Abbotskerswell
Abbotskerswell maps (2 available)
Map of Devon
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Abbotskerswell books (26 available)
Barnstaple Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Torbay Photographic Memories
Paperback
Exmoor Photographic Memories
Paperback
Abbotskerswell memories
Read and share memories of Abbotskerswell and Devon inspired by Frith photos
Be the first to add a memory of Abbotskerswell.
You can also read memories of nearby places in Devon below.
Devon memories
Dornafield Midsummer Promenade
Totnes Rotary Club invited Heather and Gorse Clog Morris to dance at the Dornafield Midsummer Promenade along with other entertainers. The weather was dry and cool for a mid-June evening and just right for some vigorous dancing!
Refreshments were available in the open air bar on this lovely caravan and camp site. A large crowd of holidaymakers and evening visitors made it a succesful charity fundraising event. The dancers rounded off their performance by inviting the audience to join in a massed processional dance which was great fun for the fifty or sixty who accepted the challenge!
A memory of Two Mile Oak contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Wolborough Church
My paternal grandparents, William Harris and Millie Bray were married here 30th July 1921
No idea why they chose this church, although beautiful, they were living in Garston Avenue at the time and there are several churches closer than Wolborough
A memory of Newton Abbot contributed by Joan Coughlin
family ties
I am at present looking into my family history and have discovered today that my maternal grandmother Mrs Beatrice Maud White was married in this church on the 3rd July 1920.
I have not been to the church before but on my next visit to Newton Abbot I shall certainly give it a visit.
Elizabeth Brown Plymouth.
A memory of Newton Abbot contributed by elizabeth brown
Police constable Henry Baker
My great grandfather lived at 49 Chapel Hill, Highweek, Newton Abbot. He was 39 then and he had a wife called Susan and 6 children. He was a policeman in Highweek and I am trying to find out more about him and his mother and father, his children were Mary Ann, Susan Ann, William, Samuel, Elizabeth M and John Henry who was my grandfather, he I know joined the 1st Life Guards in Windsor but I am trying to find where he is laid to rest, I have a photo of the grave and in the photo you can see a church and I'm sure it's in Newton Abbot. I am now stuck, all I know is that he was born ...read more here
A memory of Newton Abbot contributed by PATRICIA Baker
Extracts From Abbotskerswell & Devon books
Skirts and hair were shorter than ever before in the new decade! A two hour horse-drawn
carriage ride for four people cost two shillings (10p). A Spanish Oak planted as a cen-
trepiece when Victoria became Queen in 1837 was felled to make way for 1920s public
lavatories. Electric street lighting was in its infancy. The Belgian Urn on the Triangle was
presented by refugees in recognition of the town`s hospitality during the Great War.
An extract from from"Teignmouth Photographic Memories".
A more casual style
prevails in 1955. Now
the tower of St Michael`s
Church is more obvious,
following the destruc-
tion of
numbers 1 and 2
Esplanade (the Berkeley
and Esplanade Hotels) in
September 1942.
An extract from from"Teignmouth Photographic Memories".
Holidays at British resorts were thriving in the 1940s.
Large stacks of deck chairs punctuated the prom-
enade. Ice cream was delivered in aluminium boxes,
some can be seen beneath the serving hatch.
An extract from from"Teignmouth Photographic Memories".
Sweden. Small fish rejected by Icelanders
were brought to Teignmouth in Pike Ward`s
boat Elise. In 1900, 100 tons were brought in
for local consumption.
Over 20 ships were wrecked in the bay
between 1850 and 1917. A contemporary sign
near the Yacht Club HQ explains the legal
protection of Church Rocks Wreck, which was
discovered by local teenager Simon Burton
Frith’s Teignmouth The Promenade
during a snorkling expedition in 1975. A sig-
nificant bronze cannon lifted from the site led
to years of serious archaeological excavation,
revealing the scant remains of a 15th century
vessel embedded deep in the sand. Channel 4`s
`Time Team` have investigated the site, which is
restricted to designated divers. A host of fascinat-
ing relics recovered from the wreck can be seen
in Teignmouth Museum.
An extract from from"Teignmouth Photographic Memories".
By the 1960s, the glory days of the pier were coming to an end, with few of the talent
competitions, fashion parades, afternoon tea dances, charity balls and gala dinners of
late 1940s and 50s.
The following photographs taken from the pier benefit from close comparison.
An extract from from"Teignmouth Photographic Memories".