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Exeter
Exeter maps
Historic maps of Exeter and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Exeter maps
Exeter area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Exeter and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Exeter
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Exeter.
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There Was Always The Ghost Stories...
In 1973 having just left school that summer, I started my State Registered Nurse training with tutor Miss Wilmot at this Southernhay Hospital.
Being a 'young lady' from Bristol my new colleagues and I were expected to live in the Nurses Home with a larger than life home matron Miss Hermitage. The Nurses Home was behind the hospital between Wynards Lane and Southernhay Gardens where there was an access lane. It was a red brick 4 story building that you could see the back of Southernhay and some of the multi-walkways and verrandas linking the many buildings such as the casualty block to the corridor towards the childrens wards and theatres. I remember being shown around one of the theatres that had a filled in fireplace at an angle in the corner of the room space!
In the Home there was large shared bathing rooms of 6 that you could screen off your bath while bathing. They were the most enormous cast iron white baths that when... Read more
Domenic Reitzo
Domenic Reitzo was the model for this soldier. Born around 1860, he was an Italian immigrant who lived in the Lambeth area of London. He was a popular model for painters and sculpters at the Lambeth School of Art.
Bishop Blackall School 1947-51
Does anyone remember the fascinating history with Miss Vaudrey or the English Lit with Miss Chappell, or scary maths with Miss Parkinson? Or Timothy Whites in the High Street? Happy times.
Devon memories
The Wakely Family
I was born in Lower Shillingford (Shillingford Abbot) in 1939. My grandparents Francis and Jane Wakely lived in Rectory Cottage, Higher Shillingford (Shillingford St George). My grandfather was gardener at the rectory. He was also the sexton at the church, gravedigger, bellringer and caretaker at the church.
At Christmas time we would walk from Lower Shillingford to Higher Shillingford a distance of about three miles to attend the midnight service at the church on Christmas Eve. My grandmother would not attend the service as she was stone deaf. She looked after my little brother instead while we were at the service. It was always bitterly cold and I remember starlit nights and chattering teeth. The church furnace was lit early in the day and it was warm and bright with the light of the many candles saved for this occasion .It was full of holly and ivy that my grandfather had collected to decorate the church. I loved this service and often think about it even now. After the service... Read more
Snow Snow And More Snow Winter 1946
1946 was a very bad winter, we were snowed in for weeks.The promised Christmas pantomime visit to the Theatre Royal in Exeter never materialised. It always seemed to happen like that in those days. The winters were very hard and my parents told me that when they were young they could remember the River Exe frozen solid and market stalls set up on them. Getting out of bed with the frost patterning all the windows and the linoleum on the floor freezing cold was a nightmare. If I got half a chance I would go to bed with my vest and liberty bodice on to avoid some of the cold in the morning. People don't know that they have been born these days, with their central heating and fitted carpets, and they still moan that they are cold in the occasional cold snap.
Cann Family History
My Great Great Grandfather was born William Honey Cann. Born: March 12, 1845 in Topsham, England son of John Cann and Jane (Hill) Cann. (William Married - Ann Pidgeon, from England also!). Looking for more information on Cemeteries in this area. John Cann was the son of Samuel Cann & Charity (Arscott) Cann. Looking for information on location of where they lived in Topsham, or worked.
The River
My family moved to Brampford Speke in 1972 when I was two and we moved away in the summer of 1977 to Bristol. We lived in the bungalow opposite the village pub. I went to the village school and spent most of the time down by the river. I learnt to swim in the river too. I remember the hot summers when everyone would go by the river, also the Silver Jubilee when we all went in fancy dress, playing skittles in the pub and looking for grass snakes in the churchyard! I still visit Brampford Speke as often as I can get down and still see some of the friends and familiar faces from when I lived there. I will always think of this as my home and have great fond memories of it. It is such a lovely place to live.
Alison Flannery (nee Dodd)
