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| top of Roman amphora brought up 3 fathoms from the Exe Estuary |
The May bank
holiday in 2014 saw the Starcross Past and Present Festival with displays about
the history of the village, in St Paul’s Church, a talk by David Force and the
commemoration of the former Starcross
Royal Western Counties Hospital with the siting of a memorial stone. The Devon
limestone - the same type of stone as St Paul’s Church - was picked by the St
Paul’s Church committee, from Stoneycombe quarry, Kingskerswell. Crediton
stonemasons, FJ Stevens and Son were commissioned to carve the 1 tonne stone.
At the
festival, names and contact details were taken of people who thought that
Starcross should have its own history group. Many appeals were made for someone
to start such a group.
I volunteered -
in 2015 - and Barbara Rich agreed to
be the treasurer. Barbara is much more than treasurer. She organises the
meetings - does all the teas and coffees unless someone else helps; runs the
raffle and supports my wacky ideas. Without Barbara, we couldn’t have a group
at all.
We have never
offered our wonderful speakers, artists and helpers any money for expenses or
fees. Everyone has given their time, expertise and materials freely. I’m going
to list all that’s happened since we started Starcross History, but first of
all, I would like to say a big THANKYOU to everyone I’ve roped in, and thankyou
to the Starcross Newsletter, the Dawlish Gazette, the notice boards and the
Facebook pages for all the free publicity. Our website
http://starcrosshistory.blogspot.co.uk
has had 25,000 hits, so thankyou Google; for our free website.
First Meet - Tuesday March 10th 2015
in the brand new Starcross Pavilion on the sportsfield. Our first speaker was Alison Miles, who encouraged us to
complete a square for the Starcross Wall
Hanging - a tangible piece of local history, which celebrates the country life
of Starcross. Please take a look for
yourselves - it’s at the front of the main Church here.
2015 was the 150th anniversary of
William Booth's founding of the Salvation Army. Our 2nd speaker
of the evening; Peter Hinchliffe's
topic was The early battles: Police v
Salvation Army. Peter, himself
an ex-copper, astounded us with incredible tales of what is now seen as the
nineteenth-century police persecution of the Salvation Army. Peter told us how;
in Exeter, Plymouth, Honiton, Crediton, Torquay and further afield, salvationalists
were arrested and imprisoned, and even killed. An opposing army of thugs; The
Skeleton Army had tacit approval to disrupt and attack the salvationalists.
Wednesday May 13th 2015.
Dr Janet Cutler
gave a wickedly humorous illustrated talk on Brunel in the West Country. Her slideshow demonstrated her great determination to get the
best shots. The one of the SS Great Britain's last time afloat - as she lumbered
up the Avon into Bristol, showed how decrepit the old boat was. She’d been
beached in The Falklands and used as a warehouse, then scuttled and left to
rot. Frenzied crowds jostled for a position to see the fragile wreck go under
the suspension bridge 127 years after she’d left Bristol. Janet Cutler stayed
put amongst the melee, and got the perfect shot she wanted. We were able to
see the ravages of an 8,000 mile journey on an already dangerously
deteriorated hulk.
There were slides of the broadgauge loco, The North Star, and stories of the chaos when broad gauge met narrow gauge... or any gauge met a gauge of a different size. |
More slides
focussed on the beauty of Brunel's structures, such as Bristol Temple Meads, and his many ornate stone bridges. Brunel was an architect of some skill. The Clifton suspension bridge wasn't
actually built by Brunel. It was built after he died, as a memorial to the great man.
The second
speaker was Luci Coles, who explained
the passions, for both sculpture and the environment, behind Trail
Recycled Art in the Landscape in
Teignmouth, in which Starcross History had just entered their idea for
their Swan of the Exe sculpture. Luci
talked about the involvement of schools, community groups and businesses in the
project. She spoke of the ability which art has to get a message across to
everyone - but not everyone will go into an art gallery, so TrailArt, in tourist spots on Teignmouth Den
and in Shaldon Botanic Gardens, has a universal impact. Its message is
about pollution, especially plastic pollution.
June 2015 Teignbridge
District Council gave us an old, bright blue, plastic boat for the sculpture. Brenda
Barkwill suggested using white plastic milkbottles to make swan feathers and
I found an orange swan-beak-coloured paddle on Teignmouth back beach. Starcross
artist Vicky Jocher agreed to create
our Swan of the Exe sculpture.
July 8th 2015
Gordon White kindly lent his remarkable catalogue of
research and photographs to Adam Golding who used them to
present Starcross
Stories. Time allowed for
only a fraction of Gordon’s comprehensive collection. We learned about rows of Starcross and Powderham cottages which burned down or were summarily demolished by Brunel, to make way for his railway. Back in the nineteenth century, it was
suggested that the railway would be difficult to maintain if it were to be
built along the shoreline...
The Royal Western Counties Hospital was first of all run privately; in converted cottages, and had only a handful of inmates. The capable woman who ran it was sacked because... she was a woman. New rules of new management stipulated that the person in charge had to
be a man...
Smugglers met in the Courtenay Arms.
2 carts fully loaded with stolen goods were discovered by the constabulary in a lean-to shed; right
beside the thieves' cottage.
Vicky Jocher showed us her maquette of The Swan of the Exe sculpture, and explained her Swan of the Exe workshops presented at Starcross
Primary School. The older children
had been discussing pollution in the oceans, in a forum only the previous week.
All the children were enthused to actively protest about pollution of the planet when they helped
to create our exhibit for Trail. Then they made
feathers out of the plastic milkbottles they had brought to school and they attached
their feathers to a piece of trawler net which had been found drifting off
Teignmouth. They looked forward to seeing the completed sculpture on Plot 12,
near the Teignmouth Pier.
The Starcross History group then walked to the former village sweetshop, Myrtle
Cottage, to see the nearly-completed sculpture.
July 2015 Vicky Jocher installed The Swan of the Exe by Teignmouth pier
September 9th
2015 Dr Sally Ayres gave a talk on Rear
Admiral Francis Godolphin Bond who retired to Starcross in 1801. He sailed
to Tahiti in 1791 with his uncle,
who was The Bounty's Captain William Bligh.
The rare Tahitian artefacts Bond collected are displayed in the Royal
Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
|
Bligh and his nephew jointly owned the house that is now Exeter’s Ship Inn.
Sally's interest in Bond comes from her research into the Exeter Royal
Albert Memorial Museum’s Pacific Collection. Much of the collections in RAMM was donated by the Devon and Exeter Institution which was founded in 1813 by some two
hundred gentlemen of the county and city, [which included Francis Godolphin
Bond.]
The institution was ‘for
promoting the general diffusion of Science, Literature and Art, and for
illustrating the Natural and Civil History of the county of Devon and the city
of Exeter’. The site of the Devon and Exeter Institution was originally
owned by the Courtenay family of Powderham. Today’s chairman of the institution
lives in Starcross.
Bond’s main interest on his Pacific voyages was to procure plants;
many of which are in our gardens today. Breadfruit had been hailed as the plant to save the world
from starvation, but the varieties
of unpalatable breadfruit which Bond gathered became cheap
fodder for our slaves in the plantations.
One of Rear Admiral Godolphin Bond's sons was Rev. Edward
Copleston Bond who lived in the vicarage at Starcross from 1865.
Bond died in 1880 and was buried in the cemetery of Exeter's Holy
Trinity Church. This graveyard was removed by the City Council in l987-88 and
the remains were reinterred in Exeter Higher Cemetery. All that remains today of
the Bond family tomb is a simple gravestone.
Holy
Trinity Church was
deconsecrated in 1969, and stood empty and derelict for 20 years. The Royal
Navy rescued this lovely Victorian building, which is now The White
Ensign Club.
Saturday September 12th 2015 from 9am until 4pm. Steampunk Hat Workshop and Steampunk Bring&Buy in St Paul's Church. This was part of the Devon Historic Churches Day - another opportunity to get the kids involved, and some publicity for us.
Saturday October 24th
The team from St Paul’s Church swung into action to provide teas and coffees and their sumptuous cakes, and to man the stalls at our good old-fashioned Jumble Sale. Every pew was filled with jumble, and the raffle table had lots of prizes. Thankyou to everyone who donated items and gave of their time. The leftovers were kindly dealt with by the team at the Westbank Charity Shop.
Wednesday November 11th
Attendance was up at
our November meet, because our popular retired GP, Dr Ian Goodrick was the speaker. Some of us could also remember the 'good old days' (?)
when a doctor would 'tell it to you like it was'. We were able to see a
selection of photographs which included the build of the present Starcross
surgery.
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, and is the founder of Call the Midwife Tanzania, which is a charity working 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.
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. 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.
January 13th 2016
The January meet munched its way through the
generous free samples as they listened to Andrew
Cadbury’s delicious talk about his family and the development of the
chocolate industry.
The reason that so many UK businesses were
started by Quakers was that universities would not accept Quakers. Quakers were
unable to study for professions such as law and medicine. Bright youngsters
from Quaker families had no alternative but to go into business. They founded
Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, Huntley and Palmers Biscuits, Bryant and May
matches, and Clark’s shoes. The Fry, Rowntree, Terry and Cadbury families
became confectioners. Andrew showed us a book by his niece Deborah; Chocolate
Wars.
In 1824, John Cadbury opened a grocer’s shop
in Bull St, Birmingham. With pestle and mortar, he produced drinking chocolate,
which he saw as healthy, and much preferable to alcoholic drinks. As his
chocolate product range expanded to include confectionary, Cadbury’s
manufacturing moved to larger factories.
The
Cadbury family believed that their loyal workforce deserved to enjoy a quality
lifestyle. In 1879, they built a village and a factory near rural Selly Oak,
where there was a trout stream called The Bourn. The “Bournville” workers’ houses had back-to-back gardens,
separated by rows of fruit trees. Facilities included sports pitches and swimming
pools. There were works outings and summer camps for the children. In the
Victorian era remembered for industrial cruelty and deprivation, the Cadbury
name became just as famed for its social benefits and advances in working
conditions, as it was famed for its chocolate.
The recipe for Cadbury’s milk chocolate
remains a secret. Cadbury’s chocolate today is manufactured worldwide, and the
recipe varies in the different countries.
Cadbury is now owned by the US giant,
Mondelez. The corners of the milk chocolate bars are rounded. There’s a new
product which combines cheese’nchocolate - Cadbury
Philadelphia
- .
January 2016
Adrian Wood contacted me about the plight of the iconic Railway Carriage
Camping Site on Dawlish Warren, which will close when the summer season ends.
January 2016
To have The Stover Canal
Trust speaker at a meeting would cost £40 fee plus expenses but they offered to meet the Starcross History Group
in a pub for a chat about their work.
January 2016
Melissa Muldoon
started
an after school club in Starcross Primary School, to make peacocks’ tails’ to
jazz-up the proposed history trail on St George’s Day in April. Peacocks’
Tails’ Trail was Pauline Allen’s idea,
and she helped at all the workshops.
February 2016
My application to Historic England to get; the Railway Carriage Camping
Site on Dawlish Warren; listed was refused but Historic England would like to
help. They advised me to contact Teignbridge District Council.
March 9th 2016
Valerie
Forrester payed
tribute to her late husband Richard
Forrester. It was Richard, the keen industrial historian, who saved our
Brunel Pumping House - which had been scheduled for demolition.
The meeting heard about life in the tower where the Forresters
opened their Atmospheric Railway Museum. Richard’s clever design, for his
ride-on model of an atmospheric railway, used ordinary household vacuum
cleaners to create a vacuum in a pipe. The pipe ran from one end of the
building to the other. His flat-bed truck ‘train’ was propelled along by
atmospheric pressure. Visitors were keen to ride the train for the whole length
of the building. That exciting working model is remembered fondly by the
thousands of visitors to the Forresters’ Atmospheric Railway Museum in the
Brunel Pumping House.
In response to the many visitors who enquired where they might get
a cup of tea, the Forresters opened a café in the tower, and served cream teas.
Valerie concluded, “ I like to think that we brought something more to
Starcross; that we made it worth a visit”.
Keen railway historian Adrian Wood kindly led the discussion on
the Campaign to save Railway Carriage Camping at Dawlish Warren
The site will close after August. The Great Western Railway Staff
Association have managed to continue to operate the camping carriages for 23
years after the privatisation of the railways. All but one of the carriages now
needs replacing. Could the trend for holidays in the UK in quirky accommodation
and glamping be exploited;? Perhaps one of the local holiday camps might wish
to add railway carriage camping to their site? Or perhaps they might purchase
the original site to provide another aspect to their existing campsite? Rail
Holiday in Cornwall provide holidays in specialised glammed-up railway
carriages. They wish us well with our campaign, and have offered their
advice when we need it.
Historic England have explained that portable railway carriages
are not within their remit, so they had to refuse my application to list the site. (although they are keen to help
if they can) This rules out Heritage Lottery and other similar funding.
Historic England advised me to contact our district council. Teignbridge
Planning referred me to their local plan, which will be the consideration for
any change of use. Maureen Pearce is their Team Leader, Design and
Heritage. She tells of a precedent for a listed railway carriage; in Shirwell,
North Devon. This carriage, built for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897, is now
a skittle alley.
Members promised to approach Dawlish Warren holiday camps to see
if they would be interested to continue the tradition of railway carriage
camping.
St George's Day Saturday April 23rd 12:00 noon
The Peacock's Tail Trail : a trail around some historically interesting places in Starcross, starting and finishing at St Paul's Church. TEDDY ToMBoLA Teas, Coffees and fantastic cakes BRING AND BUY
Profits from
the bring and Buy went to St Paul's Church. The TEDDY ToMBoLA was run by
the Starcross Westbank Charity shop
Peacocks' tails remind us of the Starcross adventurer and inventor, Captain George Peacock.
Peacocks' tails remind us of the Starcross adventurer and inventor, Captain George Peacock.
The trail
quiz&clue sheets were sold for 50p by local organisations, to raise money
for themselves.
·
Trail quiz and
clue sheet attached
Information
about the location was displayed by each tail with a relevant rubber stamp, - 8
specially made by Melissa Muldoon.
The trophy for the Best Peacocks’ Tail was presented by Andrew
Cadbury to 3-year-old Olivia Genders who received it on behalf of Starcross
Pre-school. All the pre-school children’s hand-prints were incorporated into a
spectacular tail.
Every child who collected all the stamps was awarded a certificate
and a peacock-related prize.
·
3 Trail
Certificates attached
Children still
talk about Tony Miller’s secret, at the old Starcross police house, at the
North end of the village.
I have answered email enquiries from people further afield. Via my Facebook page; Starcross News; I have successfully appealed for information about a local farmhouse and the staff at Starcross hospital.
2 Projects to do
1. Re-create the Stairs Cross
Starcross got its name because of the stone cross at the top of a flight of stairs. The cross was put up by the Bishop of Sherborne after 1146. It was destroyed by Henry V111th. Was it broken and pushed into the Exe? Was it pushed whole into the Exe. An archaeologist tells me that the science of geophys is not yet advanced enough to survey in saturated ground - but might be one day.
Peter Dare, retired Master Stonemason at Exeter Cathedral, is willing to advise with our project to re-create a stone cross.
Funding to train youngsters to carve a stone cross could be available from National Lotteries Young Roots.
Starcross Parish Council will provide a site for a cross, or a stairs and cross, if we can further verify the research to prove that it existed. Someone I helped with her family research has tried, without success, to locate the information at Sherborne Abbey.
2. Oral History
In April, I was welcomed to the studio of Dawlish and Teignmouth Talking Newspaper. The team there will record stories from Starcross, and also come out to Starcross to record. The soundbytes could be put on the Starcross History website. When we have enough Starcross Stories, they will make a CD which we can sell.
Pictures to animate the sound would make the CD more saleable. We could use old and new photographs, drawings and animations.
Under threat
The Peacock-Cookson Memorial
The pink marble memorial in St Paul’s churchyard is in need of restoration. The team at St Paul’s are exploring ways to fund this.
Scheduled Events
Parrot workshop at Starcross Activities Day, Saturday May 14th 2016 11:00am until 4:00pm
JUMBLE SALE Saturday June 4th 2016 from 2:00pm in St Paul’s Church
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