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Widegates
Widegates maps
Historic maps of Widegates and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Widegates maps
Widegates photos
We have no photos of Widegates, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Morval| Hessenford| Sandplace| Seaton| Downderry| Looe| Menheniot| Duloe| Tideford| St Germans| Liskeard| Quethiock| Moorswater| Pelynt| Sheviock| Talland Bay| Crafthole| Landrake| Polperro| Dobwalls| Pillaton| Doublebois| Whitsand Bay
Widegates area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Widegates and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Widegates
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Cornwall memories
Inherited Postcard
I have an original postcard of this picture from the Frith Series. It is unstamped and printed on the card is "Affix Half Penny Stamp". Handwritten on the card is "The seat of Mr Tremayn & about one mile from here"
Also printed on the card is F. Frith & Co Ltd, Reigate, No 21284
Hessenford, The Village
I have just read the memory of the fishing trips and the use of the jeep to tow the fishing boat down the beach to launch it into the sea at Downderry. I also remember that jeep as if it were yesterday. My Grandmother, Marjorie Buckley, was the Headmistress of Hessenford School in the 40's and 50's (maybe into the 60's before she finally retired) and I spent alot of my youth living with her and on family holidays in Hessenford. I spent 9 months with my Grandparents towards the end of the war, as my home town, Redditch, had been badly bombed by the Germans. My Grandather died, I think in 1947, and is buried in the graveyard at the Hessenford Parish Church, St. Annes. in 1953 most of the summer term and summer holidays were spent there, taking part in the festivities organised for the Coronation and celebration of the conquest of Everest. (Sir Edmund Hillary's death, ironically, was announced only 2 or 3 days ago). The... Read more
Hessenford
I was so pleased to come across a site talking about 'my' family village of Hessenford. I was also evacauated to Hessenford with my mum and spent my 1st birthday there. This was the first of many August holidays with my Great Aunt Dorah and Great Uncle Dick (known as Farmer & Mrs Nicholls but who's surname was actually Nicholas) who were the tenant farmers of Hessenford Farm. The white porch of the farmhouse is shown on the 1st Hessenford postcard and Uncle Dick is the small figure leaning on a wall, talking I think to Mr or Mrs Pierce. Our visits to Hessenford were made in a friends car, my Dad in those days only had a van as he was a painter & decorator, and we were always greeted by Albert Morrish, sythe in hand as he cleared the hedgerow just outside the village.- he always knew when we would be arriving and was on look-out. As the school holidays didn't quite line up... Read more
Farming at Hessenford
I moved to Hessenford in about 1958 when my father took on the tenancy of St Anne's Farm. The farm was situated up past the church on the lane that led from Hessenford to Bake. Previously we had lived at West Trenean Farm, near Widegates but, for some reason my father, Dick, and his brother Jack, had decided to take on a second farm so we moved. We often had to move sheep and bullocks from one farm to another and we did this by driving them along the 3 miles or so between the farms. There was very little traffic in those days.
The biggest change for me was moving schools, always a traumatic time for a young child. Hessenford Primary School boasted just one teacher, Miss Cook, and one classroom in which sat all children from 5 to 11. It must have been a formidable task having to teach such a wide age range. The school had outside toilets and no cooking facilities at all. Instead,... Read more
Living in Seaton 1950s/1960s
My parents owned Mount Brioni in the late 1950s to early 1960s, I was just a baby, I had 5 sisters and 3 brothers who all lived there.
I remember the Doneys who owned the cafe on the beach and spent many happy days on our beach.
My Life in Seaton
1943! The year I was born, where I lived and was brought up at my grandparents' shop, 'S W Pearce & Son'. I went to school in Downderry and Antony, then later Liskeard Grammer. On leaving school, I worked in the family business, followed by 30 years in Plymouth. My parents retired in the mid 1980s, and moved to the Barbican, Looe, after selling the business. My father, Donald, died in 1990, my mother, Vera (91), and my brother, Mark (65) are still alive. I have been married for 45 years, to Kitty, and have two grown up daughters, Nicola and Joanne, and two grandaughters, Emily and Jessica. Seaton Beach Cafe' is still up and running, but not with the Doney family. Our local pub, 'The Smugglers Inn', was originally the farmhouse back in 1919, where my father was born. The Widesea Hotel was made into a Nursing Home, until 1991, then was demolished and made into luxury appartments. Billy Hocking is still fishing and crabbing, now well into his... Read more
My Life in Seaton in The 1960s
With my family I moved to Cornwall in 1954, lived first in Hessenford then Seaton with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters, David, Tony, Lesley & Jane. My mother worked on the holiday camp. I went to Torpoint High School. I had a lot of friends in both villages such as Peter Eveleigh, Malcolm Stares, Alan Barrett, John Collins, Roger Roseavear, Nick Carthew, Andrew and Keith Waite, Ian Hendry, the Doneys, Marion Bird, Linda Wood, Teresa Stewart and many others. My mother died in 1967 so I moved to south Wales, Merthyr Tydfill, then to Cardiff. I have two sons by my late wife who passed away in 2003. My time in Cornwall was not always happy but I did love the place.
