Dorchester

Joseph Bucklin Society. A National History Center for the Gaspee Affair of 1772 and the Bucklin Family 1600-1899.

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Dorchester in 1613 was a town of about 2000 persons. It was the county and assize town, a parliamentary borough, and the richest place in Dorset. It was the regional market town. It had three major summer fairs. It was a center of the cloth industry, with perhaps more sheep than any other area of similar size. Through he nearby port of Weymouth, Dorchester's merchants traded busily with the continent. In short, it was the town to which all the residents for miles around could be expected to visit sometime during their life.

Dorchester in the 17th century is best described in David Underdown, Fire from Heaven (London, Yale Univ. Press, 1992). A detailed and delightful history of the people and how in the 1600's they transformed Dorchester in to the most puritan place in England.