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…
Tag: Weymouth Dorset
1883; Weymouth and the Great Western railway. A signal-mans tale.
The railway finally rolled into the seaside resort of Weymouth in the year 1857. Anyone who’s travelled the Weymouth line knows of the long Bincombe cutting and tunnel that burrows under the Bincombe chalk downs. As a child it was always with a sense of excitement that we would approach this tunnel…as the line began…
Weymouth 1873; Rub a dub dub, 3 men (not) in a tub….
Well, o.k. maybe the title is a bit lighthearted for such a tragedy, but when I read that it allegedly concerned 3 butchers assistants that the misfortune had befallen, a visual image immediately flashed in my mind of the popular nursery rhyme. Just put that down to my extremely warped sense of humour which seems…
Weymouths beginnings as a sea bathing resort 1750
When ever Weymouth is talked about concerning it’s seaside status, generally it is said that George III made it what it is today, that’s partly true, but there is a little more to it than that. Weymouth was becoming popular long before the end of the 18th c. A certain Bath gentleman, Ralph Allen had…
Weymouth’s history as a harbour on the frontline. 1795
Being in the process of writing a book about the history of the Nothe area in Weymouth, I’ve uncovered many interesting facts about the past history of the town while trawling through the old newspapers and documents. Some of which I’ll narrate here, little snippits of what life was like for our ancestors, living on…
Easter at Weymouth in 1896
Weymouth is basically a tradition bucket and spade seaside town, that is how we began our rise as a resort in Georgian times, and so it has been ever since! The town council has the task of helping to promote the town, as it always has done, but as the recession has hit, they have…
Dorothy Restaurant Weymouth fined for selling chocolate on a Sunday 1920!
There are many acts that were written by Parliament in times way back that have never been repealed, consequently they were sometimes evoked during later times when they made a mockery of the laws. Such was a case in 1920, when a well-known Weymouth restauarnt fell foul of the law. The popular Dorthy restaurant on the…
Sad Case of Poverty and Neglect at Weymouth; 1896
A court case appeared in the local papers in March of 1896 of a family who were living in Weymouth at the time. It reveals the true horrors of poverty and neglect that some families found themselves in during the Victorian period. Lucy Eudora Stickley had been born in the little village of Milborne st…
Weymouth Town Councillors Brawling; 1894
First on the agenda was the Garden committee. Fairly innocuous you would have thought, but it appears that behind those chamber’s closed doors things were starting to hot up!
Two councillors exchanged heated words during the proceedings.
Great Western Trippers flock to Victorian Weymouth 1870
One example is July of 1870, almost the entire factory of the Great Western Railway’s carriage and locomotive works set off on their hols on the same day. Nearly 6,000 of them left Swindon station for their various destinations.
Some headed for the bright lights of London, some for the bustling city of Bristol, a few even ventured to Swansea.
An unlucky few were left behind at the works to keep things ticking over at the factory.
That week nigh on 1,500 men, women and children swarmed into Weymouth on the special trains that were run to carry them.
VICTORIAN TALES FROM WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND 