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Chudleigh Knighton
Chudleigh Knighton photos
Displaying the first of 4 old photos of Chudleigh Knighton. View all Chudleigh Knighton photos
Chudleigh Knighton maps
Historic maps of Chudleigh Knighton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Chudleigh Knighton maps
Chudleigh Knighton area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Chudleigh Knighton and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Chudleigh Knighton
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Chudleigh Knighton.
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The Heath
Memories start in 1953 when Elizabeth became our Queen. I remember all the windowsills were decorated. I was 4 at the time. As I grew up with my sister and 3 brothers we had many a happy time in Gales Crest on the green playing hopscotch, marbles and looking for 4-leaved clover! The heath was our domain - making camps and picking blackberries - those were the days. Shame I didn't appreciate the countryside then. The back lane was walked many times. Our 'Uncle Bill' who lived in Meadow Cottages in the main street of CK. He worked with Farmer Harvey and I spent many a day herding and milking the cows. I could go on and on... but
Chudleigh Knighton Cider Memories
I lived in Chudleigh Knighton when I was 11 years old until I was 15. That was 1932 till 1936. I was taught at the lovely school there. The head mistress was Miss Gill and her assistants Miss Bray and Miss Parkhurst. My family had broken up and I lived with my grandparents Mr. William Thompson and Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson who had a small orchard and bicycle repair business with a couple of petrol pumps there at Bungalow Voysey. Nearby were boys of my age, Jack and Len Rodman, Aubrey Beer, Michael Wills and Joe Bovey to name a few and a girl, Reenie Snell. My grandfather built the bungalow whilst I lived there. It was a timber frame with asbestos cladding in and out and a corrugated iron roof. I particularly remember a huge dining table whose top surface was large spare asbestos sheets piled one on top of the other and we ate many meals off it. It obviously had no effect on our lifespan. I loved the... Read more
Devon memories
A Little Bit of Chudleigh History
When a boy, my father, Donald William Stevens, used to show visitors through the Pixie caves for 1/2d per person, with the light from a candle for illumination. After WWII he followed in his father's (William Henry Stevens) footsteps of being a Chudleigh shopkeeper, and opened a shoe shop at 7 The Square, (or Fore Street as some preferred). This shop was in business for 39 years, and sold all types of footwear from Wellies, plimsoles and brogues, although there was not much call for ballet shoes! Due to ill health the business was closed, and sadly he died in 1989.
My mother continued to live in Chudleigh until her death earlier this year at the age of 85 years. How Chudleigh has changed recently would have made my father weep, I'm sure, with the lovely views he enjoyed from his bungalow, with the leat and daffodills in spring, but life must go on.
Heather And Gorse Clog Dancers Entertain at Chudleigh
Chudleigh hosts a wonderful Christmas late night shopping evening each year when the Christmas lights in Fore Street are switched on. The shops stay open until late evening and their windows twinkle with fairy lights and decorations. Shops, cafes and pubs are crowded and stay open late in the evening, and the place is transformed into a fairyland of old-fashioned entertainment and street traders.
The Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers and I went along to provide part of this entertainment and I played my piano accordian in the band and my wife Elizabeth was one of the team of dancers. We took our one-year old granddaughter Anna in a puchchair and made sure she was well wrapped up to keep warm! We had a big band of squeezeboxes and drums. The dancers looked magnificent in their smart kit of black waistcoats, bright blue skirts and shiny black wooden clogs as they danced six times during almost an hour long performance. The best spot to play and dance... Read more
Ugbrooke House
I visited Ugbroooke House in June 2009 for an Open Day they hosted to raise funds for local RNLI stations. It is a beautiful old stone mansion with a fascinating history associated with the Clifford family over the centuries. As well as opening their extensive grounds, terrace garden and lawns around the house itself, the staff were on hand to make sure everything worked smoothly to help the RNLI.
I went along to provide music on my piano accordian for the Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers - we were a little worried when we arrived as spots of rain were falling and our dancers in their heavy clogs were concerned to find no hard surface to dance on! Eventiually we arranged to share a square of well compacted lawn right in front of the house and it was a beautiful spot to perform. A grassy slope above us provided a comfortable picnic spot for the crowds in the afternoon sunshine, and the stone walls and flower beds... Read more
Lemnos
I was born in Bovey Tracey in 1952, on a Wednesday afternoon, the eleventh of June. I arrived in the middle of a garden party being held at 'Grey Gables' a house owned by a Mrs Pedrick (I do not remember her husband, but we children called her Aunty Lottie). My parents, my older sister and I lived in a house called Lemnos. I do not remember the name of the street it was on but I do remember that from our front door if you turned right and started walking down the hill you crossed a river and the road did a sharp turn to the left. A white pub was on the outside corner of the bend. I left Bovey Tracey in 1955 and went to live in Letchworth (Herts) and then migrated to Australia in 1968.
One day, I don't know which year, I remember looking out of our front room bay window, with my sister, and watching a May Day procession.
Morris Dancing at The Star Inn
It was a lovely warm August evening and a small gathering of 'bikers' stood around in the car park of the Star Inn - a typical Devon pub in Old Liverton. They were enjoying looking at each others bikes but soon got a surprise when the Morris dancers arrived!
We met for the dance performance at 8pm. I brought my piano accordian along and played in the band for Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers and also enjoyed a pint of lovely Bombardier Ale from Wells Brewery.
There were probably no more than twenty folks gathered around the front of the Inn but all seemed to be enjoying the show. It was lovely dancing and playing in the twilight as the pub's illuminations switched on. I wished I had a camera but these words will remind me!
