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Five Bridges
Five Bridges maps
Historic maps of Five Bridges and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Five Bridges maps
Five Bridges photos
We have no photos of Five Bridges, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Cullompton| Halberton| Sampford Peverell| Uffculme| Bradninch| Tiverton| Chettiscombe| Hele| Culmstock| Holcombe Rogus| Washfield
Five Bridges area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Five Bridges and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Five Bridges
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Devon memories
When I Was A Boy
My name is Peter Labdon and I lived with my father Wilf, my mother Ruby and my brother David in Halberton from 1933 to 1943, between the ages of two and twelve. We lived first in Norway House, at the top of the road to Lower Town, and then around the corner in Rockville, fronting the High Street in the centre of the village. I went to the village school in Mr. Hesketh's time and my friends were George Chidgey, David Diggle and Fred Osmond . I am writing such memories as I have at greater length than is possible here, so if anyone of my generation is around and able to contact me I'd be grateful. Phone is 01502 712366 and e-mail peterlabdon@supanet.com I'll add some more later. Thanks for the memories.
Rock
Underdown was a magical place, a narrow island of rock left by quarrying at some time in the past. This photo is taken from the western end. At the eastern end there was a copse and the top of the island merged back into the side of a hill. The south side was a vertical cliff with trees growing along the top edge and out of the face. The trees started a little to the left of the photographer in this picture. The end in the photograph could be scrambled down or slid down through a natural helter skelter formation in the rock. The north side (to the right) was steep but with a path running diagonally down the face, and largely climable by us children. A lot of my childhood was spent here, climbing, making dens, etc. We called it "Rock".
The first time I went there, with my dad and before Myxomatosis, I can remember looking up across the field and seeing a line of rabbits looking back... Read more
The Rock.
I was a resident of St Boniface Home, Sampford Peverell, from 1943 to 1946. Our Scout and Cubscout group used 'the Rock' (although we had a different name for it) for many of our scouting activities. The large mound to the west was ideal for semaphore practice and due to a large population of rabbits was referred to as 'Connie Warren'. Many proficiency badge tests were passed using the Rock as a base camp. Perhaps someone can recall its alternative name.
Growing up in Bradninch
I was born and lived in Bradninch until I went to college when I was 19 in 1969. I was born in the house in Townlands and lived there all the time. After Dad died, Mum moved to Millway Gardens, It was a great place to live as we had the rec and the cricket field to play in. School was lovely and Mr Dennis Gay was our head. Later I went to Tiverton Grammar School, but kept in touch with friends at the Youth Club in the old school building in Westend Road. We had great fun there and were near enough to Exeter for entertainment as one got older. We even went to discos in all the local villages. I returned to Bradninch to visit Mum and Dad, but sadly both are gone now. I still think of Bradninch as home. My family name was Salter. I remember picking primroses 50 flowers and 10 leaves to a bunch, so we could get some extra pocket money. The... Read more
Flying Our Kite at Knightshayes Court
Yesterday our family went for a walk around the parkland surrounding Knightshayes - a grand Victorian estate owned by the National Trust between Tiverton and Bolham and only a mile from our home in Hawks Drive. Although it was a damp January day, the views from the top of the main drive over the countryside were lovely. The house itself looks just like this picture apparently taken in 1896 ! The trees are bigger of course ! At the top of the grassy slopes we felt a stiff breeze so we tried flying our kite and our granddaughter Anna who is not yet two held on to the string and was fascinated by it!
Heathcoat Community Centre
The Westexe Park sadly no longer has the beautiful flowerbeds featured in this 1955 view. I walked through this park today leading a party from the Tiverton Walk and Talk Group from the Heathcoat Community Centre. Even the grass has been neglected and has lots of mud and duck poo!
Our walk took us up Longdrag Hill and Patches Road on a circular route of around three miles. I found it pretty tough as I was pushing my granddaughter Annalise Norfolk in her pushchair! I was glad to get back to the level ground of the park where I could let her out of her pushchair - she loves to stand on the grass and be surrounded by inquisitive ducks!
Finally we went in to the Community Centre where I collapsed in a heap and enjoyed a deserved coffee!
An Outing For A Picnic by The Grand Western Canal With my Granddaughter
Our granddaughter Anna Norfolk stays with us each Tuesday and Friday starting with breakfast and we try to keep her entertained with things to do around our home town of Tiverton. One recent February day felt like the first day of Spring so we planned an outing while making her favourite breakfast of fishfingers and tomatoes and toast.
We planned a sunny walk with her pushchair near the river view shown in this picture but first she wanted to play football in our lounge! Then we prepared Grandma and Grandad’s picnic. We got the “55 bus” from Tesco Express to West Exe then took Anna for a run around Heathcoats Factory shop with Grandma to choose material to make a pushchair blanket. From there we walked to Country Babies shop to ask about nappies! Its all go with a 22 month old toddler!
We gazed down at the ducks from West Exe bridge - its a really beautiful view southwards down the River Exe. From... Read more
