You are here:
Bideford
Bideford maps
Historic maps of Bideford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Bideford maps
Bideford area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Bideford and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Bideford
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Bideford.
Add your memory of Bideford
or of a photo of Bideford.
CAN ANYONE HELP
After coming out of hospital in the early 1960s when I was 10, I stayed at a Catholic boarding school in Bideford which had a church attached. Over the years I have attempted to find out exactly where the school was, but to no avail. I would be more than happy if anyone out there could help?
Nice Work, Great Grandpa!
It's only been in the last few days that I've learnt that Bideford's St Peter's Church was designed and built in the 1880's by my great grandfather Robert Taylor Hookway who was later the president of the Bideford Amateur Athletic Club at around 1903.
Regards,
A.H.Munro-Smith
Sydney
Australia
East The Water
Hi Folks,
I am looking for an old photograph. Just over the bridge on the East The Water side of Bideford is the parking lot for the Royal Hotel. In days gone by, and in my youth, as I was born in Torrington Street, it used to be a square. At the edge of the square which was the bridge end of Torrington Street was a fish and chip shop. At the top of the building of the fish and chip shop was mounted a sculptered eagle.
Does anyone have a photo of this eagle please
The granddaughter of the fish and chip owners is a wonderful lady. We drifted apart to different sides of the world, but due to a beautiful set of events we have been brought back together. We recently said hello to each other after a gap of 50 years, just magic.
I hope that somebody might be able to help
Thanks in advance
Eddie Neylon
Steeper Than it Looks
It was every school summer holiday that my sister and I used to come with our parents to spend a week or so with grandma Annie Penhorwood. If we had any money we would go to the bakery shop near the bottom of the High Street and carry our prizes in their greased brown paper bag back up (usually in some heat) to eat later.
This usually preceeded a trip to Westward Ho! to spend ages making a monumental shelter in the pebble ridge and carefully picking the biggest pebbles to run on, to get into the surf first. I also remember getting buffeted by enormous waves (especially if nearer September) and gamely hanging on to my home-made wooden surfboard, painted white to help it stay a little bit waterproof. Shame that this was scraped off in the shallows on the sand underneath, because it was warmer in the water there and I could at least stand up on it!
Annie lived in many places including Abbotsham Road and East... Read more
Bideford Bridge
My grandmother grew up in Bideford and had a copy of this postcard (which I still have). She told me that the two children in the foreground of the picture were actually her and her brother.
Memories of A Choir Boy
Seeing the pic of the font in St Marys brought back memories of my time as a choir boy there, part of a tradition in our family. Our choir master was Mr Sellers a teacher at Geneva School also known as 'Jumbo' because of his large ears!
New boys were intitated into the choir with a ritual (including me) in which you had to run around the church outside, then hit on head with bell rope and finally thrown into the holly bush!!! It sounds cruel I know but was done and taken in good humour by all and I enjoyed my time in the choir immensely.
Springfield Terrace
This view shows my house. It is the one at this end of Springfield Terrace - you can see a number of the terrace chimneys peeping out over the top of the hill to the left. We overlook the River Torridge. You can see the old medieval bridge in the background. Our terrace was built around 1850 for the managers of the railway company (the old Torrington to Barnstaple railway ran just in front of our house until 1965. For the last few years the old track course has been converted to a new use - for cyclists, and renamed the Tarka Trail. Our houses have wonderful views from the middle and top floors over the river and the town of Bideford opposite.
