For a small town, Dorchester has more than its fair share of unusual historical anecdotes.
One of the more entertaining stories found in one of our favourite local history tomes, More History on your Doorstep by Terry Hearing, concerns sexual shenanigans in downtown Fordington.
In 1756, magistrate William Bryer was called upon to sit in judgement over a case of what appears to be attempted blackmail when a certain Betty Foy accused the Reverend Thomas Hayward of getting her with child.
Read more: How Hallelujah Bay on Portland got its name
Yet when Betty asked a friend what the latest news about town was, she learned that it was all about her behaviour, to which she classically replied that those who gossiped behind her back were 'a parcel of rogues, whores and bitches'.
She added that she was no more with child than the basket of oysters her friend was carrying.
Sadly we don't know how the case ended, or what happened to Betty.
Dorset historian Terry Hearing, author of Dorset History in 101 Objects, passed away last February aged 90.
Terry Hearing
A master story-teller, Mr Hearing made a significant contribution to the canon of Dorset history and was a founder of the annual Clinton Grassby lecture at Thomas Hardye school. Terry combined his talents for history, the law, and story-telling in his academic and popular writing.
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