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Longdown
Longdown maps
Historic maps of Longdown and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Longdown maps
Longdown photos
We have no photos of Longdown, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Whitestone| Ide| Fingle Glen| Dunsford| Tedburn St Mary| St Leonards| Kennford| Christow| Exeter| Newton St Cyres| Exminster| Doccombe| Countess Wear| Brampford Speke| Crediton| Powderham| Kenton| Lustleigh| Colebrooke
Longdown area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Longdown and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Longdown
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Devon memories
Bond Family
I have not been to Whitestone, but my great-great-grandmother...Susannah Bond was born there in 1799. She moved to Newton St. Cyres and married Thomas Crump there. Are there any Bond's still in Whitestone who might be distant relatives ?
Farmer Seward
Samuel Seward farmed at Whitstone Cross he had 60 acres, he also had a housekeeper named Elizabeth Vincent with whom he had 13 children out of wedlock. All the children survived childhood and I wonder if there are any relatives there. He farmed until the 1880s and then retired to Nadderwater where he died in 1890. Elizabeth died at Whitstone Cross in 1869. Oh, and by the way, after Elizabeth died he decided to marry a Selina Mary Mardon Lock, who died in 1900.
THe New Inn
My parents ran the New Inn (now The Nobody Inn) when my grandmother died, and we moved from Higher Ashton to take over the tenancy. The Pub was owned by the St Annes Well Brewery who operated from Exeter. Many memories flow from those days. School with Miss Mary Wippell Mallet who had the typical bun hairstyle, and lived with her sister in the school house just below the school. The school inspector?attendance officer called on a weekly basis, he was called Mr Bray, commonly known as "Donkey Bray", he used to drive in his black Austin 7. When Miss Mallet retired she and her sister went to live at Tedburn St Mary. She was replaced by a Miss Harper, a rather younger lady, who had many seemingly revolutionary new ideas. The village came alive when a neighbouring farmer, Reg Lovey, was spied journeying through the back fields and entering the School House at evening times, such things were never heard of, eventually they moved to Honiton and got married.... Read more
A Ramble in The Dunsford Nature Reserve And Lunch in The Royal Oak
Today I joined a group of friends on an organized ramble through the Dunsford nature reserve run by the Devon Wildlife Trust. My friends are all dancers and musicians with Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers but on this occasion we were happy to enjoy a five mile circular walk on a beautiful early Spring sunny Devon day instead of our more usual dancing at a pub!
We started our ramble at Steps Bridge, close to where we parked our cars in the Dartmoor National Park car park next to the Youth Hostel. The reserve entrance is just past the Exeter side of the bridge and we followed the footpath and bridlepath along the valley floor, from Steps Bridge to the Clifford Bridge where we played “Pooh Sticks” (just shows how grown up Morris Dancers can be!).
By the time we returned to Steps Bridge it was lunchtime and we were feeling quite thirsty so we all made our way to The Royal Oak in Dunsford for... Read more
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.
Old School
I enjoyed my time in Tedburn during the late 80s working with Francis Cann. He was a man of the old school and a part of exeters racing history with many wins during his time as a speedway rider. He had a passion for God and motorcycles and did every thing at the double. I rode through the backlanes from dunsford on my 1938 ARIEL RED HUNTER in all weathers and look back upon those times with great affection. I lodged in Dunsford for many years with the family who used to run the A30 cafe until the new road stopped the constant flow of traffic. These are just a few of my very fond recollections. Dean Waters, Kent.
