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…
Category: Weymouth tales
Stories from around Weymouth
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…
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…
1868; Weymouth, The errant bridegroom.
One Sunday early in September a bride sat nervously waiting at St Mary’s church for her husband to be to appear. Now this wasn’t a young couple by any stretch of the imagination! The bride to be was Elizabeth Meaden, she was 37 years of age, a Weymouth lass, her father, Richard was a Shoe…
1877; Weymouths shipping trade
Weymouth has had a long history of trading with the Channel islands, and even further afield. As a small child I can recall walking along the raised platform on the harbourside with my Mum firmly holding my hand, huge creature like cranes towered above me, they’d lumber along the rails set in the concrete from…
1888; Weymouth Queen Victoria Jubilee Clock.
The striking Jubilee Clock is an iconic image of Weymouth, it adorns thousands of postcards and holiday brochures and what local hasn’t stood under there at some stage of their life to meet someone? The year 1887 was a milestone in the reign of Queen Victoria. It marked the 50th year of her ruling over the kingdom….
1869; Battery, Assault and Burial on Weymouth Beach!
In 1869 a little incident occurred on Weymouth sands, it really shouldn’t have been a problem, but it was, and one that ended up in the national papers much to the local council’s horror! William Wynn, a well-educated gent from London had been residing in Weymouth with his family for a much welcomed holiday. The…
1870; The Queens Own Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry week at Weymouth.
Weymouth down through it’s past history has quite a link with the military. In the late 1700’s The famous Red Barracks that sits up on the Nothe, its Georgian built accommodation blocks towering above the quayside cottages below, were built, first to house the cavalry troops, but then later converted to house infantry troops. The Nothe…
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 