If there’s one place that I love to mooch around in Weymouth, it is an area named Brewer’s Quay for rather obvious reasons, if properly named, it’s Hope Square. This area has a lot of history, not least that it was where the breweries in the past chucked out that distinctive cooked hops aroma from…
Tag: history
Weymouth’s Victorian bandstands.
The final bandstand stood out at the end of what was once an elegant, curving pier, which brings us neatly back to where we first started our story of the Weymouth bandstands.
1879; Tragedy at the George Inn, Weymouth.
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…
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…
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…
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…
1838; Shipwreck at Osmington, Smugglers and Coastguards.
Life at sea has always been hazardous, natures fickle whims, and mans unpredictability has always caused dramas and deaths. For those whose livelihoods depended on the sea, and those who relied on the open water as their means of transport, they literally took their life in their hands every time they entered a boat. Nowadays…
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 