Making Dorset Buttons

In this workshop you will learn how to make a Dorset Crosswheel using the techniques of casting, slicking, laying and rounding. The cost includes all materials and refreshments.

The art of making Dorset buttons, or “buttony” as it’s also known, has a fascinating history going back to the 1600s and a gentleman called Abraham Case. The industry flourished for around 200 years and it’s said that by the end of the 1700s, around 4,000 women and children were employed in button making around Shaftesbury with another 3,000 or so in the Blandford area. Unfortunately the invention of button making machines in the 1800s led to its rapid decline and the skill of buttony was in danger of being lost.

Lady Florence Lees of Lychett Minster was responsible for saving the art of making Dorset Buttons in the early 1900s. She bought all the buttons that were left and visited farms and cottages all over Dorset to discover how they were made. She set up a small business producing “Parliamentary” buttons for Dorset MPs in their constituency colours but sadly this was brought to an end by the outbreak of the First World War.

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