Folks lined the grassy slopes along Greenhill common, watching as men dragged their wooden boats and heavy rope nets down the beach and into the water. Time after time they rowed out into the wind swept bay, laying nets behind them. Having circled round, they then began the hard work. Men heaved and hauled in their cumbersome nets, moving ever closer to shore.
Category: Death and disasters
Love is in the Air…Weymouth & Portland’s Victorian Valentines
Well, as Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, I eagerly await to see what glittering jewels and delicious delights my beloved will present to me early that morn…(don’t even go there!) It might surprise you to know that celebrating St Valentine’s Day is nothing new, it has been observed for centuries, apparently made popular by Geoffrey Chaucer…
Ringing in the New Year Victorian Style; Weymouth and Portland.
Well…that’s yet another year year done and dusted. My old Mum always used to say the older you get, the faster they go, and true to her oh so wise (but often infuriating) words, the older I’m getting, the faster they’re bloody well going. In fact they’ve now almost hit warp speed! New Year’s Eve is…
Hitting the Headlines; Weymouth 1869.
When you stroll through the streets of Weymouth, do you ever gaze up at the at the old windows and mansards of these historic buildings and wonder what silent spectres peer through their bubbled panes or pondered the scenes they may have witnessed during their long existence. The lives of our ancestors past, of their families, neighbours and…
Death Becomes Us…Weymouth Wills and Legacies.
It’s often strange where a line of research takes you. What starts out as a simple enquiry ends up uncovering parts of Weymouth’s history that I never knew about, their family lines and tales twisting and weaving through time and place and the story of Weymouth itself. I was rummaging through the National Probate Calendar…
Weymouth Maritime Mishaps and Mayhem of 1857
Being on the coast and both valuable ports for trade, Weymouth and Portland have had their fair share of shipping disasters. Take the year 1857 and a peek into local papers reveals a concoction of calamities for those working the local waters. Even nowadays crowds love to stop and watch Weymouth’s town bascule bridge be raised to let…
Executions of Crabchurch Conspirators Upon The Nothe Headland.
Follow this link to Mark Vine’s excellent blog that covers Weymouth’s vital involvement in the English Civil War. The Executions of the Crabchurch Conspirators Upon The Nothe Headland.. I can highly recommend this book if you have a love of Weymouth’s history.
1867; Danger Lurks in Portland Quarries.
The quarries on Portland are world renown. They are of a strange type of brutal beauty, the glare from the white stone is blinding in the bright sunshine, the heat reflects mercilessly from the calcified remains that makes up the huge slabs that tumble and totter precariously all around. Ultimately, their beauty belies the ever present…
1896; Tragedy at Upwey mill, Weymouth.
One of the prettiest little villages on the outskirts of Weymouth is Upwey. As you drive into the meandering village, the houses and buildings snuggle themselves down into a wooded valley, and in the midst of this stands the tall building of the Upwey mill. It’s fed by the river Wey which springs out of…
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 