BEAMINSTER is our destination this week in our trip down memory lane.

An interesting article on the town in the Dorset Year Book 2022 by Douglas Beazer tells of its rich and varied history.

Beaminster suffered massively in three major fires: firstly during the English Civil War in April 1644 when a musket was discharged into a thatched roof, secondly in June 1684 and thirdly in 1781. These two fires led to the town buying its first second-hand pump fire in 1712.

Among the pictures is an images of the Horn Hill or Beaminster Tunnel. Construction on the tunnel began in 1831 and it opened in 1832, Mr Beazer writes. It made travel much easier, as before horses had to negotiate a steep track to the top of Horn Hill in order to proceed to Crewkerne and beyond.

"No one was killed during the construction of the tunnel but one person died on the road, hauling debris away from the construction site.

"This death has been remembered with a white cross painted in the roadside just to the south of the tunnel entrance," he writes.

Rather interestingly we have a picture of the Manor House, Beaminster, which was constructed in the late 18th century, replacing an earlier dwelling.

The house was extended and remodelled in 1822 by George Allen Underwood. The gardens are often open to the public on open garden days.

Other pictures in this collection show Beaminster people - a couple photographed outside their cottage and Land Army Girls during the Second World War.

For more information on the Dorset Year Book, see the website www.societyofdorsetmen.co.uk/yearbook.html