Axminster was transported back to the regency period last week, with a Georgian Coffee House Day at the Axminster Heritage Centre.

On Michelmas Day (September, 29) twenty-five volunteers from Axminster Heritage Centre dressed in empire line dresses, bonnets, breeches and top hats. Diana Church organised the Coffee House ladies who were dressed in white cotton bonnets and long aprons and served tea, coffee and homemade cakes in the Coffee Houses set up on the Minster Green and in the Bradshaw Room.

During the day poems by Shelley, Byron, Coleridge and Wordsworth were recited in the museum while people sat together on long tables. A fine Georgian bank was set up by Mr John Dirring who played the part of Mr Gundry from Samuel and Joseph Gundry of Bridport, who was suitably attired in a top hat and frock coat.

Axminster is fortunate to have many Georgian buildings which provided the perfect backdrop for the day which ended with a fascinating talk on Georgian Axminster by local historian David Knapman. The event was organised to raise funds for the museum and to provide a showcase for local crafts such as knitting, spinning and calligraphy.

A display of farm cartwheels also came from ‘Mike Rowland Wheelwrights’ of Colyton who held the royal warrant was on show in the Bradshaw Room. The actors wandering around the town provided colour and entertainment to market day and gave people an insight into how Axminster would have looked in the Regency era.

Axminster Heritage Centre is open from 10am until 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am until 1pm on Saturdays until 31st October when winter opening hours begin.