Fairy Cross
Fairy Cross 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!
Fairy Cross photos (none available)
We have no photos of Fairy Cross,although these nearby locations do:Fairy Cross books (24 available)
Barnstaple Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Exmoor Photographic Memories
Paperback
South Devon Living Memories
Paperback
Fairy Cross memories
Read and share memories of Fairy Cross and Devon inspired by Frith photos
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 - ...read more here
Contributed by Derek England
Devon memories
Sunday Walks
I was born in Axmouth and most Sundays we would have to walk out to Landslip Cottage. We all knew it as Anne's Cottage because the lady who lived there was called Annie Gapper. She would give my late Mum and Dad a cup of tea. I was one of nine in the family.
A memory of Rousdon contributed by N I Sweetland
Formerly Whitlands Cottages
The cottage used to be called Whitlands Cottages. In 1881 my great grandparents Mr & Mrs French lived at no 3, next door to Mrs Gapper.
A memory of Rousdon contributed by The Frith Memory Archivist
'Holiday House'.
I was born and lived the early years of my life in South Molton. My father had his own building firm there. In 1958 we moved to Croyde Bay my father having bought this large house on the cliffs above the bay for £1800. This photo shows it before it became a motel. He put a new roof on the property in tiles rather than the slates which were normally used at that time. He then converted the top floor into our new home and then still had the two floors below spare. He had seen films about the American motels and set about converting these floors into one bedroom units with combined living area to let to holidaymakers. He invented ...read more here
A memory of Croyde contributed by Steve Cundy
Extracts From Fairy Cross & Devon books
In 1892, there were acres of thatch to see in Beer, as well as unsurfaced roads. Today, the place is still delightful, and has better roads. This was a typical Devon seaside community where smuggling was endemic. One of Devon’s most notorious smugglers, Jack Rattenbury, lived locally two centuries ago.
An extract from from"Devon Memories Photographic Memories".
There were plenty of fishing boats in what used to be known as Beer Roads. The rocky promontory, East Ebb, divided Seaton from Beer and kept the two places apart. The many caves in the cliffs offered smugglers discreet hideaways.
An extract from from"Devon Memories Photographic Memories".
The parish church of St Michael was built in 1878 on the site of an older chapel. Beer is famed for its quarries, which were worked by the Romans and have continued in use down the years. The stone was used extensively for the arcades of many Devon churches.
An extract from from"Devon Memories Photographic Memories".
Lace was made in east Devon. Here, in a rather posed photograph, a well-dressed family stand outside a pleasant house in Beer with lace being worked in the foreground. Although Honiton is the accepted centre, there were 500 lace workers in Beer in 1850.
An extract from from"Devon Memories Photographic Memories".
The red sandstone cliffs in the picture rise to 500ft on either side of the river Sid’s valley. The town was one of many that became popular during the Napoleonic wars when the rich could not travel to Europe. They found Sidmouth before Torquay and it developed accordingly.
An extract from from"Devon Memories Photographic Memories".