Tuesday 24 November 2015

Starcross Records in the Devon Rural Archive

When we visit the  Devon Rural Archive at Shilstone, we can warn them that we are coming and they'll make sure the Starcross records are ready for us: Here's a list of what they already have in their collection:

Historic maps
A number of maps covering the whole county such as the 1765 map by Benjamin Donn

image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Donn

 and the 1827 map of the county by Greenwood and Greenwood.

Thankyou Devon County for this image of the Greenwood map


They also have complete Ordnance Survey coverage for 1887 and 1905.


Images
A handful of old black and white photographs showing Starcross. 



Local Information
A small publication about The Royal Western Counties Hospital.
References within more general texts relating to the area.


Articles

A couple of articles from the Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries / Devonshire Association Transactions

The Quest for the Three Hares: from Devon myth to medieval China and back


Transport can be arranged. Please get in touch if you're also fascinated by these iconic 3 hares with 2 ears each, but only 3 ears between them - as seen in Buddhist caves at the edge of the Gobi Desert AND in 17 Devon churches...


DEVON RURAL ARCHIVE, SHILSTONE, MODBURY, DEVON PL21 0TW 01548 830832 OFFICE@DRA.UK.NET


 In seventeen Devon churches there are medieval roof bosses showing the intriguing and paradoxical image of three hares sharing only three ears between them, yet each creature having two ears. Amazingly, in seventeen Buddhist caves in China, on the edge of the Gobi desert, the same symbol occurs but dating perhaps 500 - 800 years earlier than the Devon examples. This richly illustrated talk outlines the quest to unravel the origins of this iconic symbol used in all the major religions of the Old World. With colleagues Sue Andrew and Chris Chapman, Tom Greeves has travelled widely across Europe and beyond, collecting information on a design that has intrigued him personally since the 1960s, and which has been responsible for an interesting, enduring but baseless myth in Devon itself.

Dr Tom Greeves is a cultural environmentalist exploring and interpreting the landscape through highly trained eyes. Studying as a prehistorian at Edinburgh University, he obtained a doctorate in history and archaeology at Exeter University, studying the Devon tin industry. Dr Greeves was the first Sites & Monuments Officer for Devon, establishing the county archive of archaeology. He was subsequently the first Archaeologist to Dartmoor National Park Authority, and then worked in London with the environmental arts group Common Ground; having responsibility for the national Parish Maps project before becoming freelance.

Tickets are £5 each.
The price includes tea / coffee and biscuits available from 6.30pm when doors open.


Tickets can be booked in person at the DRA, over the phone or by email and paid for on arrival at the lecture. If tickets are paid for in advance a seat will be reserved for you near the front of the lecture room. Booking is recommended.

If you have booked a ticket for a DRA lecture and are unable to attend please let us know as soon as possible as tickets are in high demand.
For directions please visit the DRA website at
http://www.devonruralarchive.com/Directions.html

 
The DRA is open every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11am to 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays); there is no need to book and entry is free. If you are visiting us please do remember to enter the site with caution and note the speed limit within the grounds is 5 miles per hour.
Other dates for your diary:
4th February 2016: Devon's Torre Abbey, its rescue and significance
- an illustrated talk by Dr Michael Rhodes, former Curator of Torre Abbey.

2016 programme coming soon!


The DRA offers group visits to Local History Societies and other community organisations. If you would like to bring your group for a day at the archive in 2016 with optional guided tour of Shilstone please contact Abi on 01548 830832.

Monday 23 November 2015

Devon Rural Archive

The resident archaeologist at the Devon Rural Archive, Abi Gray, has invited Starcross History to visit the archive, for a workshop, or to explore the collection.
Opening Times: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11:00am to 3:00pm
Devon Rural Archive is in Shilstone, near Modbury, Plymouth PL21 0TW
Please get in touch if you're interested.
Thanks
The Devon Rural Archive is open every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday between 11am and 3pm. Entry is free and there is no need to book.
Find out more on   The website for the Devon Rural Archive

Friday 20 November 2015

From Pycroft to Rycroft

There was a good attendance at our November meet, because Ian Goodrick was the speaker. The former Starcross GP entertained us hugely with his wry sense of humour. Some of us could also remember the 'good old days' (?) when a doctor would 'tell it to you like it was'.
We were made more appreciative of modern medicine: Ian's tragic Victorian tale of a Starcross woman who died from a post-natal infection could never happen again in the village, because modern obstetric practice has improved exponentially. The infection within this unfortunate new mother was not discovered until it was too late.  New mothers today are looked after and monitored carefully for any signs of problems; not simply left to enjoy their new baby in the hope that all will be well.

However, this isn't true of the rest of the world. Liz Moore was at the meeting. She lives in Starcross. Liz is the founder of Call the Midwife Tanzania, which is a charity working in Tanzania  with the Maasai. A Maasai woman achieves status when she has children. The more children she has, the higher her status. But one Maasai woman in seven would die in childbirth. In the villages where Liz's charity works, this horrific statistic has been reduced to almost zero.
Here's a link to the website:  Call the Midwife Tanzania
You can donate to Call the Midwife Tanzania on this link

We were able to look at many photographs, including our former GP, Dr Richard Rycroft, in his Second World War uniform. Below are some photographs of the construction of Starcross Surgery.

 Valerie Forrester also addressed the meeting. Like Starcross History,  Valerie is interested in oral records, but her purpose is for The Dawlish and Teignmouth Area Talking Newspaper., which is for blind and partially sighted people. The publication, Hear  and Now, is recorded weekly. The November 13th edition was the 3rd one. HERE'S the audio link.
 There aren't yet any subscribers in Starcross, so if you know anyone who would benefit from this, or if you would like to help with this worthwhile project, please get in touch.























Sunday 15 November 2015

Meet on January 13th: Cadbury's of Bournville in Starcross Church



Chocoholics will be very welcome at the next meet of Starcross History on Wednesday, January 13th, in our new venue: St Paul's Church. 

Our speaker will be Andrew Cadbury, and his subject will be Cadbury's of Bournville. We'll hear all about the history of his family, and the story of chocolate






The Church music group rehearses every Wednesday in the main Church, until 7:30. This means that the Church will be open, so we'll be able to go straight in to set up in the rooms at the back - no more waiting outside in the rain.

Operational Base of the Starcross Auxiliary Unit Patrol

Can you add anything to the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team's webpage about the wartime Starcross Auxiliary patrol?


From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.
Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.
Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help."




The Operational Base for the Patrol is between Starcross and Exminster and the Auxiliers lived in the surrounding area. It was located on land farmed by Francis Wotton at Tawsington Farm. The farm has now been split and the land divided up around neighbouring farms. Situated just below the brow of a hill, the area has views over the River Exe Estuary and almost up to the City of Exeter.



Condition of OB: Known to have been built by the Royal Engineers local children discovered the OB, while still intact, during the 1950s. It was entered into by a trap door in the middle of a Laurel copse though nothing could be seen from the surface.
Embedded in the entrance shaft were 5 metal rungs leading down to a Nissen Hut type structure containing a cast iron stove, a cupboard and four bunk beds. Ventilation pipes led to the surface.
A 3 ft diameter concrete pipe lead away as an escape tunnel, exiting at the surface.
Size of OB and entrance/exit etc: Currently unknown, though thought to have been destroyed. At one time it was seen as only rubble remaining, along with the intact escape tunnel leading away.












From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.
Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.
Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help.
- See more at: http://www.coleshillhouse.com/starcross-auxiliary-unit-patrol.php#sthash.z7S7NGpa.dpuf
From the information received so far all the Patrols of Group 5 (Dawlish, Teignmouth and Starcross) seem to have worked and trained very closely together. Looking at the names and addresses on the Nominal Rolls it is almost impossible to make three distinctly separate patrols.
Each Patrol therefore, has been compiled by their group photograph where available. This may have lead to errors as to which Auxilier is recorded in which Patrol.
Please contact Nina Hannaford on cartdevon@gmail.com if you have any information to help.
- See more at: http://www.coleshillhouse.com/starcross-auxiliary-unit-patrol.php#sthash.z7S7NGpa.dpuf

Sunday 8 November 2015

Police House in The Strand

The photograph of Northend  on The Strand as a police house has been taken down from the Friends of The Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Heritage &Learning Resource Facebook page so there's a gap on our May 16th 2015 post about it

Please has anyone a photograph of it around 1871?

Here it is on Google Maps



This old police house is listed on The British Listed Building website as Northend Cottage

"6/283 Northend Cottage
-

GV II


Cottage. Early C19. Grey limestone rubble, slate roof, gabled at ends with coped
gables and kneelers; stone lateral stack with yellow brick shaft to left wall of main
block. The scale and Gothic style suggest a lodge but there is no evidence that it
ever served this purpose. It was lived in by a policeman in 1871 and may have been a
purpose built police cottage. Tudor style.
Plan: A small cottage with one principal heated room with a porch on the north side
and a single-storey service room under a lean-to roof on the south side. A stair
rises in the front right corner of the main room. C20 addition to rear left.
Exeterior: Very well-preserved. The I window front elevation has a Gothic gabled
porch with a deeply-chamfered 4-centred doorway with a shield carved over the arch.
The doorway is now blocked and the porch is entered on the left return, the right
return has a stone-framed slit window and the main block has a similar slit window to
the left of the porch. Arched inner doorframe with a 4-centred arched C19 plank and
cover strip front door. The left return (facing the road) has a small canted bay
window to the ground floor with glazing bars and a 2-light first floor C19 casement,
a similar window at the left lights the lean-to. The right return also has a C19
canted bay window, so the principal room is lit from both sides.
Interior: Original joinery survives: fireplace blocked.
The deeds are said to go back to 1870 when the house was purchased by the Powderham
Estate.
An unusual and attractive small roadside house.


Listing NGR: SX9756382207"

Friday 6 November 2015

Starcross Hospital Reunion





STAFF     REUNION
   Saturday 16th April 2016
    Mount Pleasant Inn
       Dawlish Warren
  
The Royal Western Counties Hospital in Starcross

The memorial stone in St Paul's memorial garden
The badge of The Royal Western Counties Hospital in Starcross