Tolpuddle

Tolpuddle Martyrs

The pretty little village of Tolpuddle, some six miles east of Dorchester, is home to the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum.

This is the place (if you didn't see the film you surely ought to have been taught at school about these valiant farm labourers and people's heroes) where the six Martyrs were arrested in 1834 for trade union activity and sentenced to transportation, under the most horrific conditions, to Australia.

A great popular struggle was organised by the working class against this heinous bourgeois crime of conspiracy against the people, to demand the freedom of the six and their return to England.

The strength of mass support resulted in victory, and today this celebration against class oppression is commemmorated annually by the international Trade Union movement with a Rally at Tolpuddle on the third Sunday of July.

The Martyrs Museum is open with free admission, and forms part of the Memorial Cottages. The exhibition includes interactive multimedia screens; Tony Robinson narrates the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, which is available on CD-ROM together with various souvenirs and educational material.

A short distance away is the great Sycamore Tree under which the labourers held meetings. The class and social aspirations of the early Trade Unionists and Chartists will eventually and inevitably become reality for working people.

The road through Tolpuddle is very quiet since the completion of the A35 dual carriageway bypass - don't miss the turn to the left!

CLICK HERE for more: TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS RALLY