Refloating The Ship Inn

On Saturday, 12th July 2025, around 90 people went to a meeting in Cockwood Parish Room to try to save The Ship Inn.

Here's the joyful Facebook post:

From Babette: 

Anne, Martin and myself would like to say thank you to all who attended and/ or contributed to yesterdays meeting regarding The Ship. There were in excess of 90 people who overwhelmingly agreed to support further exploration of purchasing The Ship as a community pub&hub. The hard work now begins, starting with establishing a web site and a committee. Further details to follow - once again thank you for your huge support

Here's some pictures of it from January 2024.

In Autumn 2023, Storm Claran hit the cob-built pub. A side of it collapsed.

 Rumours are everywhere about why it hasn't been rebuilt. Perhaps the stipulations of Historic England were commercially impossible ? 

Here's a link to the Devon Live story which includes an interview with the landlady, Heather Brown 

It's good news that so many folk bothered to turn up to support the idea of a Community Pub

Sailed Barges

A potential site has been located for a mosaic of a sailed barge bringing limestone from the quarry at Berry Head to the Cockwood lime kilns. Research is ongoing about what the barges looked like. They were probably Thames barges.
HERE'S a record, from the Mersea Museum,  of a barge named Active which sunk off Berry Head on May 29th, 1988.
A copy of  Big Barges (recommended by Ron Green of Mersea Museum) by Hervey Benham and Roger Finch is ordered.

 The real thing is not far away though. A Thames barge, The Vigilant,  is being restored on Topsham Quay by Andy Voysey, who has kindly sent these photographs.

Research: Cockwood House

Eastdon Hamlet and the elusive Cockwood House by Tricia Whiteaway

The story of Cockwood House once the residence of Rev. D Drury headmaster of Harrow, and of neighbouring Eastdon House, the home of Richard Eales

£2.00 + p&p from the Dawlish Local History Group via the link above

Photographer Adrian Wood has kindly provided a photograph of a stone wall along Cockwood which inludes some dressed stones

Dawlish Museum have enquired. They write

" No luck with an answer here at the Museum I'm afraid. The book says Cockwood House is believed to have been demolished shortly after 1841 but ends with the same question -'to date we still have not found the site of the main house so it is thought that all the stone has been robbed- but on a walk to Dawlish Warren the front hedges to a couple of houses have at their base very similar stones. Could they have come from Cockwood House,one wonders ?"

In Brunel's Atmospheric Railway featuring the contemporary watercolours of William Dawson, - section 9 from Cockwood Lake to the Warren - shows the ruins of Cockwood House; near the river, to the West of Eastdon House.

This book is available online for over £50, but may still be bought from the Newton Abbot Town and Great Western Railway Museum for just £20. Isambard Kingdom Brunel may bring some copies to our meet this Wednesday.

A trawl of the newspaper archives has produced the following results:

Exeter Flying Post - Thursday 04 July 1811

Morning Chronicle - Friday 26 March 1819

  

London Evening Standard - Monday 13 January 1834

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 11 November 1837

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 17 February 1838

  Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Saturday 10 March 1838

Exeter Flying Post - Thursday 14 June 1838

 

Sherborne Mercury - Monday 01 October 1838

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Tuesday 05 August 1913

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Tuesday 05 August 1913

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Tuesday 05 August 1913

Western Morning News - Friday 24 March 1933

Western Morning News - Friday 24 March 1933

Western Morning News - Thursday 31 July 1884

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Tuesday 05 August 1913