Heritage Open Day

Free heritage venue tours, talks and experiences

• Corn Exchange and the Council Chamber – A guided tour around the Corn Exchange (Municipal Buildings) with Mark Tattersall from Dorchester Arts to find out about the major programme of restoration and the programme of energy efficiencies measures. They tour will conclude with a visit to the Council Chamber to see the historic civic memorabilia. Tours last about 50 minutes and start at: 11.00am, 1.00pm, 3.00pm. No booking required!
• Sunninghill School – The History of South Court – the family home that became Sunninghill School.  An introductory talk about the history of the site from Jeremy Pope (great grandson of Alfred Pope who built the house in 1893) followed by a tour around the house and grounds supported by Headteacher David Newberry.  The talk will also cover the expansion of Dorchester during the late 19^th Century following the arrival of the railway and how both South Court and the Eldridge Pope brewery were linked to the economic growth of the town. Followed by refreshments courtesy of Sunninghill Prep School. 12.00pm – 2.00pm. Book here.
• Shire Hall Museum – A tour focusing on “Conviction Politics” and the tumultuous relationship between convictions and conviction. Including the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Richard Bleathman and George Long’s stories.  Guided tours at 10.30am and 11.30am for up to 20 people per tour with prebooked tickets only. 20 people per tour. To book call Shire Hall Museum on 01305 261849.
• Dorset Museum & Art Gallery – Galleries Highlights Tours – 10:30 am and 2:30 pm – Join the Dorset Museum & Art Gallery Collections Team this Heritage Open Day for an exclusive opportunity to explore behind the scenes at our State-of-the-art Collections Discovery Centre. Get closer to our collections, including natural history, art, archaeology, and social history. Learn more about the ongoing work to care for and catalogue them, visit our Conservaton Studio, and see exciting objects that have recently been acquired. Book here 
• Dorset Museum & Art Gallery – Store Tours – 11 am and 3 pm – Join us on a highlights tour of Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, exploring 250 million years of Dorset’s stories in our four galleries. Discover amazing archaeology from the Palaeolithic to present day, deadly dinosaurs and the secrets of the county’s geology, landscapes, habitats and wildlife, literary legends like Dorset’s famous novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and creative minds in a superb collection of paintings, prints, textiles and sculptures. Book here
• Dorset History Centre – Visit the home of the county’s archives, to see plans, film and photos of Dorset’s coastal architecture, with a nod to bridges and hives! Also on site- a chance to handle some of Dorset’s archaeological finds and join in free fun family art activities. Free bookable tours are available at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30 13:30 and 14:30 – view our 8 miles of climate-controlled shelving, and see how we care for fragile materials. Book here.
• Max Gate – Home to Dorset’s famous author and poet, Thomas Hardy, was designed by the writer himself and built by the Hardy family building firm in 1885. Join a guided tour with a National Trust volunteer guide and discover the stories of Hardy’s home. Multiple dates available. In person. Pre-booking not required. More information here.
• Talk: Keeping it Clean, The history of Dorchester’s sewers and water supply – A talk by Philip Browne at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery (Community Room) between 3 pm and 4 pm. Find out more about the introduction of a clean water supply and sewerage system to Dorchester in the 1850s. With its polluted wells, cesspools and stinking privies, Dorchester was an unhealthy place at the start of the 19^th century. Yet not everybody welcomed the prospect of piped drinking water or flush toilets. In this talk, Philip Browne will describe the battle to improve the public health of the town – a campaign that lasted nearly a decade. 30 spaces available – Book here. 

Free Guided Walks

Click on the links to books onto one of these brilliant free walks! Pre-booking essential for all walks. Some tickets do not go on sale until 26th August. 

• Dorchester Old & New walk – with Steve Wallis. 10.30am – 12.00pm. Space for 20 participants. A walk around part of the town using historic photos to see what has changed, and what hasn’t, over the last century. Also with some Roman archaeology thrown in for good measure. Starts with a talk in the King’s Arms. Book here.
• Roman Aqueduct walk – with Steve Wallis. 2.00pm-4.30pm. Space for 20 participants. A circular walk from Poundbury that takes in the best surviving sections of Dorchester’s Roman aqueduct, plus other historic features and some lovely countryside. Some slopes, and please bring appropriate footwear for paths that may be muddy. Starts with a short introductory talk at PIP café. Book here.
• The life and death of Mary Channing and Martha Brown – With Mark Chutter. 11.00 am-12.00 pm. Space for 20 participants. Explore the life and tragic death of Mary Channing and Elizabeth Martha Brown. In 1706 a woman was burned at the stake in Maumbury Rings in front of 10,000 spectators for supposedly poisoning her husband to death – her name was Mary Channing. The writer Thomas Hardy alludes to Channing in his novel ‘ The Mayor of Casterbridge’ and in his poem ‘ The Mock Wife’ and he always deemed her innocent. Over a hundred years later Elizabeth Martha Brown was sentenced to death at Shire Hall and her execution was at the Dorchester Prison in 1856.. Martha was accused of murdering her husband . The young Thomas Hardy witnessed this death at Dorchester Prison and it has been suggested that the character of ‘ Tess’ is based on Brown. Book here.
• The Moule family and Fordington – With Mark Chutter. 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm. Space for 20 participants. Come and join the chairman and academic director of the Thomas Hardy Society, Mark Damon Chutter, to learn more about the Reverend Henry Moule and his family who lived in Fordington Vicarage . Moule invented the earth closet and was instrumental during the cholera epidemic in Mill Street during the Nineteenth Century. The Moule family were close friends with the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy . Mark’s family lived in the Old Vicarage from 1942-1971. Book here. 
• Judge Jeffreys – the Hanging Judge – With Mark Chutter. 2 pm – 3 pm. Space for 20 participants. Known as the ‘ Hanging Judge’ , Baron Jeffreys visited Dorchester and sentenced the Monmouth Rebels to death during the Bloody Assizes. Come and join , Mark Damon Chutter, for an insight into this infamous judge and explore the buildings and heritage associated with him. After execution, the heads of the rebels were placed on the spikes of St Peter’s Church . Do not miss this story of intrigue and gore! Book here.
• Poundbury Architectural Tour – 11am – 12 pm. A walking tour of the Poundbury development from its beginnings around Pummery Square in 1993 to Queen Mother Square and the latest phases, conducted by Simon Conibear LVO, the Duchy of Cornwall’s Development Manager between 1996 and 2018. The walking  tour will last about one hour.  Book here.
• National Trust – free guided walk from Hardy’s Cottage to Max Gate (and back) – 10.30am-3.00pm. This is a peaceful walk starting at the birthplace of Thomas Hardy and continuing through the landscape in which he grew up, before arriving at Max Gate, the house Hardy lived and died. We will also take a detour to Stinsford St Michael, the resting place of Thomas Hardy’s two wives and where Hardy’s heart was laid to rest. It is 5km from Hardy’s Cottage to Max Gate, making the walk 10km in total. We will walk back the same way we came so this is a linear route. You have the option of ending the walk at Max Gate, please inform our guide of this when you arrive. Book here. 

Pick up a Free children’s History Activity Booklet about Dorchester. This fun booklet helps you explore together as a family and find out some amazing facts. Pick up yours from the gazebo positioned near the Town Pump at Cornhill, South Street between 1000 – 1600.