AGM

Chair Jane Lee stepped down.
Pauline Allen proposed and Ann Hallett seconded Jon Nichol for the new chair and he was elected.
The other committee members are:
Pauline Allen: School liaison
Tom Reeves: Archivist
Monica Lang: Projects
Refreshments were kindly provided by the PTFA
Everyone brought in a raffle prize, and £25 was raised.
This website was projected onto the wall. Many thanks to James Lee for doing this.

Andrew Cadbury presented his research into the Starcross Businesses. The details will be published on this weblog.

Retired Traditional Boatbuilder,  Malcolm Fairweather, brought in the one-twelfth scale model of The Swan of the Exe which will take him a few more months to complete. Malcolm explained that he had been unable to locate the plans. The Swan of the Exe was built in Dixon's Yard, Exmouth. Malcolm only has a few drawings from which to work, so he has built this replica the way he believes that the original boat was built: as a Dory, which was a type of flat-bottomed, barge-like, working boat.
The group was delighted to be able to see the birth of such a beautifully crafted artecfact which will be a tangible reminder of a remarkable piece of Starcross History.

Jon Nichol asked everyone to discuss with their neighbours what they would like the history group to do, and what areas interested  them. Suggestions included:

•  a history trail which will be part of The Dawlish Walking Festival in 2021
• Oral History. 
• visits to other places 
• more visits to the Devon Heritage Centre in Sowton, which is accessible via the railway
•  to invite Peter Halmkin from  The Dawlish Stamp Club to talk about the Starcross postmarks

 Further  research into:

•  Devon violets, 
•  Starcross school, 
•  the docks and quayside,
• Buses
•  the railway

To follow up the Villages in Action Unearth project with work in the Devon Film Archive.

Many thanks to the Starcross Primary School for giving Starcross History such a warm welcome.

Our Wackin Burd arrives

Here's a drawing of The Swan of the Exe under sail, and next to it is the newly arrived base for Starcross History's Wackin Burd. Thankyou Teignbridge District Council for this dinghy which is perfect for our project. She waits to be made resplendent with a swan's head, neck and wings, and masses of white plumage made from plastic milk bottles.

Lots of help needed, and more feathers please.

Since the message behind our TRAIL project is protest about plastic pollution of the oceans, it's appropriate (and easier )  that our thrown-away plastic boat remains bright blue and very obviously plastic. This makes stark contrast to Captain George Peacock's Swan of the Exe which was a luxurious, wooden yacht, painted white and gold; although her pennant, which she held in her beak, was blue.

 The Victorian poet Nathan Hogg described her in his 1886 poem A Turrabul Ryde be Rayle  …

Vur bigger thin a rick a hay
Thare zwim’d a wackin burd..

 in  Second Series of Nathan Hogg’s Letters and Poems:
 A New Series of Poems in the Devonshire Dialect including The Witch  Story of Mucksy Lane and The Kenton Ghost
Fourth Edition Enlarged. Dedicated by Permission to His Highness Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte.
London: John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square.  Exeter:H. Baird (the author) 1, St Martin Street Opposite the Exeter Bank and all booksellers
 1886
Humeriss Poams; digitized by Google

Cut feathers at the Starcross Celebration of Country Life.

Starcross History will be at the Celebration of Country Life event in Starcross this weekend: Saturday May 2nd and Sunday May 4th. Please bring items of interest to add to our collection on the day.

 We'll be selling our hard enamel badges (in Great Western Railway colours)  £10 for 1. £15 for 2. £20 for 4.

We will have; a display of some of the old implements which have been used on the land and also a photograph (the only one known to exist) of, and the story of, our inimitable Captain George Peacock, who designed The Swan of the Exe.

Read all about his remarkable Victorian folly HERE

Starcross History is going to replicate this ' wackin' gurt bird ' for this year's Trail Recycled Art in the Landscape  project in Teignmouth.

Our artwork will be based on an old dinghy, which will have a swan at the prow  - just like the original Swan of the Exe, which was launched in 1860. Well, we hope it will look just like a swan... and not a dead seagull...  All help and suggestions are welcome.

100s of feathers for this bird will have to be made, from plastic milk bottles, so please bring your empty plastic milk bottles. We'll be asking everyone's help to cut out some  more feathers. 

Perhaps you might like to put your name on the feathers you make? So that the names won't detract from the overall effect of white plumage, we'll ask you to please use a white marker-pen.

It promises to be a really traditional Bank Holiday weekend

Don't forget neighbouring  Kenton's MayDay Celebrations on the Monday 

The badges have arrived

The limited edition of our first badge has arrived from MBC Badges. When they have sold out, our next badges will depict other aspects of Starcross history, such as The Royal Western Counties Hospital, Brunel's Atmospheric Railway tower or the original Stairs Cross.

These badges are a high quality, hard enamel, 25cm diameter. The gold on brown colours (the same as the header on here)  are that of The Great Western Railway. The badges depict the iconic Swan of the Exe which was a 10-berth Victorian folly, commissioned by Captain George Peacock of Starcross. She was launched from Dixons yard, Exmouth in 1860, to the sound of the Exmouth Brass Band playing Rule Britannia. She was moored by Starcross pier until she was destroyed in a fire on a date unknown, between the wars. Thankyou Tony Dunlop for this information
 Tony Dunlop's website - Devon Perspectives

The badges are for sale at £10 each, or £15 for 2, or £20 for 4. They can be delivered locally for no extra charge; or posted to elsewhere in the UK at a cost of around £2. Postage to outside the UK will cost more. Please contact starcross.history@gmail.com

Please make loadsafeathers

Our project to recreate The Swan of the Exe

Image from http://www.archive.org/stream/devoncornwallnot111amer#page/166/mode/2up

  for the 2015  Teignmouth Trail Recycled Art in the Landscape needs more feathers

Here's 2 of them

How to make a feather

1. Take a plastic milkbottle and cut out long leafshapes as big as possible. Probably get 2 out of 1 milkbottle
2. cut 2cm slits all along the edges

The feathers will be attached to a wire netting swan. If we get loadsafeathers, the whole of the old rowing boat could be covered with them as well. We have until July to complete our sculpture.

Here's allabout  The Swan of the Exe
by Tony Dunlop on Devon Perspectives
This Victorian 10-berth folly  was designed by Captain George Peacock of Regent's House, Starcross, launched from Dixons yard at Exmouth in 1860 and moored by Starcross pier. It caught fire and perished between the World Wars. Her iconic tender, The Cygnet, is the prize exhibit in nearby Topsham Museum

Captain George Peacock 1805 - 1883

Captain George Peacock 1805 - 1883

If you have more information about Captain George Peacock, or you offer help with this research, please add your comment below. Thankyou

George Peacock was born at Regent's House in Starcross, in 1805.

The following is a précis of the short biography on the National Archives website

"

He served on his father's ships in the Mediterranean... and became a ship's master. He joined the Royal Navy in 1828. He was 2nd master of H.M. Steamship Echo. In 1840, he left the Navy and was appointed as the first Commander of the newly constituted Pacific Steam Navigation Company.

Shortly after leaving the PSNC in 1848, he formed a company to manufacture anti-fouling paint which he had invented.

He became Superintendant of Docks at Southampton. In 1858 he retired to Starcross. "

He commissioned Dixons of Exmouth to build a nautical Victorian folly The Swan of the Exe which was launched in 1860. 4 Cygnets were built. Just one cygnet was used as a tender to the Swan of the Exe. The other 3 were sold. 2 went to Paignton, and 1 to Bournemouth. (Dunlop,T internet, accessed Feb 20th 2015) Only the Exe cygnet remains, (unless anyone knows differently) and she was rescued and preserved by, and is the pride of, nearby Topsham Museum

The Swan of the Exe burnt out inbetween the 2 World Wars.

The story of   The Swan of the Exe has been written by Tony Dunlop on his website Devon Perspectives. The images and the content have generously been made available to all under a creative commons license

The Swan of the Exe Image courtesy of Tony Dunlop, http://www.devonperspectives.co.uk/swan_of_the_exe.html

Further biographical notes, details of his explorations and surveys, papers relating to Captain Peacock's inventions and ideas, papers relating to The Swan of the Exe, papers relating to the Exmouth Warren, printed works, photographs and papers relating to the Cookson family are held in the Liverpool Record Office

Biography of George Peacock by Peta Rée

This is available online by subscription to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Most UK public libraries subscribe to this online, which means that all you need is your library card to access this biography. How to access the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Topsham Museum

have kindly sent us a wonderful diagram of  The Swan of the Exe, to help us with our project, Recreating The Swan of the Exe and invited us to see the documents they hold about our Captain Peacock. The museum opens again on April 1st.