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 Steve Newman, former Town Clerk, to find out about the major programme of restoration and the programme of energy efficiencies measures. The 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 – come to the side door of the Corn Exchange at the start of each tour.
  • Sunninghill School – The transformation of Dorchester in the late 19th Century.  A talk by Jeremy Pope (great grandson of Alfred Pope).  The talk will 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. Booking available soon!
  • Dorset Museum & Art Gallery – Store Tours: The Social History of Dorchester – 11:00 am and 1:00 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, with a focus on social history in Dorchester. Learn more about the ongoing work to care for and catalogue them, visit our Conservation Studio, and see exciting objects that have recently been acquired. Booking available via Dorset Museum website 
  • Dorset Museum & Art Gallery – Gallery Tours: Everyday Stories of Roman Dorchester – Note different date: Saturday 12th September 10.30 am and 2 pm – Join us on a highlights tour of Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, exploring Roman Dorchester. Booking available via Dorset Museum website
  • St Peter’s Church Belltower Tour – Tours regularly from 12.00-4.00pm on 13^th September. Unique access to the bell tower of St Peter’s Church on High West Street, and a demonstration of bell ringing by the Church’s dedicated team of bellringers. They’ll also be guided tours of the historic church, the majority of which dates to the 13th century. Refreshments are also available on site. No booking required.
  • 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.

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. 

• Subterranean Tunnels of Dorchester and Fordington – Come and join Mark Damon Chutter for a fascinating tour of the tunnels of Dorchester. Mark will give you a suggested analysis of the date of the tunnels – are they Roman or later? During the tour you will visit a real tunnel in Fordington. Please bring a strong torch and appropriate footwear. 10.15am-11.15am. Space for 20 participants. Meet at the Town Pump. Booking available soon!
• 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. Booking available soon!
• 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. Booking available soon!
• The Story of Mary Channing and Martha Brown – With Mark Chutter. 11.30 am-12.30 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. Meet at the Town Pump. Booking available soon!
• A Tour of Fordington: Henry Moule, Fordington Vicarage and Mill Street – With Mark Chutter. 12:45 pm – 1:45 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. Meet at the Town Pump. Booking available soon!
• The Hanging Judge: Baron Jeffreys – With Mark Chutter. 9am – 10pm. 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! Meet at the Town Pump. Booking available soon!
• Poundbury Architectural Tour – 11am – 12 pm. Space for 40 participants. 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.  Booking available soon!
• National Trust – free guided walk from Hardy’s Cottage to Max Gate (and back) – Note different date: Saturday 19 September 10.15am-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.