Hello folks, you have noticed (or more likely not) that I have been missing for a while from my page.
That is because I have been struggling to finish my book and get it into print and with a great deal of help from my long suffering family I finally reached my goal!
Yipee…mentally turns cartwheels
So I can proudly say I am now the published author of Nothe Fort and Beyond.
Don’t think this is just a book about the military in Weymouth though…which of course it is…but it contains so much more.
Stories of Weymouth and Portland families, tales of the harsh conditions for the convicts and local quarrymen in the Portland dust bowls.
The doings of local bobbies in their fight to keep soldiers and residents on the straight and narrow.
There’s disasters, deaths, murders, suicides, and on somewhat a happier note marriages and love affairs.
Who knows, you might even find one of your relative’s tales within its pages.
available from Amazon at £9.99.
But fear yea not…I have loads of Weymouth tales ready and waiting in the pipeline, I spend an awful lot of time recumbent, day dreaming about local tales of old!
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 
Hi Susan – congrats on finishing your book! What time period does it cover?
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Hi History Explorer.
Thank you.
My book runs you through a brief history of the Nothe peninsula and Portland Roads starting from the Henrician period and Henry VIII’s need for a safe haven for merchant and naval shipping.
Followed by an outline of how and why the Coastal Defences were built which leads you into the main bulk of its story.
Based around the early to mid 19th century, it details the construction of the Nothe fort ( and covers a bit on the accompanying Portland Verne Citadel, prison, breakwaters and the government quarries) up until the 1860’s when the fort was finally finished and armed ready for its future occupants, the Coastal Artillery.
My love lies with the story of the people involved, albeit the soldiers, prisoners or the locals.
I’m a nosy mare, and find digging for the flesh of their tales fascinating.
Sue
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Congratulations to you for persevering.
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Thank you Chris. Long old somewhat bumpy haul, but felt so good once I’d got there.
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Hi – I came across your piece ‘Love is in the Air…Victorian Valentines’ while fleshing out some family history around Samuel Stoodley (1841-1900) and I noticed a couple of factual discrepancies which you may wish to consider.
1. George Ernest Yeatman was born Q4 1893 (FreeBMD) and not 1897.
2. George Ernest Yeatman died Q4 1896 age 3 years (FreeBMD) and so was not age 2.
3. Albert Samuel Yeatman was born Q2 1904 (FreeBMD)
4. Albert Samuel Yeatman died Q4 1905 (FreeBMD) and therefore did make his first birthday, but not his second.
N.B. ‘Earnest’ is an adjective; ‘Ernest’ is a name.
I enjoyed the narrative and have read some of the other pieces you have published.
Kind regards
Allan
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Morning Allan,
Thank you for the corrections, duly changed the details in my piece.
Whist rechecking the facts, I have also gathered a couple of bits of further information that might be of interest to you for your family tree.
George Ernest was christened at Weymouth’s Holy Trinity church on the 6th September 1893,(Dorset Parish records via Ancestry) so why he is listed as born in Q4 I’m not sure.
Albert Samuel Yeatman was born on the 5th April 1904 (Ancestry Dorset Parish Records) and christened on the 19th June, again at Holy Trinity.
As for the misspelling of Ernest…goodness only knows where my brains were that day!
Best wishes,
Sue
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