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Galmpton
Galmpton maps
Historic maps of Galmpton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Galmpton maps
Galmpton area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Galmpton and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Galmpton
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memories of Galmpton.
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Hall's of Galmpton
The Hall family lived scattered about Devon since the late 1600's, from what I can gather. In the 1850's to the 1890's they seemed to settle around Galmpton and Dittisham, later into Torquay and beyond. My GGG Grandfather William Hall, lived in Galmpton as did most of his family. His son, Captain William Hall, master mariner, and his uncle (also William) plied the Dart in a series of small sailing ships, including the "Lord Napier" which in 1898 ran a coastal trade of timber, sand, cement, bricks and other heavy materials. In 1903 the boat hit the "Horse Ferry" spearing a covered wagon with the bow sprit. Two hours after breaking free, it carried on up the Dart and went aground off Noss, taking a week to be freed. Which Captain William may have been at the helm (or was it his crew), is unknown to me. The rest of the Hall's were mainly either farmers or blacksmiths, ending up in Torquay, London and later Australia.
Past Schoolmaster
My Gt grandfather, William James Hawken was a certified schoolmaster at Galmpton between 1875-1880. His youngest child, Frances Marian, was born there on 10th October 1875. She went on to marry William Henry Birch, who was a son of the iconic Betsy Birch who founded the London omnibus transport system, after the early demise of her husband William in 1846.
Devon memories
Goodrington
This is the best place in Devon to be. I still get excited when I hear and see the steam train. My sisters and I came to Goodrington when we were very young and I still come every year. We love this place so much we have a beach hut here and am hoping to move here in the near future. The park use to be packed with flowers and lights in the trees with all colours red, green, orange, yellow and blue. The same used to happen to the cliff walk. It's a bit disappointing to see the only colour now (2008) are green. The plants and flowers on the cliff walk were beautiful and well looked after. Due to health and safety gone mad I would imagine the reason why the cliff plants aren't maintained and looked after better is due to that. I still can't help but be delighted with Goodrington and have so many photos of it from when I was a child and now. Anyone... Read more
First Holiday
My first holiday was when I was 9 years old (in 1958) and my parents and I came to Goodrington. We stayed at Beech Hurst which if I remember correctly was in Youngs Park Road. It was lovely. I made friends with a girl who lived next door, whom I still have contact with today! Obviously my parents loved it too as the following February we moved to Paignton. I lived in Elmsleigh Park and mum and dad opened a family guesthouse. I attended Curledge Street Primary, and had the benefits (?) of being taught by a Miss Vincent, whom we all loved, a Mr Chamberlain, we all didn't, and a Mr Powell, who if I remember rightly was ex RAF. Mr Reeves was the head and Mrs Price his secretary. Mrs Toop was in charge of the playground. I made several friends there, some of whom I keep in touch with, others I have lost contact with. After Curledge Street, having failed the 11+, I went to the Marist Convent in Fisher... Read more
Happy Days
In Sept 1968 I and my five children arrived and fell in love Dittisham, just too late sadly to save the village school from closing. Eventually after renting first Dunedin Cottage and then Red Rose Cottage we were given a council house and lived there for the next 17 years. We have so many happy memories and all the children, now grown up with children and even grandchildren of their own, like to revisit Dittisham with the own families and friends. They have many stories to pass down and still appreciate the freedom they had living in this idylic riverside village, the wonderful people they met during those years, the good start they had at Blackawton village school with headmasters Brian Gerry and Mr Kemp (Ian?), including the many great events that were held over the years including "The Pied Piper of Dittisham", Dittisham's first Pantomime which, with Brian Fricker's help I wrote to boost the funds for Blackawton school's swimming pool. Despite a roller coaster life as a... Read more
Dittisham Family Connection
My family (Hall) took the lease out on Greenway Farm in the 1850's. I visited this, and Galmpton (3/4 of a mile away) which were Hall "haunts" for many years until the 1890's, when the family seems to have headed to 'all parts'. I would love to know why they left such a lovely area - was farming terrible during those years? I visited in March 2011 and found the area still was 'in the time period' - not ruined by crass development, and extremely tranquil. Good to see the Census results pointed to lime burning, and sure enough, on the river foreshore at the bottom of the farm, the original lime kiln is still there to this day. Truly a magical area if there was ever one.
Constructing Mayflower II
When I was young we would holiday in a caravan at a site near to Hollicombe in between Torquay and Brixham. As we lived in Walsall in the West Midlands this journey, by coach, was not to be undertaken lightly and a day was usually set aside to complete it. We left town early in the morning and didn't usually arrive in Torquay until late afternoon. One day we went to see Mayflower II under construction. I has a great interest in sailing ships and to see one actually being constructed left a great impression especially the myriad smells and scents of wood that seemed to fill the boatyard. I remember my father explaining to me how it was being built, what the keel and ribs were and how the wood had to be seasoned. My father took some photographs but unfortunately they were not overly good but I still have them. When Mayflower II was launched and began its journey across the Atlantic there were bulletins and photographs put up... Read more
