Cranborne Local History Society and Parish Archives

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Cranborne Local History Society and Parish Archives

Please visit our website: https://e-voice.org.uk/cranbornelocalhistorysociety/

Encouraging interest and research into all aspects of our local history and to conserve and maintain any documents and artefacts either donated or entrusted to the society.

04/11/2026

We had a fantastic turnout of 47 members and visitors at our meeting on Tuesday 3rd November. The talk, entitled “111 Places in Dorset That You Shouldn’t Miss” was given by Karen Heaney and Jeni Bell and was based on their book with the same title. They couldn’t cover all 111 places in an hour so we were given their choice of eleven places that they particularly enjoy or would be of interest to our society,
They included the Robin memorial in St. Giles Church in Wimborne St. Giles, St. Luke’s Chapel in Little Bredy, Tout Quarry on Portland and the home of Chrissie Squire the Egg Lady of North Chideock.
Thank you to Karen and Jeni for an interesting talk that generated much talk afterwards.
Thanks go to Jill and Pat for organising refreshments, to Janet and Gary and everyone who helped tidy the hall afterwards (much appreciated with so many people attending, it was busy!), to Kathy on the bar, Anne for sorting the raffle, and to Elspeth and Kate on reception.

12/10/2026

We had an excellent turnout at our meeting on Tuesday 6th October with a talk entitled “War Stories in Cranborne”, written by Chris Bright and presented by Dorothy Lane.
The talk detailed the impact World War 2 had on the village and how residents and the military lived through those tumultuous years, including the stationing of the 2nd Searchlight Regiment, the Home Guard, Women’s Voluntary Service, Women’s Institute, the local Fire Brigade, units of the Tank Corps and Territorials, and American troops based on the Shaftesbury Estate at Wimborne St. Giles.
Thank you Dorothy.
Many thanks to Janet and Gary for organising refreshments, to Kathy on the bar, Elspeth & Kate on reception, Anne on the raffle desk and Mark for helping set up the hall. Thank you also to everyone who brought raffle prizes and to those who helped tidy the hall afterwards.
Details of our next meeting are below.

10/10/2026

Our next meeting!

10/09/2026

Our next meeting:

02/09/2026

We had another excellent turnout on Tuesday 1st September for a talk by David Beaton on Dorset heroines. David’s list of heroines included, amongst others:

Lady Mary Bankes (1598 – 1661) who defended Corfe Castle during two Civil war sieges
Mary Anning (1799 – 1847) fossil collector, dealer and palaeontologist
Marie Stopes (1880 – 1958) author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for birth control and women’s rights
Violet Norah Cross (1891 – 1989) a nurse during both world wars who was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government.

Many thanks David.

Our thanks also go to Rose & Gary for sorting out the refreshments, Kathy in the bar, Kate & Elspeth on the reception desk, Ann on the raffle and everyone who helped tidy up the hall afterwards.

Our next talk entitled “War Stories in Cranborne” will be on 6th October. See you then.

10/08/2026

Our next meeting. We look forward to welcoming you.

05/08/2026

On Tuesday 4th August we had a great turnout for our first ever talk in the month of August. Alan Dedden gave a talk entitled “All Hallows - Part 2” which followed on from part 1 that Alan gave us last year. Alan udated us on the research into the findings of the archaeological digs at All Hallows cemetery Wimborne St. Giles. EDAS have now got a better idea of what All Hallows Church looked like from artifacts uncovered on site and from an intriguing sketch and plan of the church found in the Bodleian Library. The cemetery was cleared of vegetation two years running to enable the archaeological work but is now almost completely overgrown. Thank you, Alan.
Our next talk in September will be about Dorset heroines.

Many thanks to Rose for taking care of refreshments and to everyone who helped with the washing up and the clearing of the hall afterwards.

09/07/2026

We had an excellent turnout at our meeting on Tuesday 7th July. Colin Fletcher, a volunteer from The Blandford Town Museum gave an interesting talk on the great fire of Blandford Forum which happened on 4th June 1731. Blandford had already suffered three devastating fires over the previous few centuries. The fire started in a candlemaker’s workshop at the junction of what are modern day Salisbury Street, White Cliff Mill Street and Bryanston Street. Apparently, an apprentice removed some lighted timbers from under a boiler and accidently put them on a pile of kindling. The recent dry weather, timber and thatched roofed buildings and a north to north-westerly wind contributed to the fire sweeping across the town. By nightfall the fire was out but the majority of the town was destroyed and up to 16 people sadly died. Due to an act of Parliament and national fund raising the centre of Blandford was rebuilt within 10 years. Thank you Colin.
Many thanks to Diane and Rose for looking after the refreshments and also thanks to everyone who helped tidy up the hall afterwards.
Our next talk will be on Tuesday 4th August. Watch this space for details.

Address

Cranborne
Cranborne

Website

https://e-voice.org.uk/cranbornelocalhistorysociety/

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