King John in Dorset

By Graham Hoddinott

Today is Wednesday the 4^th January 2023. On the 4^th January 1205, which happened to be a Tuesday, rather than a Wednesday, King John was here in Dorchester. I’m going to talk about a man who lived and died over 800 years ago, that’s roughly halfway back to when the Romans were still in England. A very different time, and quite remote from us, but I’m able to say without a shadow of doubt that King John was here that day.

I’ll tell you how I know this, and I’m going to tell you where else in Dorset King John made visits, and when. There are other things we know about John, you’ll think at once of Magna Carta, but mostly I’ll try to stay local to Dorset.

Hereward the Wake

 

By Sheila Alderman

Hereward the Wake headed Anglo- Saxon resistance to William the Conquerer for five years from 1066 to 1072. 

Recent research by Peter Rex has put forward the theory that Hereward may have been the son of a prominent Anglo-Danish magnate called Asketil, the brother of Abbot Brand of Peterborough.

Michael Collins - Irish Leader

 by Judith Cooper

A century ago the most famous Irish man in the world was shot dead in mysterious circumstances, his name was Michael Collins

Michael Collins was born in Woodfield, Kilkeranmore, County Cork on the October 16^th  1890, and was the youngest of eight children.  He died on the 22^nd August 1922 aged 32 years.

When he was 16 years old he moved to London in 1906 and worked as a clerk in the Post Office Saving Bank at Blythe House.  He became associated with the Irish Republican brotherhood, and the Gaelic league.