In common with other coastal villages, fishing has, until fairly recently, been a significant mainstay of Abbotsbury’s livelihood and there are many sepia photographs still existent to support this claim. With the Atalantic’s rolling seas pounding into the Chesil beach, longshore drift and the tremendous fetch of the waves this was a perilous business that claimed the lives of many of the brave souls that sought to make their living by this means. The boats were predominantly clinker built, small craft, rowed out to sea by between two and six men.

Mackerel fishing was perhaps one of the most common of these pursuits. A single boat would be launched to range along the Chesil bank until the shoals of fish were sighted. The fishermen would then send up a ‘flare’, to alert the other boats still beached ashore. The ‘fleet’ would then be rapidly launched and as much mackerel fished as tide and weather allowed. The wind direction across Lyme Bay being predominantly south- westerly, sudden squalls would often obliterate all trace of the shoals and quite literally ‘rock the boat’ alarmingly. Rowing against the fetch would make regaining the shingle shoreline and beaching the frail craft a hazardous business that required immense strength and skill.

Once the catch was landed it would be packed into baskets by the womenfolk who had been on the beach anxiously awaiting the return of their fishermen. The baskets were then carried up the steeply shelving shingle of the beach and loaded into the horse and cart waiting on the causeway at the back of the beach. The fish surplus to the requirements of the villagers, were taken to market in the county town of Dorchester and sold.

The ‘turn of the tide’ for this industry began during the early part of the last century when some of the fishermen lost their lives in the trenches when serving in the army during the First World War. The decline was further threatened by the air ministry’s proposals to use Chesil Beach as a base for their bombing practice during the Second World War. Although the industry picked up again following the wars, it was never to regain its former level of sustenance and inevitably declined into virtual extinction. Those fishing from Abbotsbury off the beach now do so for pleasure, rather than for their livelihoods. However, on almost any night of the year, weather permitting, you will see the twinkle of tiny lights all along the shoreline as ‘hobby’ fishermen cast their lines out to sea from the relative safety of their makeshift encampments on the edge of the beach. These hardy enthusiasts are quite simply enthralled by the fascination of fishing in such a wild and windswept environment but perhaps thankful that the necessity of earning a living by such means is now redundant!

From out of the fishing industry came the requirement for nets. Abbotsbury people did not have the financial resources to purchase these so made them for themselves, quickly perceiving that there was a market for their talents, and so another industry evolved. Quite when the industry, known as ‘breding’ or ‘braiding’ started we are unsure, but it was certainly documented as being existent throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries and well into the 20^th century. As a close knit community, this industry was not restricted to the fishermen and their families but was engaged in by cottagers throughout the village. The children were even taught net breding at their local school. The string for making the nets was bought to the village by tradesmen from the nearby coastal town of Bridport. These enterprising gentlemen then collected the finished nets and rewarded the labour by goods the villagers required; such as cooking utensils, tools or other commodities the villagers could not, or did not, make for themselves.

Another more domestic industry embarked upon by the villagers was the making of cotton or worsted stockings. Many of the cottagers had spinning wheels whereupon the women, and sometimes the children, would spin the yarn for the making of stockings to sell in the nearby market towns to help boost their meager incomes. This industry was probably existent from the early 17^th century until up to and during the Second World War.

‘Buttony’ was a necessary and important industry before the introduction of machine made buttons. A wire ring or wooden mould provided the basis on which the buttons were made. Fine linen threads were then stretched across the ‘frames’ and woven into the rings thus making the button.

Before the advent of electricity, candles were one of the few means of providing illumination during the hours of darkness. Many of the poorer folk, however, simply could not afford them, so their choices were either to retire to bed very early or to rely upon firelight. The enterprising residents of Abbotsbury, being ever industrious, decided to make their own candles and if possible produce sufficient surplus to sell at market. They made the candles from tallow produced from rendered animal fats and as you can imagine, there was the most obnoxious smell pervading the cottages as there were being made!

From the Abbotsbury reed beds yet another industry emerged, that of reed pulling. This was a time consuming process that involved placing the reed straw between wooden presses and withdrawing the individual stalks by hand. The ‘ears’ of the reed-straw were then cut off and the resultant ‘clean’ reed made up into bundles. There was an art to this reed pulling as reed, once ‘dry’ enough to cut, is extremely brittle and breaks easily and no one wanted ‘short’ reed, for the pulled reed was to be used in yet more cottage industries, such as basket making.

The pulled reed, having been bundled up, was distributed amongst those skilled enough to work with it; usually this was the province of the elders of the village who had retired from more physically strenuous activities! Up until fairly recently, you would often see an ‘oldster’ sitting in the threshold of his cottage plaiting the reed before weaving it into the making of baskets, mats or chair seats. This work was skilled and labour intensive but immensely satisfying and enduring for the craftsmen. Many Abbotsbury families still have chairs and baskets made by their ancestors, although doubtless some of these have ended up in local jumble sales! Once upon a time, however, this skilled industry was much valued by the inhabitants of Abbotsbury, who would often sell their hand worked wares to Victorian day-trippers from the doorways of their cottages.