ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIALIST: Blanchards Bailey Legal Secretary Rosie Nye is taking part in Dorchester’s Home of Hillforts & Henges event
A new family event celebrating Dorchester’s Neolithic, bronze and Iron Age landscape is being launched this month.
Home of Hillforts & Henges, which runs from July 21 to 31, also looks at the people who have lived in the land rich in earthworks for 6,000 years.
Award-winning law firm Blanchards Bailey, which has an office in Poundbury, is a headline sponsor of the event, which begins at Dorset Museum with a free open evening and talk on the famous Ridgeway Viking skeletons, discovered in 2009.
The 11-day event is part of the National Council For British Archaeology (CBA) Festival of Archaeology 2022 and activities will take place at multiple locations across the town.
The full programme includes a series of lectures at the museum and a new archaeological dig at Thomas Hardy’s former home Max Gate which he built in 1884 unwittingly in the centre of a late Neolithic enclosure, now known as Flagstones.
Other highlights co-ordinated by Discover Dorchester feature guided nature walks (including Maiden Castle and Outer Casterbridge), archaeological dowsing and Viking print making.
Home of Hillforts & Henges concludes on Sunday July 31 with the free festival Hengefest at ancient Maumbury Rings, a venue used by locals to celebrate special occasions for millennia.
DORSET LANDMARK: Iron age hillfort Maiden Castle, one of the largest in Europe and equivalent to 50 football pitches, was mostly built in the 1st century BC but excavations have revealed occupation on the site as a Neolithic enclosure from 6,000 years ago
Activities on the day include a pebble labyrinth, Viking axe throwing, Roman displays, Dorset hillforts & habitats, medieval grass billiards, bushcraft, animal handling, wild foraging and live music.
Blanchards Bailey, whose own history stretches back to 1924, will have stands at the opening event and Hengefest and will be represented at other events.
Legal Secretary Rosie Nye, who has a first class honours degree in archaeology and a masters by research in heritage practice, will be taking part.
She said: “The festival acknowledges Dorset’s Neolithic and prehistoric history and celebrates our past and cultural heritage. Dorchester has two Iron Age hillforts and three henges and we have had settlements in Dorset since the prehistoric periods, with the earliest recorded settlement dating back to the Mesolithic.
“It is recognising that there has always been a presence in Dorset. It is quite incredible to think that the sites we have walked, such as Maiden Castle, would have been walked by Iron Age people, Romans, Elizabethans and more and have been marvelled at for centuries.
“We have iconic views in Dorset, iconic historical attributes that make us very unique. This festival gives us a chance to reflect on our past.
“Blanchards Bailey is a Dorset law firm that is very engaged with local history, activities and events. Cultural heritage gives a community an identity and we are very much part of our community.”
Now over 100 strong, Blanchards Bailey is a Legal 500 firm – making it one of the top firms in the South West – and is based in Blandford with offices in Poundbury, Shaftesbury and Weymouth.
The latest edition of the UK’s leading law sector directory, The Legal 500 2022, endorses the firm in six different practice areas, with 11 individual lawyers receiving recommendations and mentions.
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Notes to reporters:
Blanchards Bailey is an expanding law firm based in Blandford with offices in Dorchester, Shaftesbury and Weymouth.
Its specialist legal experts provide advice and guidance to clients and business leaders across Dorset and further afield.
Blanchards Bailey is a Legal 500 firm with the firm recommended in six specialist categories with seven individual lawyers mentioned.
The firm won Law Firm of the Year (up to 99 employees), Company Commercial Team of the Year and Private Client Team of the Year at the 2019 Dorset Legal Awards.
Blanchard Bailey’s motto is ‘Law for Life’.
Address: Bunbury House, Stour Park, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 9LQ
Phone: 01258 459361
Website: www.blanchardsbailey.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blanch_bailey
