Brendan Sellick is a fisherman in the village of Stolford, on the Somerset coast near Storgursey. His family have lived in the parish and fished for generations. Brendan works on the mud flats using an ancient sled called a ‘mud-horse’ to catch shrimps and other fish from his nets. In this excerpt Brendan describes fishing and his earliest memory of going out with his father.
Somerset Voices: Brendan Sellick (b.1934)
July 5, 2009 at 6:41 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Brendan Sellick, Somerset, Stolford, Storgursey
Revolutionary Roots
July 4, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy, History)
Did your ancestors fight in the American Revolution 233 years ago? Thousands of men answered the call to arms in 1776. These thousands probably have many millions of descendants today. Many Americans can find a Revolutionary War veteran in the family tree if they expend a bit of time and effort. Luckily, there are a number of online and offline sources to help you in that search.
Read the full article in Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Massacre at Slapton Sands-the great Portland cover-up
July 3, 2009 at 4:00 am (History, Location)
Tags: Dorset, Portland, Second World War
Rodney Legg tells how wartime reminiscing enabled him to re-write the story of one of the most famous disasters of the Second World War and claim it for Dorset.
Somerset Voices: Andrew & Jane Sealey
July 2, 2009 at 6:23 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Andrew Sealy, Jane Sealy, Somerset, Wells, Westbury-sub-Mendip
Jane Sealy was born in Middlesex, went to school in Bracknell, Berkshire, and Chandler’s Ford in Hampshire. She trained as a legal secretary but has subsequently worked as a school secretary. She does all the farm book keeping and helps out with milking in the school holidays. Andrew Sealy was born in Wells, Somerset, and lived in Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset. He went to school in Westbury and Wells, attended college in Strode and studied general farming at Cannington Farm Institute, near Bridgwater. He is a tenant farmer for the Church Commissioners in Westbury, with a 300-acre dairy farm, milking 140 cows together with approximately fifty followers or beef cattle. Andrew and Jane discuss the milk quota system during the 1990s and describe the wildlife in the area.
Stalbridge’s historian
July 1, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, Location)
Tags: Dorset, Hilary Townsend, Irene Jones, Stalbridge
Hilary Townsend remembers Irene Jones, a model for anyone interested in Dorset’s local history.
