Parkham, Devon

Church going in the 1960's

As local village children we used to walk from Fairy Cross meeting other children from the council houses along the way and wind our way through  the narrow lane, sometimes picking wild strawberries in summer - moving out of the way of cars that needed to pass us - usually on their way to church also - untill we arrived at St. Andrews, Alwington. We always sat up in the choir stalls with Mrs. Elston (who had been my first teacher at Abbotsham school - Alwington school, where my mother had attended, had closed some years previously because of low numbers and all from our village then went by bus to Abbotsham).  I can remember at special services - Christmas etc. - that some of us children would read from the Bible to the congregation and when I did this I was always very nervous and once I lost my place and it seemed like ages before I found it again!  Old Colonel and Mrs Pine-Coffin were always in the Portledge pew and often when the sermon went on a bit long I think the old Colonel used to doze off - he certainly had his eyes closed regularly !
On Sundays the children stayed for half of the service and then we filed out of the church to the old schoolrooms next to the church for Sunday School. I can remember that in winter in the schoolrooms it was freezing and a few times we stayed in the church and had Sunday School in the old minstrel gallery that originally came from Portledge House. After Sunday School we would then walk home again and be ready for our Sunday roast dinner which we always looked forward to!!
This was just a normal way of life for us then but looking back I think we were very lucky to have experienced it this way - no computers, fast food and only limited television - but we were healthy, entertained ourselves and were very happy with simple things.

Growing up in the 1960's

We lived in Headon's Cottage, Fairy Cross - it had been an old German doctor's cottage in the 1700s, a Doctor Wacerill who is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard,  and his faded plaque was still above the front door - walls made of cob and thatched roof etc. We were just up the road from Portledge drive - my grandfather William George Harris was woodsman and forester on the Portledge Estate for the Pine-Coffin family for over 50 years and his grandfather before him had been the estate foreman. As a boy I very often walked our Rottweiler dog , Limbo, down Portledge drive turning into the woods halfway down and making our way over some wooden bridges and past a couple of huts my grandfather had made for shelter, past what seemed to be a big lake often with ducks on it and ending up at the sea  - also remember the wooden beachhut there (I suppose for changing into swimming costumes - not that it got much use!) and that it was always full of flies in summertime. Had to be careful going down Portledge drive as "us" villagers were not welcome in those parts by Miss Vickory, later Mrs Knorkie, who was running the old house as a hotel then and seemed to think all those areas were private. My grandfather and old Colonel Pine-Coffin didn't agree and me and the rest of my family always went down to Portledge woods and the sea - I always kept my distance from the big old house/mansion/hotel and it was always a bit of a mystery to me - would have loved to have gone inside for a look around! My sister and I were very lucky to have had a childhood like it - wonderful carefree happy days.
We have lived in Queensland, Australia since 1972 but recently through the internet got in touch with Susan Pine-Coffin and was sorry to hear that they had had to sell Portledge after a family connection of over 900 years.

Simple Times

Well our address was quite easy ,
Fairy Cross,
Near Bideford,
North Devon.
Tel. Horns Cross 328   !!
Our mail always found us with no problems at all. There were not a lot of us there in those days. We lived in Headons Cottage, it used to have a thatch roof until it caught fire in the mid 1960s and was then replaced with slates. I remember the walls were made of cob and would crumble away if you kept running your toys or marbles into the same place!! The cottage had been a German doctor's house in the 1700s and his faded old plaque was still above the front door - Dr. Wacerill is buried at Alwington church yard - old Colonel Pine Coffin asked my parents to leave the plaque there for historical reasons and I hope it is still there!! My father knocked down a big room adjoining the kitchen as it was in bad repair. The kitchen had a big open fireplace - nothing like a roaring log fire in the depths of winter - our Rotweiller dog "Limbo" used to hog the fire to stay warm!! The living room was cosy again with an open fire, I can remember watching our childhood programmes on our small black and white television, "Blue Peter"', "Crackerjack" , "Dr. Who" (which really scared the daylights out of my sister and I!!) and Grandstand on Saturdays - really liked the cricket  tests in those days, even sport was so simple and fair - no-one ever questioned the umpires, if you were out you were out and most times people just walked anyway!! Those programmes were on BBC 1 - our local  ITV station was Westward with Francis Drake's Golden Hind as its logo - "Westward Diary" was our local news programme then. We didn't see a lot of television because it was only on for limited times anyway which was a good thing !!
Upstairs my bedroom, which was quite big. looked out into Tom Jeffrey's farmyard and the cows always kept it quite mucky in wet weather!! My sister had the small middle room and my parents the room that looked out to what was the main A23 road. All the rooms had open fireplaces but we never lit them upstairs. I can remember my sister and I had little valve radios and I used to listen to BBC radio comedy and quiz programmes - sometimes it was freezing cold and it was snug under the blankets listening.
I remember my father unearthed an old well in the back garden and went down so far before it was not safe to go further in case it caved in - we found bits of pottery and things including a couple of complete earthenware pots - who knows what else might still be there ?
My grandfather, William George Harris, my mother's father, lived across the road from us in what is now called "Woodsmans Cottage" - he worked on the Portledge Estate for over 50 years and his grandfather also worked on the estate for the Pine Coffin family. I can remember seeing my grandfather walking up the road from Portledge Drive with his stick in hand after spending the day in the woods - there would be many trees there today planted by my grandfather.
My sister and I went to school at Abbotsham and caught the school bus each morning together with " the council house kids " at the bus shelter. On Sundays we walked up to the council houses and them walked to Alwington church, halfway throgh the service we went next door to the old schoolrooms for Sunday School. Lunch on Snday was always a highlight of the week with a roast dinner and tinned fruit for dessert!!
My father had the use of the estate workshop which was behind my grandfather's place, and I can remember for some of the time before he retired Mr. Elston who was a thatcher stored the thatch up in the loft of the workshop - I can also remember finding a heap of old "Punch" magazines going back to the 1800s in the workshop one time - wish I had them now - the workshop had big benches with vices, sandstones for sharpening tools and heaps of old implements and tools for servicing Portledge Estate.
The village hall, a little ways down and around  the road, was the scene for Sunday School Christmas parties when parents would attend, a special tea and then games were played - I think Mrs. Elston provided the music on the piano - there were also Womens Institute peformances on the stage and it was fun for us village kids to see people we looked up to carrying on so - one song they sang one year was  "The W.I of Alwington Welcomes You", you're not likely to hear it again I suppose!!
Of course Christmas was the most special time of the year - my sister and I always decorated a real tree and for about four weeks leading up to Christmas the excitement was intense - our mother and father always made sure we had wonderful times even though they were not affluent days - it was really just magical times and fantastic memories and I owe a debt to them and all the people that came into my life during this period. I hope there are other people that can look back with equally as good recollections as I can because it warms you thinking that even in today's hectic and impersonal times it wasn't that long ago when things were so different!!

Bucks Mills

I have such wonderful memories of going to Bucks Mills and staying in Kings Cottage with my grandparents and family. I used to go over to see Mamie Braund who lived in the old house on the opposite side of the road from the cottage, I loved to play with her old dog Dinah, a beautiful old Spaniel. Mamie used to let me go through to the pottery shop and I always left when it was time to leave the holiday with a Toby Jug. I can still recall the oil smell that emanated when you went into the house, not to mention I can still see Mamie in my mind's eye, the long hair tied back, the little moustache and always the gentle smile. Kings Cottage was always on the edge of the rocks, but I used to sleep in the first bedroom upstairs and I can still recall the stories of the old Captain that lived there. The doors all had the old fashioned wooden latches and I loved just going out back where all the beutiful Fuschia lay blooming all over the walls. The outhouse was overhanging a waterfall and I dreaded going out there for fear the whole toilet would fall in the waterfall!!!
I would go up the street to where the other Braunds lived who owned the little store and I would play with girls there, always getting myself an ice cream. Our family would walk through the woods at times to go to Clovelly for the day, but I loved to go down to the beach on my own in the daytime. My cousin, David, went down there at one time and put in a huge stick between some rocks and I was not allowed to go past that stick for fear of getting in over my head. Although I never actually did walk along the beach to Clovelly, I was told one could walk there but to be wary of the tide coming in, as if it did, you would most definately drown. What loving memories I have of Bucks Mills, is there anyone out there that has any old pictures of history even of Mamie Braund or pictures of her even and especially of Kings Cottage and the history of that charming place and its seaman's past?