Archive Exhibition – 27th to 30th July 2017

Fontmell Magna Village Archive Society will be holding its 11th Exhibition from Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th July from 10.00am to 4.00pm at the Village Hall. Entry, including light refreshments, is free.
The Exhibition is on ‘Land use and ownership in the parish of Fontmell Magna up to 1945’. Members of the Society will present the results of their research into how the land has been used from the very earliest times to the period during which Fontmell was owned by Shaftesbury Abbey, to the period of ownership under the Arundells, and then the period under the Glyn family ownership, and beyond. Find out about medieval farming and the meaning of a ‘virgate’ and an ‘oxgang’; the spread of the Black Death and its effect on the population; how the parish boundaries were formed and ‘beating the bounds’; about tithes and enclosures; about the geology of the parish, and about farms and advances in agriculture. The Exhibition will feature a plethora of maps and many exhibits not seen before, as well as some old favourites.
Roger Hillman