Bess asked  <would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in Gillingham around 1780'90s?> It may have been woollen manufacturing. There is a very good article, which may be of general interest, in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological society Volume 59 pp 32 - 46.  It is entitled 'Dorset Industries in the Past' and was read to the Society on 3rd April 1936 by the author F C Warren There are sections on Agriculture, Salt production, Fishing, Purbeck stone, Portland stone, Ale brewing, Flax& hemp manufacture, Poole clay, Weaving, Kimmeridge shale, Buttony, Silk throwing, Ribbonmaking, Lacemaking, Haberdashery and Stocking making. Additionally there are sections on the ports of Bridport, Swanage, Lyme Regis, Poole and Weymouth. The paper concludes with a list, reproduced below, of periodical Dorset industries, as distinct from those carried on continuously such as agriculture, throughout the county such as shipping and fishing, milling, brewing, tanning, timber trades (from felling to carpentry) and rope and cordage manufacture at Bridport. The table is best viewed in full screen. CENTURY                       MANUFACTURE               WHERE           10,11, 12, 13 &14th          Salt Manufacture              Poole Harbour, Studland,                                                                               Weymouth                     13th, 14th & 15th               Marble Quarrying            Purbeck.                     15th                                  Glove making.                 Bridport.                                         Cloth manufacture           Sherborne                     16th                                 Glove making.                  Bridport.                                        Stone quarrying.               Portland and Purbeck.                                        Newfoundland trade          Poole and Weymouth.                                        Cloth manufacture            Sherborne                     17th                                 Stone quarrying                Portland and Purbeck.                                        Newfoundland trade.          Poole                                        Privateering.                     Weymouth, Poole and Lyme                                        Cloth manufacture.            Sherborne and Dorchester                                        Linen weaving.                  Bourton                                        Stained glass making.       Blandford                                        Bone lace making.            Blandford and Sherborne                                        Transport Lobsters                                        from Cornwall to London    Weymouth                                        Alum extraction.              Kimmeridge                                        Sailcloth making.             General in West Dorset                                        Button making.                Blandford and Sherborne                                        Tobacco pipe clay                                         working for London.          Poole and Corfe Districts                        18th                               Stone quarrying.               Portland and Purbeck.                                      Herring curing.                 Swanage.                                      Newfoundland trade.         Poole and Weymouth                                      Bone lace making.            Blandford.                                      Band strings.                    Blandford.                                      Articles of Straw.              Blandford.                                      Button making.                 Shaftesbury area and Sherborne.                                     Stocking making.              Wimborne, Poole and Corfe.                                     Ribbon weaving.                 Cranborne.                                     Linen weaving.                   Bourton.                                     Haberdashery.                    Sherborne.                                     Woollen manufacture          Beaminster, Bere Regis, Dorchester,                                                                             Gillingham, Lyme, Shaftesbury. Sturminster, and Wareham.                                    Sailcloth making.                Beaminster, Bridport and around.                                    Silk throwing.                     Sherborne.                                    Tobacco pipe clay and                                    China clay sent to London.   Poole and Corfe districts.                     1800 - 50                    Stone quarrying.                Portland and Purbeck.                                  Button making.                  East Dorset.                                  Stocking making.               Corfe Castle, Wimborne and Stalbridge.                                  Glove making.                    Beaminster, Bere Regis, Cerne Abbas and                                                                          Sherborne.                                  Silk throwing.                     Sherborne, Cerne Abbas, Bradford Abbas and                                                                           Dorchester.                                 Flax manufacture                Beaminster, Bridport and around,                                                                          Gillingham and Broadwindsor.                                Linen weaving.                     Bourton, Cerne, Gillingham and Silbourne.                                Linsey-wolsey.                    Bourton.                                Woollen manufacture            Sturminster, Wimborne and Lyme.                                Herring-curing.                     Swanage.                                Winning Kimmeridge coal.    Kimmeridge.                                China clay and pipe clay                                won and sent to London        Poole and Corfe districts                                Growing vegetables for                                Poole and Portsmouth.         Wareham.                                Parchment preparation.         Cerne Abbas John Rogan, in Wiltshire