The imposing George Inn has stood on Weymouth’s quayside for centuries in one form or another. Wealthy businessman Sir Samuel Mico had purchased the George Tavern in the 17th c for use as his residence when he came to Weymouth to see to business matters, many of his trading ships came into what was then…
Author: cannasue
1895 Wheeling and dealing ……..
The governments advice for people to get on their bikes and look for work is not a new sentiment. Even during the Victorian period people moved freely around the country following the work, such was the story of one northern family. In the 1860’s Enoch and Mary Ann Birkin had been living in their local…
1867; Danger Lurks in Portland Quarries.
The quarries on Portland are world renown. They are of a strange type of brutal beauty, glare from the white stone is blinding in bright sunshine, heat reflects mercilessly from calcified remains that makes up these huge slabs that tumble and totter precariously all around. Ultimately, their beauty belies the ever present danger that resides…
1891; Wyke Regis church receives its new bells
There is a sound you don’t hear very often these days, the ringing of church bells. I loved to hear them. At one time their merry peel would call villagers to worship on Sundays, ring out joyfully at wedding ceremonies, or the solemn death knell rung to mourn a person passing. In the Victorian era…
1873; The battle for Greenhill gardens;2013.
This is a very hot topic today in the local news…the local council seem to be stripping off all our best assets, and one that they are talking about selling off to a private investor are the renown Greenhill gardens. Not surprisingly this has a great many of the local residents up in arms. These…
1859; William Cooke’s Great National Circus Equestrian & Zoological Establishment Arrives in Weymouth.
One of my childhood memories was visiting the annual circus that came to town. I know nowadays that using performing animals is not politically correct, rightly so, but as a child in the 50’s people never considered that darker side of circus life. Excitement would bubble up in my chest as we were walking down…
July 1862; Brutal Murder in Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth.
Tonight being All Hallows Eve, with goblins, witches and ghouls flitting the streets, terrorising one and all on this dark eve, I thought tonight might be one for a tragic tale. It all came about on a summers day in July of 1862. Down in the village of Sutton (Sutton Poyntz) lived a normal working…
1862; Portland prison, The Pleasantness of Penal Servitude.
These facts are taken from an article penned by an unnamed author in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 23rd December 1862 and yes, that is genuinely what he titles his article…. The Pleasantness of Penal Servitude! They relate to the prison that was built on Portland to contain the convict labour force for building the Portland breakwater…
1824; Weymouth, the Great Storm
This being the morning before zero hour…I thought that this might well be a good time to write about the Great Storm of 1824 that hit the country. Those living on the South coast were worst hit. This is a tale of a storm that was so severe and so destructive that it has gone…
1892; Wyke Working Men’s Club.
A lot of us probably remember going to a working Mens Club of an evening, either with family or friends, or if you weren’t a member, then signing in as a guest to attend a party or wedding reception. In my case it was the under 18’s disco’s at the Weymouth workies. The Weymouth one…
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 