Shillingstone station lies between Blandford and Sturminster Newton stations on the line from Evercreech junction to Wimborne. The station was opened 1863 by the Somerset and Dorset Railway although the station was built by the Dorset Central Railway. It is the last surviving Dorset Central Railway station and as such is important from both architectural and historical perspectives.
Tag: History
Cleeve Abbey
Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery near the village of Washford in Somerset and was founded in 1191 as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. The abbey was not among the more distinguished abbeys of the Cistercian order and suffered from poor governance and financial troubles. Although towards the end of its existence its fortunes, and living standards, had improved. A fact demonstrated by the expensive high status tiled flooring it had gained by then, some of which has amazingly managed to survive.
London Boundary Dragons
The most popular page on my website, the Dragon Sanctuary, is the one about the City of London Boundary Dragons, so I thought it was time there was a post about them.
Old Sarum
The hilltop at Old Sarum is one of the more important ancient monuments that are to be found on Salisbury plain, it’s not as well known or famous as its neighbour Stonehenge and probably doesn’t get as many visitors but
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury. Today the name is probably best known for its annual music festival, and possibly for having more New Age shops in its High Street than any other town in Britain. But that’s not what this post is going to be about.
What we’re going to explore is the imposing ruins behind the High Street, the remaining fragments of what was, in its day, one of the wealthiest and most powerful abbeys in Britain.
Bodiam Castle
At the current terminus of the Kent and East Sussex Railway is the town of Bodiam. This small town has an impressive castle, built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II. The castle has no keep and all the rooms and chambers are built around the outer defensive wall. This was characteristic of castle architecture in the 14th century.
Nunney Castle
The ruins of Nunney castle can be found, obviously enough, in the town of Nunney in Somerset. The castle was built in 1373 by Sir John de la Mere who had fought in France during the Hundred Years War, he returned to England with a large amount of money and applied to King Edward III for permission to build the castle.
Brean Down Fort
Brean Down is a headland between Burnham on sea and Weston super mare the earliest evidence for settlement in the area goes back to the Bronze Age and at the far end of it are the remains of a fort that was built in the 1860s as part of the coastal defences.
The Silence of Power
For about half of my working life Battersea Power Station dominated the view of the skyline from my office window, for around 14 of those years the power station was operational and smoke could always be seen billowing up from one or more of its chimneys.
Into the Iron Age
Way back in 2009 while driving across the Somerset levels I saw something through the trees that I didn’t expect to see, a group of thatched roundhouses, this I thought required investigation.