Local history

The building of this railway line between Brockenhurst and Christchurch from 1884 to 1888 provided a direct link between Bournemouth and London and was to have a profound effect on the local communities and was instrumental in Bournemouth's rapid expansion during the latter part of the 19th century.

This books gives a short history of hand-made buttons through the centuries and then an appraisal of the rural cottage industry of East Dorset making the different types of buttons from locally resourced materials, its founder Abraham Case to its almost overnight demise during the Industrial Revolution, a history of the Lytchett Minster Button shop to the recent Dorset Button revival.