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Two Bridges memories

Here are memories of Two Bridges and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Two Bridges or a Two Bridges photo.

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

Memories of Devon

Duchy Hotel

Town Centre 1931
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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!

Bowdens Cafe

The Square c1955
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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

The Duchy & Princetown

Town Centre 1931
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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.

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

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...

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