Grand Western Canal 1930, Tiverton
Grand Western Canal 1930, Tiverton Ref: 83225
Memories of Grand Western Canal 1930, Tiverton
An Outing For A Picnic by The Grand Western Canal With my Granddaughter
Our granddaughter Anna Norfolk stays with us each Tuesday and Friday starting with breakfast and we try to keep her entertained with things to do around our home town of Tiverton. One recent February day felt like the first day of Spring so we planned an outing while making her favourite breakfast of fishfingers and tomatoes and toast.
We planned a sunny walk with her pushchair near the river view shown in this picture but first she wanted to play football in our lounge! Then we prepared Grandma and Grandad’s picnic. We got the “55 bus” from Tesco Express to West Exe then took Anna for a run around Heathcoats Factory shop with Grandma to choose material to make a pushchair blanket. From there we walked to Country Babies shop to ask about nappies! Its all go with a 22 month old toddler!
We gazed down at the ducks from West Exe bridge - its a really beautiful view southwards down the River Exe. From... Read more
Tiverton & local memories
Read and share memories of Tiverton and Devon inspired by Frith photos.
4th US Infantry Division in Tiverton
I live in Tiverton but only recently discovered that our town hosted the US 4th Infantry Division in the later stages of the 2nd World War. I have been helping the veterans of this Division (The Ivy Division) with plans to restore and replant a memorial stone and memorial tree in our Peoples Park. This prompted me to find out more about their stay and I learned that their Regimental Command Post was sited at Colliepriest House in January 1944 while the troops prepared for combat in the Normandy landings that year.
The troops moved on to the South Devon coast and embarked for the Utah beaches on D-Day in June 1944 but left behind a legacy in Tiverton in the memories of local residents for their friendly behaviour during their long stay in our town. These have been documented in the archives held at our Museum of Mid-Devon Life here in Tiverton.
The Peoples Park in Tiverton
This beautiful view of the main entrance to the Peoples Park contrasts sadly with the vista today. Many of the mature landscape trees have gone although the lodge by the ornate gates still stands as this continues to be owned by our council.
Nearby there is now a memorial stone commemorating the US Army 4th Infantry Division which was stationed nearby in the build-up to the D-Day Normandy landings of June 1944.
As a regular user of the park I have been saddened to see the stone standing neglected with its growing covering of moss and the associated tree planting vandalised. I have drawn the condition of both the memorial itself and the planting to the Veterans of the US 4th Infantry Division and also alerted our Mid-Devon Council in the hope that we may restore both of them, plus the nearby landscaping of the park. Hopefully we may once again see the glorious standards shown in the photo above.
Heathcoat Community Centre
The Westexe Park sadly no longer has the beautiful flowerbeds featured in this 1955 view. I walked through this park today leading a party from the Tiverton Walk and Talk Group from the Heathcoat Community Centre. Even the grass has been neglected and has lots of mud and duck poo!
Our walk took us up Longdrag Hill and Patches Road on a circular route of around three miles. I found it pretty tough as I was pushing my granddaughter Annalise Norfolk in her pushchair! I was glad to get back to the level ground of the park where I could let her out of her pushchair - she loves to stand on the grass and be surrounded by inquisitive ducks!
Finally we went in to the Community Centre where I collapsed in a heap and enjoyed a deserved coffee!
Flying Our Kite at Knightshayes Court
Yesterday our family went for a walk around the parkland surrounding Knightshayes - a grand Victorian estate owned by the National Trust between Tiverton and Bolham and only a mile from our home in Hawks Drive. Although it was a damp January day, the views from the top of the main drive over the countryside were lovely. The house itself looks just like this picture apparently taken in 1896 ! The trees are bigger of course ! At the top of the grassy slopes we felt a stiff breeze so we tried flying our kite and our granddaughter Anna who is not yet two held on to the string and was fascinated by it!
183 Chapel Street, Tiverton
I travelled with my parents every year from the age of one to stay with my grandmother, Bertha Roberts and my Aunt Kate, at 183 Chapel Street, Tiverton. Memories are of Mr Bright's General Grocers shop opposite the row of houses and, down the road, a pub which usually had, seated outside, two Dalmation dogs. Also, I remember going to the County Show which used to be held not far behind Chapel Street. The train from Tiverton Junction to Tiverton Station, which the locals called the Tivvy Bumper I called the Tivvy Express. My mother was Minnie Roberts who left Tiverton to come to Suffolk with Colonel and Mrs Leader to Monk's Hall, Syleham in the Waveny Valley.
Devon - Born And Bred!!
What a great web site! I was born at Tiverton Hospital in 1948. My mother, father and brother lived in Market Street.
On a visit from Australia in 1995, my father and I visited Tiverton - to return to the place of my birth. We only had a couple of hours to spare but after seeing these photos would have loved to have spent more time exploring. Of course I knew of Blundells School from reading Lorna Doone as a child. I think we moved from Tiverton in 1950 and although I had visited grandparents at Paignton, we had never returned to Tiverton. Time is marching on and my Australian husband has no interest in visiting England!! Maybe I might be lucky.
Walk And Talk in Tiverton
I have always enjoyed walking and exploring so when our family moved to Tiverton in 2006 it wasn't long before Elizabeth and I discovered a local group called "Walk & Talk". The group arranges planned walks almost every week of the year and with varying lengths so this suited me. My doctor had suggested exercise would be good for my health as it would help lower my blood pressure and the idea of walking in an organised group appealed to me as I am always wary of falling over as my hearing problems and tinnitus sometimes affect my balance. The group has introduced me to lots of local walks and recently trained me as one of their volunteer walk leaders. I have led several groups and one of my favourite routes takes in the market, the park, the castle and superb views up and down the River Exe. We made one such walk today in glorious sunny weather and our party of ten walkers plus my granddaughter Anna in her... Read more
The Norfolk Family Move to Tiverton
Tiverton is an attractive market town in mid-Devon but I have to confess I had never heard of it until the first of the family moved here in 2005! Elizabeth and I were spending a weekend in Exeter with our son David and his partner Amanda and thought it would be nice to call in to have tea with cousin Robert in Tiverton. While we were there David and Amanda went for a walk around Robert's house and saw a newly built little house for sale and they fell instantly in love with it. In a matter of weeks they had bought it, given up their jobs in Milton Keynes and moved to Devon to look for a new life, new jobs and as it turned out a new family. It wasn't long before they announced they were expecting a baby so Elizabeth and I started visiting them in Tiverton and then decided to move as well so as to be here ready to greet our first grandchild. Annalise... Read more
