Historical Background

Key events

• 705 King Ine divided Wessex and appointed Aldhelm Bishop of Sherborne including Bradford Abbas
• 839-58 King Athelstan grants land in BA to monastery at Sherborne
• 1075 Bishop of Salisbury becomes owner of parish
• 1145 parish returns to Bishop of Sherborne
• 1540 manor of BA sold by Henry VIII to Sir John Horsey of Clifton Maybank
• 1642 September 7th, Battle of Babylon Hill (English Civil War)
• 1814-1884 Professor James Buckman geologist bred the first straight parsnips; correspondent of Charles Darwin
• 1857 Bristol/Weymouth railway line opened
• 1860 Sherborne/Yeovil section of Exeter to London railway opened
• 1880's Henry Arnold, oldest Parish Clerk in England - village develops reputation for longevity
• 1891 June 22nd, four cottages destroyed by fire, caused by steam engine spark
• Late C19 Roman kilns found; scheduled ancient monument
• 1914 29 men from parish lost lives in WW1
• Early 1930's, rural council houses built at Emlet, Queens Road and North Street
• 1935 'Bradford Lads' made headlines as having a combined age of 434 years; used by Eldridge Pope brewers as advertising for Huntsman Ales. The lads drank at the Rose & Crown public house, the "healthiest village in Dorset".
• 1938 September 15th, four further cottages destroyed by fire
• 2010 June, C1AD Roman military camp found