Weymouth & Portland at Work: People and Industries Through the Years

by Fiona Taylor (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2018

  $16.13

  The Weymouth that we know today started as two towns: Weymouth and Melcombe. Weymouth originally occupied the south shore of the English Channel Coast in Dorset, hemmed in by the harbour and Portland Bay, with the Isle of Portland joined to it on the south. Melcombe was on the north shore of the harbour on a small sandbank. By the 14th century both the towns had grown considerably and there were disputes over harbour rights but despite this they became successful ports. In 1571 Elizabeth I passed a charter amalgamating the two boroughs under one name of Weymouth, and the port continued to grow. Fortunes changed during the siege of the town in the English Civil War and the rise of smuggling in the 18th century. This time was also the beginning of Weymouth as a tourist town, as a fashionable coastal resort. Weymouth also benefited from being the embarkation point for the packet services to the Channel Islands and for paddle steamer services and excursions. In the 19th century Robert Whitehead, pioneer engineer of the naval torpedo, opened his factory in Weymouth. The Isle of Portland also had its distinctive industries, quarried for its limestone and home to a massive naval base. The area was one of the key embarkation points for D-Day during World War 2 and today is a major sailing and surfing centre. Weymouth & Portland at Work explores the working life of this Dorset town and its people. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Weymouth & Portland.