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Tolpuddle Dorset Photographs
Below are the photos currently available. All images are available in larger versions. This site is updated often so please check back soon.
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Title: St John the Evangelist
Place: Tolpuddle
Prints of this photograph are available to order world wide. Click here to order online now.
About: The church of St John the Evangelist at Tolpuddle was restored in 1855, but some parts of the building date back nine centuries. In the churchyard is the grave of James Hammett who was the only Tolpud......
Photograph Added: 11th January 2011
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Title: Near Alfpuddle
Place: Tolpuddle
About: The villages along the River Piddle tend to change the name to Puddle like Alfpuddle which is one and half miles from Tolpuddle
Photograph Added: 11th January 2011
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Title: Quiet Village Street
Place: Tolpuddle
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About: Like many people interested in the history of the Tolpuddle Martyrs we made a special journey to this pretty village. The streets were not too busy with traffic as the by pass has taken away a large v......
Photograph Added: 11th January 2011
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Title: Piddle Valley
Place: Tolpuddle
About: Just off the main road at Tolpuddle is the beautiful Piddle Valley. The meadows nearby are watered by the quaintly named 'River Piddle' and the nearby chalk downland is a great place for a lovely ru......
Photograph Added: 21st December 2010
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Title: Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum
Place: Tolpuddle
About: Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum was closed when we visited but according to their website it 'tells the harrowing tale of the Martyrs' arrest, trial and punishment, leading to the foundation of modern day tr......
Photograph Added: 21st December 2010
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View area map / aerial photograph.
About Tolpuddle Dorset.
The village of Tolpuddle is located 7 miles north east of Dorchester. Also called Tolpuddell or Tolpiddle the village is on the River Trent or Piddle.
The parish has a church of flint and stone dedicated to St. John but its fame lies on the village green under a giant sycamore tree. This was the meeting place of the farm labourers, who became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, James Brine, James Hammett, George and James Loveless and Thomas and John Standfield. Between 1831 and 1833 these six men formed the first Trade Union, the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers (F.S.A.L.). The conditions of hardship and poverty at the time led the men to form this union to try and strengthen their bargaining power. At Dorchester assizes in March 1834 the men were sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for the crime of administering unlawful oaths. Forming the union was not their crime but taking a pledge of loyalty was under the Unlawful Oaths Act of 1797 this act was originally set to deal with naval mutiny. Public pressure against the injustice of their sentence forced the government to grant free pardons to the men in 1836.
Only James Hammet returned to Tolpuddle his grave is in the churchyard and the cottage that belonged to Thomas Standfield, where the union members met, can still be seen in the village today. Also in Tolpuddle, built by the Trade Union Congress or TUC, are six memorial cottages erected in 1934 to commemorate the centenary of the Martyrs trial.
A commemoration takes place in the village each summer to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs with a special festival held that attracts trade union members from all over the world.
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