Meeting in St Paul's Church on January 13th

Poster for the meeting on Wednesday, January 13th

 at 7:30pm in St Paul's Curch, Starcross. Our speaker will be Andrew Cadbury who will talk about his family and the history of chocolate

Here's the link to this poster. Please can you print and display? Cheers

Because we don't want to exclude anyone from coming, we won't charge for admission, and we won't have a membership fee, but we need to cover the £20 cost to hire the rooms, and we also need money for our projects.
We raise money by asking you to bring a raffle prize - perhaps some of us might bring a chocolate raffle prize this time? We also sell tea&coffee withabiscuit, which costs £1, and we sell our hard enamel badges for £5. We also have some copies of the late Dick Forrester's book What was an Atmospheric Railway priced only £3 - they are advertised on eBay for twice that price!

We are always looking for speakers, and for help with running this group, and with our projects. The current projects are:

• Making a trail of peacocks' tails to commemorate Captain George Peacock. There will be a Dartmoor-style letterbox stamp sited near to each peacock tail. On St George's Day, 23rd April, we will sell you a trail card, and invite you to follow the trail and collect the stamps. There's a peacock's feather for the first 50 completed cards.

We are looking for a trophy or two to present to the best peacock tails - perhaps you may have an old trophy you no longer need? Or we could use a ceramic pot if it has two handles at the top.

• Recreating or locating the missing Stairs Cross. Read about this project on these links:

 The history of Stairs Cross
Starcross Parish Council backs the project if we can further prove the existence of a Stairs Cross
photograph of the stairs where the Stairs Cross was sited

We need someone to research the archives of Sherbourne Abbey. Perhaps we could raise enough money to fund a geophys exploration of the estuary, to see if the Stairs Cross lies buried underneath the silt. Maybe Henry V11th's men didn't destroy the cross, but merely tipped it into the estuary mud?

• Exploring archaeological remains. 

There's a wartime bunker around Warboro. Read about it on this link Operational Base of the Starcross Auxiliary Unit Patrol

ARCHI, the historical search hound, has  discovered 117 archaeological and historic sites within 10km of Starcross 117 archaeological sites near Starcross from ARCHIUK
Are there some enthusiasts to explore some of these sites.  Which site interests you the most?

• Commemorating Captain George Peacock. Captain Peacock invented the screw propeller... so let's have an enormous screw propeller with his name on it. Maybe site it on Parish Council land on The Strand?  We need researchers to discover more, and someone to contact Captain Peacock's descendants to tell them what we'd like to do. Then we'll need to approach the Parish Council with our ideas. 

HERE'S a link to some information about him from the Royal Museums at Greenwich. The links to the illustrations have been taken down, but they may be available elsewhere on the Royal Greenwich Museums' website
HERE'S another link. This is to the information on the National Archives website

The Dogs of War

Excerpted from The Curious Map Book by Ashley Baynton-Williams. Out now from the University of Chicago Press. 

When the first world war started in 1914, most commentators thought that the war would be of short duration, and this was reflected in the relatively light-hearted caricature maps issued in the first months of the war. By the second year, when the true scale of the conflict became apparent, such propaganda maps took on an altogether darker tone.

Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark!, published by G. W. Bacon, depicts the principal protagonists as dogs. The stereotypes are as familiar today as then: the British bulldog, the French poodle, and the German dachshund. Serbia, however, is depicted as wasps, stinging the Austrian mongrel. North of the British Isles is a puppet master in naval garb (sometimes said to be Winston Churchill, at the time first lord of the admiralty) who is gradually moving Royal Navy ships on station to blockade Germany by sea.

Walter Lewis Emanuel (1869–1915) contributed the descriptive text outside the lower border; he was a famous English humorist, known for his contributions to the magazine Punch and for a series of anthropomorphic dog books such as The Dogs of War (published in 1906 and reprinted in 1913), which was illustrated by the artist Cecil Aldin (1870–1935). Emmanuel’s text reads:

The Dogs of War are loose in Europe, and a nice noise they are making! It was started by a Dachshund that is thought to have gone mad – though there was so much method in his madness that this is doubtful. [Note for the ignorant: The German for Dog is Hund. The English for German in Hun. Dachshunds means badger-dog – and he is sometimes more badgered than he likes.] Mated with the Dachshund, for better or for worse, was an Austrian Mongrel. By the fine unwritten law of Dogdom big dogs never attack little ones. There are, however, scallywags in every community, and, egged on by the Dachshund for private ends, the Mongrel started bullying a little Servian. And then the fat was in the fire, for the little Servian had a great big friend in the form of a Russian Bear, and he stood up for his pal. And that was what the Dachshund wanted. He hoped that a big row would ensue, and in the confusion he intended to steal a bone or two that he had had his eye on. The Dachshund now began to look round for friends, but they seemed strangely scarce. He had relied on an Italian Greyhound, a thoroughbred, named Italia, but Italia dissembled her love in the strangest way, and asserted that War was a luxury which she could not afford just now [...] The Dachshund, to his annoyance, found only one friend, and that was a dog of Constantinople. ...Meanwhile the rest of the European Happy Family looked on, and who shall say how the row will spread? There’s the Greek with his knife ready to take a slice of Turkey; there are the Balkans determined not to be baulked of their own little ambitions; there’s the Spaniard fond of Bull fighting so long as he is not a John Bull; there’s the Portugee just spoiling for a scrap; there’s the Swiss suffering from cold feet; there’s the Dutchman... All this, and more, may be seen depicted above. Search well and you will find many things. But not Peace. Peace has gone to the Dogs for the present – until a satisfactory muzzle has been found for that Dachshund. Meanwhile the Dachshund’s heart bleeds for Belgium – and his nose for Great Britain.

It is interesting to note that a German copy of the map was published in Hamburg early in 1915, presumably in an attempt to highlight and discredit the perceived self-interest of British war aims. It is also interesting to speculate on the market for such a map, originally sold for a shilling (5p); the image is child-oriented, and it may be that the map was aimed at parents and schools as a tool to explain the background to the conflict. When handled in the house or classroom, the maps would have been easily damaged, which explains their relative rarity today.

Ashley Baynton-Williams is an antiquarian map dealer and researcher based in London and the author of several books.

Starcross Records in the Devon Rural Archive

When we visit the  Devon Rural Archive at Shilstone, we can warn them that we are coming and they'll make sure the Starcross records are ready for us: Here's a list of what they already have in their collection:

Historic maps
A number of maps covering the whole county such as the 1765 map by Benjamin Donn

image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Donn

 and the 1827 map of the county by Greenwood and Greenwood.

Thankyou Devon County for this image of the Greenwood map

They also have complete Ordnance Survey coverage for 1887 and 1905.


Images
A handful of old black and white photographs showing Starcross. 



Local Information
A small publication about The Royal Western Counties Hospital.
References within more general texts relating to the area.


Articles

A couple of articles from the Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries / Devonshire Association Transactions

The Quest for the Three Hares: from Devon myth to medieval China and back

Transport can be arranged. Please get in touch if you're also fascinated by these iconic 3 hares with 2 ears each, but only 3 ears between them - as seen in Buddhist caves at the edge of the Gobi Desert AND in 17 Devon churches...


DEVON RURAL ARCHIVE, SHILSTONE, MODBURY, DEVON PL21 0TW 01548 830832 OFFICE@DRA.UK.NET

 In seventeen Devon churches there are medieval roof bosses showing the intriguing and paradoxical image of three hares sharing only three ears between them, yet each creature having two ears. Amazingly, in seventeen Buddhist caves in China, on the edge of the Gobi desert, the same symbol occurs but dating perhaps 500 - 800 years earlier than the Devon examples. This richly illustrated talk outlines the quest to unravel the origins of this iconic symbol used in all the major religions of the Old World. With colleagues Sue Andrew and Chris Chapman, Tom Greeves has travelled widely across Europe and beyond, collecting information on a design that has intrigued him personally since the 1960s, and which has been responsible for an interesting, enduring but baseless myth in Devon itself.

Dr Tom Greeves is a cultural environmentalist exploring and interpreting the landscape through highly trained eyes. Studying as a prehistorian at Edinburgh University, he obtained a doctorate in history and archaeology at Exeter University, studying the Devon tin industry. Dr Greeves was the first Sites & Monuments Officer for Devon, establishing the county archive of archaeology. He was subsequently the first Archaeologist to Dartmoor National Park Authority, and then worked in London with the environmental arts group Common Ground; having responsibility for the national Parish Maps project before becoming freelance.

Tickets are £5 each.
The price includes tea / coffee and biscuits available from 6.30pm when doors open.

Tickets can be booked in person at the DRA, over the phone or by email and paid for on arrival at the lecture. If tickets are paid for in advance a seat will be reserved for you near the front of the lecture room. Booking is recommended.

If you have booked a ticket for a DRA lecture and are unable to attend please let us know as soon as possible as tickets are in high demand.

For directions please visit the DRA website at
http://www.devonruralarchive.com/Directions.html
 

The DRA is open every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11am to 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays); there is no need to book and entry is free. If you are visiting us please do remember to enter the site with caution and note the speed limit within the grounds is 5 miles per hour.

Other dates for your diary:
4th February 2016: Devon's Torre Abbey, its rescue and significance - an illustrated talk by Dr Michael Rhodes, former Curator of Torre Abbey.

2016 programme coming soon!

The DRA offers group visits to Local History Societies and other community organisations. If you would like to bring your group for a day at the archive in 2016 with optional guided tour of Shilstone please contact Abi on 01548 830832.

Devon Rural Archive

The resident archaeologist at the Devon Rural Archive, Abi Gray, has invited Starcross History to visit the archive, for a workshop, or to explore the collection.
Opening Times: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11:00am to 3:00pm
Devon Rural Archive is in Shilstone, near Modbury, Plymouth PL21 0TW
Please get in touch if you're interested.
Thanks

The Devon Rural Archive is open every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday between 11am and 3pm. Entry is free and there is no need to book.

Find out more on   The website for the Devon Rural Archive

From Pycroft to Rycroft

There was a good attendance at our November meet, because Ian Goodrick was the speaker. The former Starcross GP entertained us hugely with his wry sense of humour. Some of us could also remember the 'good old days' (?) when a doctor would 'tell it to you like it was'.
We were made more appreciative of modern medicine: Ian's tragic Victorian tale of a Starcross woman who died from a post-natal infection could never happen again in the village, because modern obstetric practice has improved exponentially. The infection within this unfortunate new mother was not discovered until it was too late.  New mothers today are looked after and monitored carefully for any signs of problems; not simply left to enjoy their new baby in the hope that all will be well.

However, this isn't true of the rest of the world. Liz Moore was at the meeting. She lives in Starcross. Liz is the founder of Call the Midwife Tanzania, which is a charity working in Tanzania  with the Maasai. A Maasai woman achieves status when she has children. The more children she has, the higher her status. But one Maasai woman in seven would die in childbirth. In the villages where Liz's charity works, this horrific statistic has been reduced to almost zero.
Here's a link to the website:  Call the Midwife Tanzania
You can donate to Call the Midwife Tanzania on this link

We were able to look at many photographs, including our former GP, Dr Richard Rycroft, in his Second World War uniform. Below are some photographs of the construction of Starcross Surgery.

 Valerie Forrester also addressed the meeting. Like Starcross History,  Valerie is interested in oral records, but her purpose is for The Dawlish and Teignmouth Area Talking Newspaper., which is for blind and partially sighted people. The publication, Hear  and Now, is recorded weekly. The November 13th edition was the 3rd one. HERE'S the audio link.
 There aren't yet any subscribers in Starcross, so if you know anyone who would benefit from this, or if you would like to help with this worthwhile project, please get in touch.

Meet on January 13th: Cadbury's of Bournville in Starcross Church

Chocoholics will be very welcome at the next meet of Starcross History on Wednesday, January 13th, in our new venue: St Paul's Church. 

Our speaker will be Andrew Cadbury, and his subject will be Cadbury's of Bournville. We'll hear all about the history of his family, and the story of chocolate

The Church music group rehearses every Wednesday in the main Church, until 7:30. This means that the Church will be open, so we'll be able to go straight in to set up in the rooms at the back - no more waiting outside in the rain.

Operational Base of the Starcross Auxiliary Unit Patrol

Can you add anything to the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team's webpage about the wartime Starcross Auxiliary patrol?

From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.

Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.

Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help."

The Operational Base for the Patrol is between Starcross and Exminster and the Auxiliers lived in the surrounding area. It was located on land farmed by Francis Wotton at Tawsington Farm. The farm has now been split and the land divided up around neighbouring farms. Situated just below the brow of a hill, the area has views over the River Exe Estuary and almost up to the City of Exeter.

Condition of OB: Known to have been built by the Royal Engineers local children discovered the OB, while still intact, during the 1950s. It was entered into by a trap door in the middle of a Laurel copse though nothing could be seen from the surface.

Embedded in the entrance shaft were 5 metal rungs leading down to a Nissen Hut type structure containing a cast iron stove, a cupboard and four bunk beds. Ventilation pipes led to the surface.

A 3 ft diameter concrete pipe lead away as an escape tunnel, exiting at the surface.

Size of OB and entrance/exit etc: Currently unknown, though thought to have been destroyed. At one time it was seen as only rubble remaining, along with the intact escape tunnel leading away.

From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.
Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.
Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help.
- See more at: http://www.coleshillhouse.com/starcross-auxiliary-unit-patrol.php#sthash.z7S7NGpa.dpuf

From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.
Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.
Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help.
- See more at: http://www.coleshillhouse.com/starcross-auxiliary-unit-patrol.php#sthash.z7S7NGpa.dpuf

Meet this Wednesday - From Pycroft to Rycroft: speaker Ian Goodrick

Police House in The Strand

The photograph of Northend  on The Strand as a police house has been taken down from the Friends of The Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Heritage &Learning Resource Facebook page so there's a gap on our May 16th 2015 post about it

Please has anyone a photograph of it around 1871?

Here it is on Google Maps



This old police house is listed on The British Listed Building website as Northend Cottage

"6/283 Northend Cottage
-

GV II


Cottage. Early C19. Grey limestone rubble, slate roof, gabled at ends with coped
gables and kneelers; stone lateral stack with yellow brick shaft to left wall of main
block. The scale and Gothic style suggest a lodge but there is no evidence that it
ever served this purpose. It was lived in by a policeman in 1871 and may have been a
purpose built police cottage. Tudor style.
Plan: A small cottage with one principal heated room with a porch on the north side
and a single-storey service room under a lean-to roof on the south side. A stair
rises in the front right corner of the main room. C20 addition to rear left.
Exeterior: Very well-preserved. The I window front elevation has a Gothic gabled
porch with a deeply-chamfered 4-centred doorway with a shield carved over the arch.
The doorway is now blocked and the porch is entered on the left return, the right
return has a stone-framed slit window and the main block has a similar slit window to
the left of the porch. Arched inner doorframe with a 4-centred arched C19 plank and
cover strip front door. The left return (facing the road) has a small canted bay
window to the ground floor with glazing bars and a 2-light first floor C19 casement,
a similar window at the left lights the lean-to. The right return also has a C19
canted bay window, so the principal room is lit from both sides.
Interior: Original joinery survives: fireplace blocked.
The deeds are said to go back to 1870 when the house was purchased by the Powderham
Estate.
An unusual and attractive small roadside house.


Listing NGR: SX9756382207"

Starcross Hospital Reunion

STAFF     REUNION

   Saturday 16th April 2016

    Mount Pleasant Inn

       Dawlish Warren

see the new website for The Royal Western Counties Hospital

and also their Facebook page

  

The Royal Western Counties Hospital in Starcross

The memorial stone in St Paul's memorial garden

The badge of The Royal Western Counties Hospital in Starcross

 

 

Get involved with Devon Archives

The Devon Archives at Sowton invite anyone interested to a Volunteer Celebration on Monday 16th November.
New recruits welcome!

New book about Devon pubs

http://www.akemanpress.com/books/devon-pubs/ 

Akeman Press has just published Devon Pubs: A Pictorial Retrospective by Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott. This features archive photographs of over 450 of the county’s

 pubs (including three in Starcross) 

– some long gone, some still thriving – and also covers such diverse subjects as the history of cider making, Devon’s lost breweries, church house inns, the folk song revival, the curious tale of Devon white ale, the story of Uncle Tom Cobley and much more. During over a decade’s worth of research, the authors not only travelled the length and breadth of Devon (as well as visiting three islands) to find out what the pubs featured in the book are like today, but also trawled through old newspapers, census returns, directories and other archive material to trace their histories. The result is an indispensable guide to an unjustly neglected aspect of the county’s history. The book, which runs to 384 pages, costs £15 and is available through bookshops or direct (with free postage in the UK) from Akeman Press, 58 Minster Way, Bath BA2 6RL.  A press release is enclosed and further details can be found at www.akemanpress.com.

To celebrate the publication of Devon Pubs, a book launch will be held at the Tom Cobley Tavern, Spreyton at 7.30pm on Wednesday 4 November. The authors will be signing copies of the book and everyone is cordially invited to the event. Further information and details of how to find the Tom Cobley are at www.tomcobleytavern.co.uk.

Dawlish History Day

Dawlish History Day on Saturday 31st October at the Strand Centre.

What do you know about the Dawlish story, and would you like to pass it on to others, or learn a bit more?

Jumble jumble everywhere

The amount of jumble donated was amazing
Thanks again everyone

Pews at St Paul's festooned with clothes. Toys, furniture and bric-a-brac was across the front

Only 1 carload was left over
Thankyou to everyone who bought jumble.
We'll do it all again in around 6 months time

Helping to set up the jumble sale in St Paul's

Helping to set up the jumble sale in St Paul's

Thankyou Starcross, for this magnificent display of generosity. Most of the donations came from the village. Many thanks as well, to those from further afield who gave. Thankyou everyone who supportedour jumble sale, by donating items, spending money at the sale, and helping to set out, sell, and clear up.

Thankyou to everyone at St Paul's for everything they did to make today's jumble sale such a great success.
An army of folk laid out the clothes&books on the pews, and toys&bric-a-brac on tables across the front of the church. Then they organised the raffle and served teas&coffees.
There was only one carload of jumble left at the end of the sale. Thankyou to the Westbank Charity Shop for accepting the leftovers.

Starcross History and St Paul's had half  each of the proceeds of the raffle and the sale - which meant £101 each.

There will be another Jumble Sale in around 6 months time... or even sooner? Watch this blog for details.