history, Milton Abbas, Overseers of the Poor, social history | Leave a comment

One Place Studies

Posted on May 8, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips May 2024 If you have an ancestor who came from Milton Abbas at any time in the past going as far back as 1317 then you are in luck! We have already done the research that you need … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Churchwardens, document, Dorset, family history, local, local history, Milton Abbas, Old Town of Milton Abbas, Overseers of the Poor, Parish Registers, social history | Leave a comment

The Sale of Hilton manor to Lord Milton 1784

Posted on April 7, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

© Bryan Phillips Apr 2024 We have obtained some high resolution images of the deed of sale of the village of Hilton to Lord Milton. This was dated 15 May 1784, and there are twenty large pages of it. One … Continue reading →

Posted in Damer, local history, Medieval history, social history, transcription, Tregonwell | Leave a comment

Research Group

Posted on February 5, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Our Old Town Project research group have all the documents relevant to the period in Milton Abbas history when Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, Earl of Dorchester owned the parish and moved the town to its current location. All these documents … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Capability Brown, Damer, local history, Medieval history, Metal Detecting, Old Town of Milton Abbas, social history | Leave a comment

Overseers of the Poor Accounts

Posted on December 15, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Published OoP Accounts books are as rare as hen’s teeth. I remain astonished by this fact since not only are they a name rich source for family historians but they are also a prime example of showing the living and … Continue reading →

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Evidence from local Parish Registers

Posted on October 6, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Turnworth 1747 Whipping boys at Rogationtide perambulations There is a great deal of evidence of how people lived and played in records, sometimes in surprising places. It is always good practise to view the original documents rather that transcriptions by … Continue reading →

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The Hilton Controversy 1848

Posted on July 18, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Thanks to Samantha Fiander for finding some thirteen letters and editorials published in The Times between 26 October and 29 November 1848 concerning the typhus epidemic in Hilton during that year. This search was prompted by the article in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Damer, document, local history, Parish Registers, social history, transcription | Leave a comment

Medieval Peasant Life

Posted on April 18, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

I am writing a series of articles about Milton Abbas during the reign of Edward II 1307 – 1325 and trying to discern what life was like for the people living here 700 years ago. Milton Abbas was a very … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbey, social history | Leave a comment

Wool Stealers of Milton Abbas

Posted on March 25, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

The following are a huge cast of interrelated characters named by Clive Barnes in his research on the Wool stealers gang of 1836.  Why not find out more about these people and what life, poverty and justice was like in the … Continue reading →

Posted in family history, history, local history, Milton Abbas, records, social history | Leave a comment