Beesands, Devon

Childhood and Marriage

I went to Sunday School here from 1949, and I sang in the church choir from 1950 until 1960 alongside my Nan.I was also allowed to learn to play the organ, the church has (had?) a wonderful organ, 2 keyboards and foot operated keyboard pedals, plus more stops than I could ever get used to. An uncle also sang in the... [more]

Salcombe Parish Church

The church was built on land donated by the 10th Earl of Devon and the foundation stone laid in 1841 The architect was J H Ball who designed several other churches in Devon. The magnificent east window shows scenes from the life of Christ and commemorates benefactors of the church, especially the 11th Earl of Devon who died in 1888. Henry... [more]

summer holidays

Browsing through the Book "I Remember when..." published by The Francis Frith Collection, I was so delighted to see a picture of The Quayside in 1896 at Salcombe, Devon. There standing proud above the quay was 'Harbour Lights', the home and guest-house of my brother-in-law Syd Waldron and my sister Betty. What a feast of memories the picture evoked. Sadly Syd... [more]

Early teenage fun at The Salcombe Hotel

The Salcombe Hotel was at one time owned by the formidable Mrs. Ryder. She could be seen in her latter years being escorted to and from The Ferry Inn by Mike Philpotts, a long-term hotel employee. Mrs Ryder had a bulldog, wore a silver bulldog brooch and it is remarkable how some people are said to resemble their pets.......
The Hotel... [more]

Customs Quay Salcombe

This view shows Customs Quay and out of sight on the right is the Customs House. Mrs Florrie Gasson and her husband lived in the building and she would make a great show to the visitors of feeding the swans. A flock of 20 or so would swim in the water looking for her and she called each one by a... [more]

Courtenay Park Salcombe

This view of Courtenay Park is quite poignant for me.  It shows houses at the lower end of Devon Road and also the land on which Egremont Terrace was later built.

My parents lived in no. 10 Egremont Terrace from the late 1930s until they moved to St Dunstan's Road in 1970. We had a splendid view over the estuary... [more]

Normandy Way

As someone who was born in Courtenay Street, Salcombe in 1941, I have a fairly good knowledge of local people. The man on the extreme left of the picture in waders is Larry Prinn or Prynn, the one on the extreme right would appear to be Ian Cooper. I recognise the central man in the group- I think he may have... [more]

ss ''Channel Queen''

This vessel was built by Messrs Craggs of Middlesbrough - launched 13th July 1895. 185 ft long - Gross tonnage 386 tons with full electric lighting. She ran a regular service across the Channel calling at Guernsey, Jersey and St Brieuc and was a well know tourist vessel in and around the Devon and Cornwall coast. The company traded and ran... [more]