Princetown memories
Here are memories of Princetown and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Princetown or a Princetown photo.
The Duchy & Princetown
The Duchy Hotel brings back many fond childhood memories, at that time it was run by a gentleman called Joe, Uncle Joe to me and my sis. Yes, the staff were all convicts. I remember being pushed around on a large floor broom by one of the convicts working there, my dad was a prison officer at Dartmoor Prison at the time, Samual Bibby. I remember having a huge birthday party at the mess and Sunday dinners!, I remember the leet and how much fun we had swimming in it, the church, the old vicarage, and the wonderfull walks my mum would take us on across the moors with the dog, (we were the family with the Pyrenean Mountain dog!!). In those hot hot summer days, golden childhood memories I will cherish forever, I plan on returning for a visit in 2009, a long awaited return as I have not been back since leaving many years ago, an amazing place to have been part of.
Bowdens Cafe
The second building down on the right was Bowdens Cafe (now Fox Tor Cafe).....My Grandparents, George and Clare Moss had the cafe from 1946 and my parents took over in 1958 Eric and Clare Cragg....My Grandparents then moved to Duchy House and started a B&B. I remember a great childhood growing up in Princetown, playing by the leet and riding the ponies. I now live in Australia and have been here since 1963. Thank you for the lovely memories and photos of Princetown
Duchy Hotel
This is a photo of The Duchy Hotel. This later became Dartmoor Prisons' "Prison Officers Mess". It has now become The Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre. My dad was an officer or "screw" at Dartmoor Prison for many years and we used to have our Sunday lunch here. The kitchen and waiting staff were all convicts!
Duchy Hotel 1941
On the 12th June 1941 I was born in the Duchy Hotel as my father was then a serving Prison Officer. As I was so young I don't remember the early years of my life, but Princetown and the Duchy Hotel have been part of my life, and I have been back many times. I can remember returning to the Duchy with my family one christmas and having a large room for all the children there to play in and I had a pair of roller skates which I used to skate in that room and every where else. I also remember the inmates being marched down the road to work at the Duchy and then being marched back again at the end of the day, many happy days were spent in that play room. My father had friends that ran the Cherrybrook Guest House just outside Princetown Mr & Mrs Cleeves and we had several holidays on Dartmoor staying at Cherrybrook, I have just returned from a short stay... Read more
Great Times, And Lots of Freedom
My family lived here from 1972-77, as my father was an officer in the prison. We lived next to the then working dairy at Tor View. The village had escorted prisoners all over the village, and the farms and quarries were all in full operation, we even played football in the car park with the cons, during their breaks and lunch. Sitting in the kids' room at the Plume on cold winter nights, or the disco at the social club or just messing about by the boys' or girls' pool on the river. It was so much fun, no PS3 or X Box, no mobile phones. It was all adventure and exploring. Dinner in the officers' mess on Sundays, wow, these were great days, never to be replaced, it was a very close society, and I'm glad I was part of it, even with the deep snow and rain in winter...
Princetown
I remember living in Princetown in Woodville Close, my dad worked at the prison, Paddy O'Neill. I started school in Princetown and don't have many good memories of the school, in fact on my first day I walked out and went home at morning playtime and was dragged back through the village by my mum. I really did not like Princetown Primary School, I recall having to ask the teacher if you needed toilet paper and you were issued one square of Izal paper. I remember the bilzzards and snow from 1963 and going down to the shop with our sledge to fetch the shopping for mum, also a lady being helicoptered out of the village in labour as the roads were all blocked with snow for weeks. The worst memory was of the teachers at school putting our morning milk on the radiators and then making us drink it all, God, was I sick, and I have never drunk milk since! I recall vividly all the freedom and all... Read more
Memories of Devon
Seventh of The Seventh
All the sevens - the seventh of the seventh of the seventh. 7th July 2007 was the lucky sevens date chosen by Amanda and David for their wedding. Family and friends were invited to The Two Bridges Hotel on Dartmoor for the ceremony, reception and evening dance.
It was a beautifully sunny day at long last as we have been having rain nearly every day for a fortnight! This view taken in 1955 is little different from the hotel in 2007. There are no longer deck chairs at the front, the cars are more modern and there are geese roaming free in the grounds to the delight of David and Amanda's daughter Anna. We had a happy and successful day, a beautifully decorated wedding venue, lovely Pimms on the front lawn and photos taken by the river edge and on the old bridge nearby.
In the evening a band played and the happy couple and their guests danced. One year old Anna was tired out... Read more
My Early Years
When I think of Devon, and in particularly Bellever I think of home.
I lived in Bellever from the age of 4 to 13, after moving with my family (dad Denis, mum Gracie, sisters Cyndy, Alison and Elaine, and brothers Bill and Steve). The thing I enjoyed most was swimming in the river, and going for walks on the moors and through the woods. In the summer my family used to spend every Sunday by the river. It's where my dad taught me to swim, I can remember saying to him "look I'm swimming" but secretly having my hands on the bottom. Our extended families used to come for visits. and we would pack a picnic and go whortleberry picking, up on Bellever Tor, and my mum and aunts would make pies and jam with the fruit. I can also remember going into bluebell wood with my sisters and brothers to pick bluebells and primroses for our mum.
We all enjoyed the snow, I think the main reason... Read more
King's Oven
In the 1960s I took my parents to stay in a bungalow a short distance from the Warren House Inn. The bungalow was called The King's Oven, and we rented it for a week. It had been used as accomodation for the tin mine inspector when he visited the area. Sadly, it has since been demolished, but I can still discern where it used to be. While we were there, my father used to like to stroll up the road to the Warren House Inn for a drink.
Family History
This is not about my memory, this is about my family history, that dates back to 1827. My father has been working on his background for 40 years now, he has so much information about his family in Cudlipptown, it feels like I have been there. My dad is 83 this year, he's not well, he would like me to take a trip to see some of our family that still lives there. My father's name is George Rufus Cudlipp who lives in Landsdown, New South Wales, Australia. If you could give me any information about Finemores and James Cudlipp could you please contact me on my e-mail address please. Thanking you
Bagpuss
A section of this photograph was used by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate for one of the opening sequences in the programme Bagpuss. This was confirmed in 1978 when a Horrabridge resident wrote to the Bagpuss programme and received a reply from Mrs Joan Firmin giving an account of how the picture used came from an old postacrd album which now belonged to her.
The wheelwrights yard is shown on the left and the view is looking south to Station Road taken from the north side of the bridge. This scene has changed little in the last 100 years and is still recognisable today.
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