Chudleigh
Chudleigh maps (2 available)
Map of Devon
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Chudleigh books (24 available)
Barnstaple Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Exmoor Photographic Memories
Paperback
South Devon Living Memories
Paperback
Chudleigh memories
Read and share memories of Chudleigh and Devon inspired by Frith photos
Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers entertain at Chudleigh
Chudleigh hosts a wonderful Christmas late night shopping evening each year when the Christmas lights in Fore Street are switched on. The shops stay open until late evening and their windows twinkle with fairy lights and decorations. Shops, cafes and pubs are crowded and stay open late in the evening, and the place is transformed into a fairyland of old-fashioned entertainment and street traders.
My wife Elizabeth and I are part of the Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers and went along to provide part of this entertainment. We took our granddaughter Anna in a puchcahir and made sure she was well wrapped up to keep warm! There was a band of squeezeboxes and drums. The dancers looked magnificent ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
A little bit of Chudleigh history
When a boy, my father, Donald William Stevens, used to show visitors through the Pixie caves for 1/2d per person, with the light from a candle for illumination. After WWII he followed in his father's (William Henry Stevens) footsteps of being a Chudleigh shopkeeper, and opened a shoe shop at 7 The Square, (or Fore Street as some preferred). This shop was in business for 39 years, and sold all types of footwear from Wellies, plimsoles and brogues, although there was not much call for ballet shoes! Due to ill health the business was closed, and sadly he died in 1989.
My mother continued to live in Chudleigh until her death earlier this year at the age of 85 years. How ...read more here
Contributed by Richard Stevens
Devon memories
Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers entertain at Chudleigh
Chudleigh hosts a wonderful Christmas late night shopping evening each year when the Christmas lights in Fore Street are switched on. The shops stay open until late evening and their windows twinkle with fairy lights and decorations. Shops, cafes and pubs are crowded and stay open late in the evening, and the place is transformed into a fairyland of old-fashioned entertainment and street traders.
My wife Elizabeth and I are part of the Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers and went along to provide part of this entertainment. We took our granddaughter Anna in a puchcahir and made sure she was well wrapped up to keep warm! There was a band of squeezeboxes and drums. The dancers looked magnificent ...read more here
A memory of Chudleigh contributed by John Howard Norfolk
A little bit of Chudleigh history
When a boy, my father, Donald William Stevens, used to show visitors through the Pixie caves for 1/2d per person, with the light from a candle for illumination. After WWII he followed in his father's (William Henry Stevens) footsteps of being a Chudleigh shopkeeper, and opened a shoe shop at 7 The Square, (or Fore Street as some preferred). This shop was in business for 39 years, and sold all types of footwear from Wellies, plimsoles and brogues, although there was not much call for ballet shoes! Due to ill health the business was closed, and sadly he died in 1989.
My mother continued to live in Chudleigh until her death earlier this year at the age of 85 years. How ...read more here
A memory of Chudleigh contributed by Richard Stevens
Extracts From Chudleigh & Devon books
This view was taken from the building at the very end of Morton Crescent. To the immediate left is the Imperial Hotel,
seen in its original architectural design, changed now after the fire in the 1970s.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
By the middle of the 20th
century we see something
resembling the modern
scene. There is the more
familiar red telephone
box on the traffic island,
a modern post box, and
Belisha beacons to aid
pedestrians wishing to
cross the road. In the
centre of the photograph
is the white tower of the
Pavilion Theatre. Much of
the street furniture was
removed by the start of
the 21st century, leaving
a more traffic-dominated Esplanade.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
The construction of a substantial
sea wall, seen here in section to the
right, led to Exmouth’s prosperity
as a seaside resort. Before the
wall was built, much of the sea
front was marshland and sand
dunes, and subjected to constant
flooding. The first section of the
wall was completed in 1842, paid
for by the local landowner John
Rolle. It was 1,900 feet long and
constructed from Devon limestone.
The designer was John Smeaton, a
veteran engineer and the designer
of London Bridge.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
This fine view looks across the
clock tower and Morton Crescent
to the estuary of the River Exe, with
Starcross and the Haldon Hills in
the distance.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
The wall was designed to deflect the waves that so often come up the English Channel from the south-west on stormy days.
This scene has changed little in fifty years, though now a shelter from the wind stands on the position of the nearest bench
in the photograph. It was donated by local resident William Frederick Stokes in 1964.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".