Victorian & Edwardian Dorset

Dorset in Victorian and Edwardian times was (as now) a predominantly rural county, but one suffering from the agricultural depression. Rider Haggard reports (1901) on a long expedition across country meeting just four other vehicles. 'Three of them were brewers' drays, and the fourth was a timberdrag.' The 'decay of agriculture' was accompanied by the steady, century-long exodus from the country t...