History

The T3 No 563 at Corfe Castle. Picture: Andrew PM Wright

Restored Victorian locomotive rolls in to new home at Swanage Railway

A VICTORIAN steam locomotive that has taken six years and £650,000 to restore to full working order has rolled…

Thomas Hardy

£35,000 will help preserve and reveal Thomas Hardy archives in Dorset

DORSET’S history centre has been handed a £35,000 grant to help preserve the archives of author Thomas Hardy. The Dorset…

The building - then a military hospital - pictured when the site was a POW camp during the First World War

Homes plan for former military hospital building in Dorchester

A FORMER military hospital in Dorchester could be developed to create three homes, if plans are approved. Plans submitted to…

The London and South Western Railway T3 class No 563 has been restored after it was donated to the Swanage Railway Trust. Picture: Nathan Au

Swanage Railway Trust locomotive steams in for first time in 75 years

A VICTORIAN locomotive has moved under its own steam for the first time in 75 years after a £500,000,…

A Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber will fly over Dorset in June. Picture: RAF

Iconic World War 2 aircraft to grace Dorset skies next month: How to see them

ICONIC aircraft of World War II will take to Dorset skies once again next month. The Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster…

A range of diesels will be on show at the 2023 Swanage Railway Diesel Gala and Beer Festival

Beer and trains! Swanage Railway Diesel Gala and Beer Festival details revealed

TRAINS and beer will be on offer at a special event this month. Swanage Railway is set to host its…

Author Mrs Craik – Dinah Maria Mulock before her marriage – may have visited Wareham through a link to Mary Mayer. Both were from the Potteries but Mary moved to Dorset after marrying into a family of clay merchants

Novelist’s blue plaque was on wrong property

By Neill Child, Wareham Museum volunteer. “It was a rather noteworthy country town…it wore its antiquity with a sort of…

Southern Television’s weather forecaster, Trevor Baker, shows Swanage beating its rival Shanklin to top place in the Southern Summer Sunshine League for May-September 1968

Swanage book reveals famous and Royal visitors to our town

By Sara Niven. In the third and final part of our look at a new book on the history of…

Youngsters enjoying Punch and Judy in 1963. The emergence of Swanage as a holiday destination is covered in the book by author Jason Tomes

How Swanage shrugged off its industrial past to become a holiday destination…

By Sara Niven. SWANAGE’S place as an attractive seaside destination may seem obvious now. But for decades, the town’s industrial history…

Pictures of the sea wall in 1905 and some of those who built

Book explores complex identity of seaside town with industrial roots

By Sara Niven. FROM stone and spa to steam – and everything in between – the history and mixed fortunes…