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Bishmill
Bishmill maps
Historic maps of Bishmill and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Bishmill maps
Bishmill photos
We have no photos of Bishmill, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Bishops Nympton| South Molton| North Molton| Filleigh| Heasley Mill| Knowstone| Brayford
Bishmill area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Bishmill and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Bishmill
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Devon memories
Childhood in South Molton
I was born in Gothic House, The Churchyard, South Molton in May 1941. My name was Patricia Elizabeth Abbott Huxtable. My father was Charles John Huxtable and my grandparents were Charles George Pearce Huxtable and Elizabeth Avery Abbott (of North Molton). The churchyard was a playground for myself, my brother Roger and our friends. We were lucky not to suffer the effects of the war and have memories of American soldiers, German POW's and some of the evacuated families who lived close to us. We played on the gravestones, climbed the trees on the 'banks' and got told off by Mr Larsen who was a church warden at that time.
Evacuee
My mother was evacuated to Bishop Nympton ( but going to school in South Molton) She arrived with her mother and her brand new baby sister sometime during the War...I don't know the year right now, I need to find out. They were ultimately taken in by the gentry living in Whitechapel Farm in Bishop Nympton, who I believe were Stewarts of Lloyd & Stewart steel-making fame. My mum and her family lived above the stable. I think the one thing Mum said that sticks with me is that one evening when her mum was taken ill, the lady of the house came over to look after Mum and her sister. The lady of the house thinly cut the bread, wafted the butter over it and barely put any jam on. My mum was dismayed as this was not how her mum did it - they always had piles of butter and jam. I'm not sure if she spoke up though. I think my mum thoroughly loved living in Devon, having come from... Read more
My School
I was born at Filleigh and went to Filleigh Infants School. But then at eleven years old went to school at South Molton Secondary Modern. It was 1953 and the school was quite new, opening in 1952 if I remember correctly.
As I recollect Mr Larson ( ref below post) had an upholstery business in South Molton. My memories are of the Terraneaux buses taking me from where I lived to South Molton School and the bottles of school milk that we were instructed to drink at break time. The Headmaster was Mr Hawkes, we kids called him "Buzzard". I remember the the sound of the children saying "Watch out, Buzzard's coming". Those were the days.
Church
This is the church where my Uncle Michael George Sinnott is buried.
Court Hall Remembered
From 1946 until 1949 I was a boarder at Court Hall. At the time I was there Lady Poultimor lived in a cottage in the grounds and kept parrots. There were stables at the rear of the house and a full pack of hounds was kept there along with hunting horses.
The school's head mistress was Mrs Barkway nicknamed Barky she had driven ambulances during the war. She had a daughter named Janet .
The vicar's wife Mrs Prue taught me history her hubby preached in the church alongside the house and we would go to the church on Sundays via a huge wooden iron clad gate set back in the hundreds of rhodedendren bushes which lined the perimeter walls.
The house was beautiful and how sad it was pulled down, it had hand laid parquet floors on the ground floor and a secret stairway which was entered by a green baize covered door up windy stairs to the floor above. There was a massive painting... Read more
Memories of A Four Year Old
My memories of Court Hall School started in 1955 when I went with my brother from our London home, at the tender age of four and five. My father was told not to visit us for 3 months and so we were left. The head was Mr. Owen Reidel, and his wife Simone, who was French. They had two children, Nicole and Anthony. I remember the school as huge and rambling, and the ground equally so. There was a kitchen garden and Mr Reidel kept bees. There were two classes, Mr. Reidel taking the older group, and another teacher the younger ones. I don't remember her name unfortunately. There can only have been at the most 20 children in the school, probably in the primary age range. Many of the children had parents working abroad. I do have some photographs. We went for walks in the surrounding countryside, and collected natural history objects which were made into museums. I am still an avid collector today, and also love primroses which... Read more
Thornton Estates
I have an old photo named Thornton Estates. Devon.-Elevated large house, with stone retaining wall in front.
I presume it belonged to George Thorne, or Jenkins.
