History of Bere Regis in Pictures

<body> <h2>The History of Bere Regis in Photographs</h2> <p>This website is a special section of the <a title="Jump to the Rocket Services corporate webpage" target="_blank" href="http://www.rocketservices.co.uk"> Rocket Services</a> website, depicting the history of Bere Regis.</p> <div style="background-color: #E4E4E4"> <p style="margin-bottom: 5">Bere Regis is a medium-sized village in the heart of Dorset, England, which has been an area of occupation for thousands of years. The natural protection of the surrounding hills and the presence of a reliable river (the Piddle) made it an obvious place to settle and thrive. The main industrial opportunities were farming, growing cress, forestry, brick-making, building contractors, a transportation business and the associated support and outlets to service those work forces. At one time it had about a dozen shops and half a dozen petrol filling stations, but in 1982 a bypass was completed and now the village boasts just two general shops, two public houses, a Post Office, and one filling station on the by-pass. On the plus side it does have a health clinic, a dentist, a chiropodist and a significant number of small businesses all over the village.</p> </div> <p>I have been collecting photographs of the village for over twenty years now, so have decided to share these with you. Initially there are 24 pictures with descriptions available, but new images of old photos will be added on a regular basis. The first group includes what I believe to be the oldest photograph taken of the village - in 1863. Some "then-and-now" comparison photos may be added in future where appropriate.</p> <div style="background-color: #E4E4E4"> <p style="margin-bottom: 5">Bere Regis was lucky to have its official history published in 1978 as '<b>The Book of Bere Regis</b>', written by my father, Fred Pitfield, copies of which are still available at £20 if this web site whets you appetite to find out more. Cheques made payable to: John Pitfield, and sent to P.O. Box 342, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 7HR.</p> </div> <p>Enjoy the photographs, they may take you back to a time when the pace of life was more reasonable and re-assuring. I have to say a big thank you to all those who have passed on photographs to us for copying or in some cases who have donated their precious memories to us for safe keeping for the future. If any of those previous owners see an image on this site that they would wish to be removed then let me know and those wishes will be respected. In the mean time let us enjoy this magical window into the past...</p> <p class="tiny">No-frames support - defaulted to minimalist interface...</p> <p> </p> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-width:0; border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111"> <tr> <td align="center" bordercolor="#C0C0C0"> <a href="bere-regis/gallery_01/index.html">Gallery 01</a> </td> <td align="center"><a href="bere-regis/gallery_01/index.html"> <img border="1" src="bere-regis/gallery_01/thumbnails/thumb_photo001.jpg" width="100" height="61"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" style="padding-left: 4; padding-right: 4; padding-top: 1; padding-bottom: 1" bordercolor="#FFFFFF"> </td> <td align="center" style="padding-left: 4; padding-right: 4; padding-top: 1; padding-bottom: 1" bordercolor="#FFFFFF"> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </body>