The progress of Blandford seems to have been quietly arrested soon after its rebuilding in 1731, and so it remains typical of that age, without being actually decayed. So far, indeed, is it from decay that it is a cheerful and prosperous, though not an increasing, town. Red moulded and carved brick frontages to the houses prevail here, and dignity is secured by the tall classic tower of the church, which, although not in itself entirely admirable, and although the stone of it is of an unhealthy green tinge, is not unpleasing, placed to advantage closing the view at one end of the broad market-place, instead of being aligned with the street. Most things in Blandford date back to ‘the fire,’ which forms a red-letter day in the story of the town. This may well be understood when it is said that only forty houses were left when the flames had done their worst, and that fourteen persons were burnt, while others died from grief, or shock, or injuries received. Blandford has been several times destroyed by fire. In Camden’s time it was burned down by accident, but was rebuilt soon after in a handsome and substantial form. Again in 1677 and in 1713 the place was devastated in the same manner. The memorable fire of 1731 began at a soap-boiler’s shop in the centre of the town. A pump, placed in a kind of shrine under the [Sidenote: _GIBBON_] [Illustration: BLANDFORD.] churchyard wall, bears an inscription recounting this terrible happening:-- In remembrance Of God’s dreadful visitation by Fire, Which broke out the 4th of June, 1731, and in a few Hours not only reduced the Church, but almost the whole Town, to Ashes, Wherein 14 Inhabitants perished, But also two adjacent Villages; And In grateful Acknowledgement of the Divine Mercy, That has since raised this Town, Like the Phœnix from its Ashes, To its present flourishing and beautiful State; and to prevent, By a timely Supply of Water, (With God’s Blessing) the fatal Consequences of Fire hereafter: This Monument Of that dire Disaster, and Provision Against the like, is humbly erected By John Bastard A considerable Sharer In the great Calamity, 1760. Between 1760 and 1762 Gibbon, the historian of the _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, was constantly in the neighbourhood of Blandford, camping on the downs which surround the town, and enjoying all the pomp and circumstance which may have belonged to his position as a Captain of Hants Militia.