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Blandford Forum » Hobbies And Interests » Arts And Crafts
Blandford Forum Arts And Crafts
Welcome to the Ufindus Arts and Crafts directory. We have a vast selection of arts and crafts listings including thought art and artist supplies. Ufindus provides you with a rapid and efficient service and have a wide variety of listings available with a short description of each business before you enter the site. In the arts and crafts category we also include sculpture. If you require arts and crafts, from art lessons to art print suppliers, use the Ufindus directory for a wide variety of listings and all the essential contact details.
About Blandford Forum - show infohide info
Blandford Forum is an English town in the county of Dorset. Blandford rests on the River Stour, and has a neighbouring small village called Blandford St Mary. Blandford has been a fording point since Anglo-Saxon times. In the Domesday Book it was recorded as Blaen-y-ford and as Blaneford, which means ford of the river of blay or gudgeon. In the 13th century, Blandford Forum was a significant market town, with its livestock market serving the nearby Blackmore Vale with its many Dairy farms. The word forum is Latin for market, and was recorded in association with Blandford in 1540. Blandford was a welcome break for those travelling between port of Weymouth and the capital London. There is still a weekly market held in the market place, which has remained roughly unchanged for over two hundred years. The parish church of St Peter and St Paul is a classical Georgian style building with a copula on top of the tower and was rebuilt in the 18th century having been destroyed in the fire of 1731. Blandford Forum is considered one of the finest examples of a Georgian town in Britain. 'The Old House', in The Close, built before the fire of 1731 is one of the oldest buildings in the town. Following Blandford’s fire of 1731, much of the town ended up in tatters. John and William Bastard oversaw the town’s reconstruction for the next 30 years, creating the fine Georgian town seen today. To the south of the town a six arch stone bridge spans the slow-moving River Stour. Blandford Forum continued to prosper however, helped by the deliberate destruction of the neighbouring market town of Milton Abbas between 1771 and 1790 by the Earl of Dorchester, who replaced it with a more modest model village, Blandford St Mary. New housing grew along Dorset and Orchard Streets, and later after the arrival of the railway, in streets running off from Salisbury Road. One of the largest industries currently in Blandford Forum is the Badger Brewery which supplies beer and ale to public houses across the region.
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