Launceston, The Chain Bridge 1906
Photo ref: 56130A
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Photo ref: 56130A
Photo of Launceston, The Chain Bridge 1906

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'Chain Bridge was a great attraction for me and my friends. We always built a hut in the woods — and would like to have slept there, but weren't allowed to. We cooked anything cookable we could get hold of, pinching potatoes and turnips from fields on the way there, and apples from orchards. We used to build bridges from island to island or spend hours killing vipers which abounded in a limestone tip heap. Daft we were; why we weren't bitten I don't know. Occasionally we made 6d by bringing home a basket of blackberries or elderberries for someone. Such was the summer holiday of a working-class boy'. Mr Cecil Cole, talking of his childhood in the early years of the 20th century, quoted in Arthur Bate Venning and Arthur Wills' book 'Yesterday's Town'.

A Selection of Memories from Launceston

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Launceston

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My family tree starts with Thomas and Mary Anne Newton who immigrated from England in 1830 aboard the ship 'John Craig'. Thomas occupation was a candlemaker. Their daughter Alice was my great great grandmother. Alice first married John Phillips and upon his death c1855 married a convict, Walter Wade. They had a large family and one of their daughters named Eliza married Orlando William ...see more
My family roots reach back to launcestone in the 1790, 1848, 1880. My ancestors even further back all christened in that church. In 1892, my grandfather came north to work in the mines of Yorkshire at the age of twelve (the good old days).