Nostalgic memories of Shaftesbury's local history
Share your own memories of Shaftesbury and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying all 9 Memories
I'm trying to trace a place where my great, great grandfather and his parents. On his birth certificate it states that he was born in White's Buildings, St James, Shaftesbury. I'm struggling to find where this building was, if anyone can help I would really appreciate it
Trying to locate where a family lived, do you remember Gerald green and/or nellie huygens, they worked at the big house we think wimcombe park and married in tisbury. They lived in a cottage in shaftesbury around 1932.
any help would be gratefully received thank you.
We lived from the late forties until 1957 in the Council houses at Crookhayes, The fields behind our houses were numerous and we used to enjoy watching the cows gadding about. The hedges surrounding the fields were great for the children to play in camps hollowed out of the hedgerows. In the summer a labourer came to cut the long grass behind our houses with his scythe. It all seems so idyllic now in ...see more
We lived in French Mill Lane so needed to walk up Gold Hill to go shopping. I was a toddler at this time and we had a jack Russell called Pepe. Mum used to tie him to the front of my tricycle and he would pull me up the hill.
We came to Shaftesbury from Singapore in 1955, when I was 4 and only spoke Malay. We rented part of the then rambling old house called Green Close, at the bottom of a hill. We then moved to 3 Lower Blandford Road and started school at the C of E Primary School, behind Holy Trinity Church. Either trudging past the boys Grammar School or going down Hawksdene Lane and cutting through Boyne's Meade to town; or ...see more
Moved around a bit. Can't remember. But I remember going to school at Buckhorn Weston primary school near Gillingham at the age of 5 and I was May Queen. There were photos. Does anyone out there remember what happened to Buckhorn Weston primary school? Because I was on the internet a couple years ago and it was still up and running. I know it's a very small village so where did the school go? And where can I find info about the school? It's just a part of my past.
My memories of Silton are that I was a young boy of 4 years old when I moved there with my parents, my dad was a dairy man, making cheese and my mum twice a week would make butter with another lady. I loved living in Silton. I loved the school's summer holidays because most of my time when not helping my mum was spent on the farm where my dad worked or going to the other farms in the area. Silton was and ...see more
Shaftesbury's position high on a hilltop with only a meagre water supply meant that water had to be brought up to the town from wells at the bottom of the steep slopes, usually by horses and donkeys carrying barrels. Water sellers then went round the town's houses selling water by the bucketful. However, Shaftesbury's position at the crossroads of several main coaching routes meant that it was ...see more
This is the hill that appeared in the Hovis television adverts - supposedly in a northern town, but in reality in deepest Dorset! At the top it is about 700 feet above sea level. It is now the scene of the once a year Gold Hill Festival in July.