1948, British Pathé
Swannery (1948)
Newsreel footage of the swanherd and the flock on the Fleet, three years after the war.
Abbotsbury on film
Archive footage only, all of it at least twenty years old: British Pathé newsreels, the BBC, and one of the last Garland Days.
1949, British Pathé
Swannery at Abbotsbury (1949)
The round-up and feeding as it was done just after the war.
1955, British Pathé
The Swannery (1955)
The swans, the reed beds and the men who kept them, filmed in 1955.
1979, BBC Archive, A Diary of Britain
A New Lease of Life for Abbotsbury? (1979)
The BBC in the village in 1979, on the estate, the leases and the swannery, with villagers (in the BBC's words, 'gentle Dorset tongues') worrying about the young having to move away. Nearly fifty years on and the worries have not changed much.
2005, YouTube
Abbotsbury Garland Day 2005
The garlands carried through the village and laid at the memorial, twenty-one years ago.
1991, Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Taste of the Country: Dick Dally of Abbotsbury (1991)
Television feature on Dick Dalley, the swanherd, held in the Wessex Film and Sound Archive. Not online; the catalogue record tells you how to view it.
The films play from the copyright holders' own channels; nothing is copied. If you have a cine reel, a video tape or a photo album from the village, we would like to get it digitised and on here with your name on it. [email protected].
See also HistoryThe swanherds