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Knowstone
Knowstone maps
Historic maps of Knowstone and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Knowstone maps
Knowstone area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Knowstone and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Knowstone
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Devon memories
Farming Apprentiship at Wadham Farm Aged 18yrs
In response to an advert in 'Farmers Weekly' I was sent down from London to gain farming experience with Mr and Mrs Robb at Wadham Farm, before entering agricultural college at the age of 18 years. Locals took me in hand, teaching me to thatch, water divine, tickle trout and the whole cycle of the farming year. I was present during Lynmouth Floods of 1952. I have vivid memories of farming life and tricks played on me by locals! I travelled round Devon, playing rugger for Tiverton.
If this is of interest I can expand in more detail.
Adrian Marsden-Jones.
Christmas Holidays in Witheridge
30 years just passed but it still seems present, the time I spent in Witheridge since 24 December to 1st January when I got back to London and then flied back to Italy. I spent splendid days by a family of friends at 17 West Street and still I remember that house, very typical, with wood roof. Inside there were on plan floor an entrance with a wood stair up to 2nd flor for two bedrooms, down a living/dining room and on the back a little kitchen and then a little garden and a white rabbit. In the living room there was Maisie, a white colored big dog. Beside the stairs in the entrance of that house there was a bathroom with blue tiles and another independent room where was situated local Postal Office with Mrs. Mary who managed alone all kind of service. I used to sleep alone in the room on second floor under the roof with typical bow window. Now in the same place of that house... Read more
Church
This is the church where my Uncle Michael George Sinnott is buried.
Court Hall Remembered
From 1946 until 1949 I was a boarder at Court Hall. At the time I was there Lady Poultimor lived in a cottage in the grounds and kept parrots. There were stables at the rear of the house and a full pack of hounds was kept there along with hunting horses.
The school's head mistress was Mrs Barkway nicknamed Barky she had driven ambulances during the war. She had a daughter named Janet .
The vicar's wife Mrs Prue taught me history her hubby preached in the church alongside the house and we would go to the church on Sundays via a huge wooden iron clad gate set back in the hundreds of rhodedendren bushes which lined the perimeter walls.
The house was beautiful and how sad it was pulled down, it had hand laid parquet floors on the ground floor and a secret stairway which was entered by a green baize covered door up windy stairs to the floor above. There was a massive painting... Read more
Memories of A Four Year Old
My memories of Court Hall School started in 1955 when I went with my brother from our London home, at the tender age of four and five. My father was told not to visit us for 3 months and so we were left. The head was Mr. Owen Reidel, and his wife Simone, who was French. They had two children, Nicole and Anthony. I remember the school as huge and rambling, and the ground equally so. There was a kitchen garden and Mr Reidel kept bees. There were two classes, Mr. Reidel taking the older group, and another teacher the younger ones. I don't remember her name unfortunately. There can only have been at the most 20 children in the school, probably in the primary age range. Many of the children had parents working abroad. I do have some photographs. We went for walks in the surrounding countryside, and collected natural history objects which were made into museums. I am still an avid collector today, and also love primroses which... Read more
"After The Fair" at The White Horse Hotel, Bampton
This view is exactly the same as the hotel now looks in 2008 - although sadly the landlord, Robin, died just this year. It was his wish that the traditional music and dancing that follows the Bampton Fair should continue outside his pub after his passing.
I went along on Saturday 1st November and watched Devon based Grimspound Border Morris perform outside the White Horse Hotel along with three other teams of dancers including Sweet Coppin clog dancers from Taunton. Although the White Horse Hotel itself was closed we danced outside to honour the landlord's memory and later went inside other bars in the town to join in music sessions with visiting Breton musicians. My wife Elizabeth joined in some of the border dancing and loved it. It was a chilly day but a lot of fun.
Morris Dancing After The Fair at Bampton
I went along on Saturday 1st November and watched Devon based Grimspound Border Morris perform outside "The Swan" along with three other teams of dancers including Sweet Coppin clog dancers from Taunton to mark the close of the 2008 Charter Fair.
Sadly the landlord, Robin, died just this year. It was his wish that the traditional music and dancing that follows the Bampton Fair should continue outside his pub after his passing. Although "The Swan" itself was closed we danced outside to honour the landlord's memory and later went inside other bars in the town including "The Quarrymans Rest" to join in music sessions with visiting Breton musicians. My wife Elizabeth joined in some of the border dancing and loved it. It was a chilly day but a lot of fun.
