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Higher Dean
Higher Dean maps
Historic maps of Higher Dean and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Higher Dean maps
Higher Dean photos
We have no photos of Higher Dean, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Dean Prior| Buckfastleigh| Buckfast| Coombe| South Brent| Holne| River Dart| Staverton| Dartington| Ashburton| Totnes| Littlehempston| Torbryan| Ponsworthy| Harbertonford| Berry Pomeroy| Dartmeet| Hexworthy| Harford| South Knighton| Ashprington| Ivybridge
Higher Dean area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Higher Dean and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Higher Dean
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Devon memories
An Interlude in Buckfastleigh And Buckfast
I remember being a pupil at the little Buckfast school, now St Mary's primary. I presume it was the same then but can't remember. It was in the early to mid 1950s and I have a photo of what I think is a school play there. I think that I am in the photo but cannot be sure. Anyone remember milk tablets? We lived in Buckfastleigh at the time, my mother, my sister and me. It was a very dark and pokey little terrace cottage at the western end of the town. I can remember we had a copper basin in the backyard that mother used to do the washing in. As far as I recall she filled it with water and lit a fire underneath it. For a while too, we lived in a caravan in the small park by the bridge near the railway station. Not sure what's there now.
Our Honeymoon
These pictures bring back delightful memories!
We spent a week of our honeymoon in the 16th century mill at Lydia Bridge. Across the lawn was a view of the brook and early spring flowers. We stepped outside to the sound of the waterfall across the narrow, winding road. From the bridge on closer inspection the waterfall was spectacular. A path along the brook led to the ancient church where we wandered around the cemetery and the historic interior, and then explored the village of South Brent, little changed since these pictures were taken. No tourist traps here! At the local pharmacy, we bought Hummel type, Leonardo Collection, figures as souvenirs and gifts for our wedding party; we ate at the tea room, feasted in the pub, and cooked local produce in our quaint, antique studded cottage.
Up the hill from our cottage, the lane twisted and turned sheltered on both sides by tall hedgerows. With only enough room for one car, occasional pull-offs beside the road allowed... Read more
Staverton Elizabethan Fayre
The Staverton Playing Fields were the location for the Elizabethan Fayre on August Bank Holiday Monday. Lots of entertainment was arranged including a jazz band, the Babelfish Ceilidh Band, Dog Racing, Punch and Judy, the South Hams Dog Agility team, and the Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers. I was there with my piano accordian to provide some music for the dancers and I think my job providing music was a lot easier than the effort needed by the dancers to perform on the soft grass!
It was a huge event and the tea tent seemed to have queues all afternoon. Fortunately there was no rain so many people chose to sit outside on straw bales with their teas while watching the entertainments.
The dancers provided two spots and at the finish of the second spot had just enough remaining energy to organise a giant Cicassian Circle dance for the crowds - most of those who joined in seemed to be mothers with small children but we... Read more
Sparnham House, 36 West Street
I was living in Sparnham House in 1960, but don't recall the umber mine you mention, though my father (Brian Baker) did say there had been one, once. Outside Sparnham there used to be a tap which was supplied by a natural spring and during the long winter of 1963 it was, at times, the only piece of plumbing that wasn't frozen. There was a tunnel under the garden which I was never allowed to explore; I always assumed it was something to do with this spring, but perhaps it was the umber mine? My father died when I was nine, and we moved away from Ashburton shortly afterwards, so that tunnel has always been a tantalising mystery to me.
The house had been a coaching inn many years before. When my father bought it there were evidently huge numbers of old bottles in the back garden. He levelled the heap and planted a lawn on top, so there's probably an interesting experience awaiting anyone who cares to dig a... Read more
Sparnham House
Whether or not Sparnham House was an old coaching inn (I doubt it) or not, it is noteworthy of being the long-time residence of John Hannibal (or sometimes Henry) Foaden and his wife Elizabeth nee Husson. They were married in the summer of 1867 and moved to Sparnham House shortly after. They had at least six children; two sons and four daughters. John lived in the house till after the First World War and died in 1924 at the age of 87. John was a builder and will be remembered as the constructor of the first grandstand at Buckfastleigh (Dean Court Farm) racecourse (1883).
High Cross House And Dorothy Elmhirst's Steinway Grand Piano
On the beautiful Dartington Hall Estate there is a unique “International Modernist House”, now used as a gallery, just to the north-east of Dartington Hall School. High Cross House reopened to the public this year under a partnership between the National Trust and The Dartington Hall Trust and I was able to visit within weeks of its opening with my wife Elizabeth. It is amazing in its simplicity both outside and in. Brutal straight edges of wall rendered in white on the outside and whitewashed walls indoors used as a blank canvas by designers wanting gallery space. A tower gives access to a flat roof terrace. This stunning modernist house is worth spending hours to admire and is stewarded (if that is the right word !) by knowledgeable and friendly National Trust staff that seem keen to involve visitors in living the minimalist and modernist experience. They encourage comments and involvement by younger visitors in the model making area of the former garage downstairs. Elizabeth loved the house and... Read more
Childhood in Broadhempston
I was born at St Joseph Cottages. I remember my first day at the village school, spam fritters, and Mr Matthews from the pub, with his dog called Measles, Marks from the shop, and butcher Lang in his van, who always gave the kids a slice of hogs pudding, happy days, poor but carefree.
