NEWS
by Roger Guttridge
Mittens across the ocean A unique heritage project is reviving historic connections between North Dorset and Newfoundland – and has already led to a couple of a remarkable discoveries, says BV columnist Roger Guttridge A humble pair of mittens that probably started life in Sturminster Newton has turned up in a private museum in a remote part of Newfoundland – and is causing ripples of excitement on both sides of the Atlantic. The mittens are the world’s only known surviving garments made of swanskin, which was uniquely manufactured in the Blackmore Vale from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Dorset’s fishing mitts They came to light as a direct result of a heritage project called the Swanskin Seafarers of Sturminster Newton, which is bringing together historians, museums, teachers and students in both Sturminster and Twillingate, Newfoundland. As word of the project spread around Newfoundland’s remote north coast, Peter Porter came forward to say he had the mittens
The discovery of these rather dull-looking mittens is causing international excitement - they are the world’s only known surviving garments made of swanskin, which was uniquely manufactured in the Blackmore Vale in the 15001800s. The cloth for these may well have been made in Sturminster Newton. in his museum on Change Islands. they may be decades older – and Peter has a ledger recording the the material would have been sale of the mittens in 1899 but made in the Blackmore Vale. Former teacher Jocelyn Bath told the BV from Twillingate: ‘My father remembers his dad having a pair. “They were favoured by the fishermen because they were warm but could also be removed quickly when the need arose while fishing or sealing.”
The swanskin mittens are in a private museum in Newfoundland
8
Twillingate and Sturminster Jocelyn has also uncovered some family documents dating back to 1816 that included orders for swanskin and references to Sturminster Newton. An estimated 92% of the ancestors of people in Twillingate (pop 2,121) and neighbouring Change Islands (pop 208!) and Fogo Island (pop 2,244) came from Dorset - and many of those from North Dorset.
