Tiverton Civic Society Newsletter

TIVERTON CIVIC

SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

TIVERTON CIVIC

SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

TIVERTON CIVIC

SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

Reg. Charity 1043675 No. 89 October 2018

The Proposed Development at the back of Tiverton Town Hall

CONTENTS

Page

Chairman’s Introduction3

Prowse Family Reunion in Tiverton 14-16th September 2018, Fern Clarke7

Development of the former Tennis Courts at the rear of Tiverton

Town Hall, Angel Hill, Tiverton, Nick Sanderson15

The launch of Footprints in the Sand: Words of Welcome, Rivers Carew17

Forthcoming book: Tiverton Cloth. The Story of the Town’s Woollen

Trade, 1475 – 1815, Peter Maunder20

Enquiry on MDDC’s Local Plan 2013-2033 (Jnc. 27 M5), Mike Sanderson 21

The Opening of Tiverton’s Grammar School, Peggy Ellicott & Fern Clarke24

Tiverton’s PoW Camp, Pippa Griffith25

_________________________________________________________

Committee Members

Janet Rendle President

Dennis KnowlesVice President

Jeremy SalterChairman

Anthony LongbourneHon. Treasurer

Fern ClarkeHon. Secretary & Newsletter Editor

Randall ThaneMembership Secretary

Mary Cross Frank Connock John Rendle Andrea Rowe Anne DaviesMike Sanderson

Contact for membership enquiries: randallthane@gmail.com or 01884 258389

Our thanks to Nick Sanderson for providing the front cover picture

Our thanks to Fax and Files for printing the Newsletter

Chairman’s Introduction

Remembrance Day this year will have a special significance, as it marks one hundred years since the end of the Great War. Bells will be rung throughout the country on Sunday, November 11th, and special events are being organized in many places, including London, where 10000 members of the public will be invited to march past the Cenotaph. It is remarkable that this war, perhaps because of the enormous death toll, is still commemorated so strongly many years after the deaths of the last surviving combatants.

During the past four years Tiverton Civic Society have been making a detailed record for War Memorials Online of all the memorials, including those for other wars, in both the town of Tiverton and the civil parish. This record includes the names of those commemorated, condition surveys and photographs, and although this is now 99% complete, new memorials occasionally appear in such locations as abandoned churches, and we will remain vigilant.

The period of up to two years after the end of Great War was often known as ‘The Great Silence’, a period when a grieving and exhausted population, in many cases weakened by food shortages and Spanish flu, slowly came to terms with the post-war world. Although it was a period of considerable economic stringency the commemoration of the fallen was viewed as a major priority, most of the finest memorials in the town dating from the decade after the Armistice, although there are also several important Second World War memorials as well as one, at Blundell’s, to those who gave their lives in the Boer War. The nature of the memorials is very varied, and they include buildings, memorial tablets, monuments and crosses, as well as a screen, a reredos, and a lectern. Details of many of them are on our website.

It is always gratifying when new books on Tiverton’s history are published. Peter Maunder’s book has long been keenly anticipated, it is the product of many year’s research, it will contain much new information and it is likely to become the standard history on the Tiverton woollen trade.

Rivers Carew is the 11th baronet of the Carews of Haccombe, a title created in 1661 for Thomas Carew, Member of Parliament for Tiverton. His article is an introduction to the launch, at Tiverton Castle, on October 13th, of his book on the family. This article contains little reference to Tiverton, but the Carews were enormously influential in the town’s history, and, as major landowners, they gradually acquired most of the Manor of Tiverton, and were also owners of Tiverton Castle from 1727 to 1923. Another member of the family, Charles Carew, was also Member of Parliament of Tiverton, from 1915 to 1922, and he lived at Collipriest House. The family were also prominent in the history of Bickleigh Castle, and perhaps the most famous, and most notorious, family member was Bampfylde Moore Carew ‘King of the Beggars’, son of a Rector of Bickleigh, who was born in 1693 and educated at Blundell’s. The book should be well-worth reading!

As our 50th Anniversary Year draws to a close we can look back with some satisfaction to some memorable presentations and outings, as well as a very enjoyable drinks reception on 3rd October, the exact 50th anniversary of the first public meeting. We have also welcomed new members both to the Society and to the committee and we seem well placed to thrive in the future.

Civic Voice, our parent organisation, are concerned about the future of conservation areas because of the decline in the number of historic environment staff in local government, and they established ‘England’s Favourite Conservation Area’ competition to celebrate the benefits that these areas bring. The competition attracted 249 nominations and we were very gratified when the Tiverton Conservation Area, nominated by our society, was shortlisted in the final 18. A year ago, again after our nomination, this conservation area was selected by Historic England as one of six ‘Amazing Conservation Areas’ in England, but, in the current competition, results are decided by public votes cast.

We have been facing some formidable competition, including cathedral and university cities and historic towns noted nationally for their fine architecture and industrial archaeology, and, even if the Tiverton Conservation Area is unlikely to be victorious, we have certainly held our own and it should be well placed. It has been very pleasing that people throughout the town have discussed this competition with enthusiasm and that many local groups have willingly cooperated in encouraging people to vote, among them the Tiverton Facebook Group, the Tiverton Arts Society, Knightshayes Court, and the District and Town Councils. We have, in addition, received good coverage from Devon Live and I have also been interviewed by BBC Radio Devon. The exercise has been very worthwhile in helping people to become more aware about their town’s history and architecture, and to discover more about conservation areas. It has also highlighted some of the problems confronting the town, especially in the Tiverton Conservation Area. This area contains a great diversity of fine buildings and streetscapes, but it also fully merits its classification of ‘Heritage at Risk’, ‘Deteriorating’ and ‘Very Bad’ by Historic England. Many streets in this area demonstrate only too well that listed buildings are often in a poor state of repair, and that they are frequently disfigured by inappropriate doors and windows and aerials. The reasons for this are numerous, but they include lack of investment, low incomes, and poor maintenance. In addition, there are many empty shops and too many ‘eyesores’ have been built in recent years, all of which are out of keeping with the Conservation Area, which needs much greater protection!

We discussed Blue Plaques in two recent Newsletters and Robin Temple feels that the British Legion Club should have been credited as they helped to fund and erect several of these plaques. I am glad to put the record straight.

Old Blundell’s is one of the town’s finest Grade 1 listed buildings, but several of the flats are empty, and much of the building is in a poor state of repair. The most pressing problems are at present being tackled by the National Trust and Knighshayes have drawn up a Conservation Management Plan for the building This may involve its greater use as a visitor attraction, and, if this is the case, there may well be a role for our society, including the commissioning and display of some of the Blue Plaques suggested by Charles Noon!

Jeremy Salter

The Prowse Family Reunion in Tiverton, 14-16th Sept. 2018

and the mystery of the early English Prowse ancestry

The Prowse / Prouse / Proux (Latin Probus) family are descended from the Seigneurs de Préaux who held a tower and lands north-east of Rouen at the time of the Norman and early Plantagenet kings. In the time of Henry II, they also held land in England which would have been granted for services to a Norman king. The Prowse family are of the view that one of their ancestors fought at the battle of Hastings. They trace their roots to this ancestor, but the early history is difficult to unravel. Prowse family reunions are held every seven years at different venues. The weekend in Tiverton was the fourth (possibly the fifth) of these. It was organised by Verity (Vee) Sweeney (née Prowse) whose mother, now deceased, organised the previous meetings.

The weekend event focused on ancestors of the Prowse family who settled in or near Tiverton and Barnstaple. These Prowses appear to have been descended from the Prowses of Chagford, Devon, who in turn were a branch of the Gidleigh Prowses. The gathering was based at Tiverton town hall where, on Saturday, a buffet lunch was followed by three talks on aspects of family history. David Maunder, a member of Tiverton Civic Society, spoke about Richarda Prowse (d.1604), a daughter of John Prowse (d.1586) of Tiverton, Clothier and Gentleman. Richarda married John Waldron (d. 18th July 1579), a wealthy merchant of Tiverton, and they lived at Berry, an ancient house, the history of which David has spent many years researching. He highlighted the many residences held by different generations of the Prowse family around Tiverton, which he has mapped. Richarda’s brother was Robert (d.1591), a Barnstaple merchant and Mayor of Barnstaple in 1588. The reunion included a coach visit to Barnstaple on Sunday 16th September, led by Martin Prowse. The second Saturday talk covered the use of DNA testing to determine ancestry, while the third talk was a light-hearted video about the Prowse family crest.

Other activities over the weekend included a visit to Knightshayes on Friday followed by an evening meal at Bickleigh Mill, a Saturday morning Tiverton town walk led by Anne Davies, a member of our Society, and a late afternoon visit to St. Peter’s Church for which I acted as guide. This was followed by dinner at Tiverton Hotel at which members of the Prowse family displayed family trees, books and CDs on the Prowses and their Devon origins. On Sunday, participants who stayed on for a third night were invited to Choral Evensong at St. Peter’s Church.

So what were the origins of this proud and ancient family? Wikipedia states that the English Prowses descend from Mary de Redvers (1185-1242), daughter of William Vernon de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon, and her husband Pierre de Préaux (c.1170-1212), a famous knight and crusader of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. This is uncertain, for if it were true, the Prowse family, rather than the Courtenay family, would have inherited the Earldom of Devon, seated at Tiverton Castle. It is possible that Pierre and Mary had a son, William, who may not himself have had issue, in which case this line of succession died out before the main de Redvers line. Mary de Redvers’ second husband was Robert de Courtenay (1171-1242), baron of Okehampton. Robert and Mary had a son, John, whose grandson, Hugh, was declared 9th Earl of Devon forty-seven years after the death of Isabella (1247-1293), the last de Redvers to inherit the earldom.

The Prowse family may have descended from Pierre’s crusader brother, Guillaume, who eventually settled in England after the fall of Normandy. The story of Guillaume and his brothers encapsulates a turning point in the history of England, the loss of Normandy, and is worth a brief resumé.

The first head of the de Préaux family for whom there is documented evidence was called Osbert de Préaux (c.1140 – bef. 1183). He married Mathilde, daughter of Hamelin d’Anjou, Earl of Surrey. They were blessed with six sons, four of whom, from an early age, grew up at the royal court and became household knights of the early Plantagenet kings (Henry II, Richard I and John). Their names were Simon, Roger, Jean (John), Pierre (Peter), Guillaume (William) and Enguerrand (Ingelram). Simon and Roger appear to have died before their father as Jean, probably the third son, inherited his father’s lands. The brothers were famous for their bravery and skill on the mediaeval tournament circuit, matching that of the better-known William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who became Regent of England during the early minority of King Henry III and is credited with saving England from conquest by the Dauphin (heir to the French throne), Louis, son of Philip II of France, at the second battle of Lincoln (20.5.1217). Like William Marshal, the de Préaux brothers served as royal household knights, successively to Henry the Young King (eldest son of Henry II, crowned King in his father’s lifetime, died in 1183 before his father), Richard I (the Lionheart, crusader king) and John (Lackland).

Pierre and Guillaume accompanied Richard the Lionheart on the third crusade. By the start of this crusade, Jean had inherited the family property and title, and his prime responsibility was to protect it in deeply troubled times. Pierre and Guillaume remained close to the person of Richard during the journey to the Holy Land and were involved in the military action which took place. Guillaume’s bravery was highlighted when he prevented Saladin from taking Richard captive, becoming a captive himself in the process. Richard’s last act before leaving the Holy Land was to ransom Guillaume after a year of captivity. Pierre and Guillaume returned from the Holy Land to Normandy in 1192. Pierre fought with Richard after his release by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, to regain the Angevin lands in France (not Normandy) seized by Philip II during Richard’s captivity. The French king claimed overlordship of the duchies and counties in western France held by Henry II, who would not swear allegiance to Philip II, but allowed his sons to do this as nominal rulers of Normandy (Henry the Young King), Brittany (Geoffrey, second son), and Aquitaine and Gascony (Richard, third son).

After Richard’s unexpected death in France in 1199, the four de Préaux brothers supported the claim of John, youngest son of Henry II, to the throne of England against Arthur, Duke of Brittany, nephew of John and son of Geoffrey who had held Brittany in right of his wife, but predeceased his father. Arthur was a minor under the protection of Philip II at the time of Richard’s accession. Most barons of the Angevin empire (comprising the kingdom of England, the duchies of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, and the counties of Maine, Anjou, Poitou and Nantes) had supported Richard’s claim to inherit, as had Henry II’s influential widow, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

By the time Richard died in 1199, the political situation had changed. Arthur was no longer a minor, and many of the Angevin barons preferred him as overlord to John. From 1200 Pierre de Préaux held the Seigneurship of the Channel Isles, part of the Cotentin peninsula of western Normandy. Around this time, he married Mary de Redvers, whose father had grown up at Vernon Castle, Vexin (eastern Normandy), where he was Seigneur before inheriting the earldom of Devon from his nephew. In 1202, John won a major battle at Mirabeau against Arthur and Philip II giving him control of the Angevin Empire. In this battle, he was supported by Norman barons who held land on either side of the Channel which they wished to retain. Enguerrand de Préaux became a senior court official in John’s household.

John squandered the advantages he gained at Mirabeau by his cruel treatment of Angevin barons and their families opposed to his rule, many of whom starved to death in dungeons, and by the rumour that he had murdered his captive nephew Arthur. Philip II swore to avenge Arthur’s death, and in 1203 invaded Normandy, having already taken possession of the other Angevin lands. John sailed for England, leaving Pierre and Guillaume de Préaux as military governors in western and central Normandy. Guillaume was, by this time, bailiff of the Hiemois, an area between Caen and Alençon. Vexin had already fallen to Philip. After 31.3.1204, Jean de Préaux defected to Philip II along with many other Norman barons, and by 1.6.1204 was helping Philip negotiate with the garrison at Rouen where Pierre was Constable in charge of the garrison. After consulting the burghers of the city, Pierre agreed to surrender Rouen to Philip II on 24th June. After this, Philip granted an amnesty to all the Norman lords who had opposed him (except three).

At this point Pierre’s allegiance seems to have wavered, but his final decision was to support John. He returned to England where he received some of his brother Jean’s English land under the Terra Normanorum. This document, drawn up in the summer of 1204, listed English property confiscated from Norman barons who had sworn allegiance to Philip II. The terms of Pierre’s seigneurship of the Channel Isles, which he brought to John’s overlordship after the fall of Normandy, were that if he were replaced in that role (which he was), he would be granted other land in lieu, an agreement which it is uncertain whether John honoured when Pierre was replaced.

The initial allegiance of Guillaume de Préaux after the fall of Normandy is also uncertain. In the Terra Normanorum, a William de Préaux is recorded as forfeiting property at Hemington, Somerset, which was awarded to Roger de Punchardon on 23rd July 1204. According to a Channel Islands website, www.theislandwiki.org about Pierre de Préaux (d.1212), in a charter of 18 March 1216, John granted various lands to Guillaume de Préaux, thought to be Pierre’s son, and promised, if this gift could not be fulfilled, to give him the Channel Islands "vel reddere eidem insulas de Geresye, faciendo inde nobis servicium ad predictas insulas pertinens". This promise of the islands seems to have come to nothing, but Guillaume may have been granted other lands.

A William de Préaux is believed to be the father of Walter de Prouz who held the manor of Gidleigh (probably in right of his wife), but what this William’s precise ancestry was remains uncertain. Susan Prowse Tako, a leading member of the Prowse family gatherings, now living in America, has written a book on Gidleigh Castle in which she notes, ‘The early Prouz pedigree is a nightmare of legend and myth and is entirely untrustworthy’. At the time she wrote the book (1990s), she believed that the Gidleigh Prowses descend from a cousin, once removed, of Osbert de Préaux, father of Pierre and Guillaume.

Susan recounts that, according to the Devon historian William Pole (1561-1638), the Gidleigh branch of the family descended from Eudo de Préaux whose son, Osbert, held the manors of Creedy, Upton Helion, Daccombe and Wille around 1098 from Ricardus de Espeke of Brampford Speke, Devon. Osbert’s son William went on the second crusade in 1147. He had a son Walter who married Isabella (possibly Sarah), daughter of Lord Dinham, and was the first to hold Gidleigh manor, possibly by marriage. However, the Dinham family did not hold land at Gidleigh. Nor did they acquire land in England until the time of Henry I. Isabella Dinham may have been a third-generation member of the English branch of Dinhams (who descend from the Vicomtes de Dinan, Brittany). If this is correct, she would have been of the same generation as Pierre and Guillaume de Préaux, and Mary de Redvers, and could conceivably have been the wife of Guillaume de Préaux.

Another ancestry source places Walter Prouz in the generation immediately after Pierre and Guillaume de Préaux, and married to the heiress Margaret de Gidleigh, which seems plausible in terms of Walter being the first Prouz to hold Gidleigh (in right of his wife). His father is said to be William Prouz, and could feasibly be Guillaume de Préaux, crusader. The subsequent generations and marriage links of the Prouz family are more plausible if Walter belongs to the generation born around the time of the fall of Normandy.

Whatever the ancestry, Walter’s descendants became prominent members of Devon society. His son, William, became Sheriff of Devon, and successive daughters of the family married into the leading families in south-west England. The extended Prowse family have much to explore and much to celebrate in their history.

Fern Clarke

Development of the former Tennis Courts at the rear of Tiverton Town Hall, Angel Hill, Tiverton

After many years lying dormant, 3 Rivers Developments Ltd, a Mid Devon based company, whose sole shareholder is Mid Devon District Council, is proud to be starting work on this brownfield site at the rear of the town hall, with a national award-winning design. These Housing Design Awards are promoted by a partnership of government departments and agencies, supported by the GLA and Homes England and all five of the industry’s leading professional institutes – RICS, RTPI, RIBA, CIAT and the Landscape Institute. These organisations supply one or more judge so that the panel is representing the whole industry. This makes the Housing Design Awards the most comprehensively and fairly assessed programme in the country.

Within the Tiverton town centre Conservation Area, the site forms the setting to several listed buildings, notably the Grade I listed church of St George and the Grade ll listed Town Hall itself. The scheme of 39 flats and houses, designed by London architects, Mikhail Riches following a design competition, received planning approval in December last year. The architects undertook a great deal of contextual analysis to inform their design. The long burgage plots of the town were identified as defining characteristics of the conservation area. The narrow alleyways and glimpsed views to the wider landscape are incorporated into the design as they were considered important attributes of the conservation area. The design also draws on the steep topography of the site with a series of buildings stepping up the hill site, set against the backdrop of the existing townscape.

The existing kinetic views of St George’s Church and the Town Hall will be lost from the riverwalk. However the scheme design compensates for this through the disposition of the proposed buildings to set up a series of framed views. Pitched roofs break the building volumes, reducing vertical massing and are designed to pick out the local character. The mass and volume of the elevations are also reduced by pairing a mix of bricks and render influenced by the local context and blending the new buildings into the surroundings.

In order to negate the need to use renewables such as solar panels, which would have had a visual impact within the conservation area, the scheme has been designed on a ‘fabric first’ approach. This approach to building design involves maximising the performance of the components and materials that make up the building fabric itself, before considering use of mechanical and electrical building services. The development commenced on 28 August and due to the site constraints, difficulties in terms of access and the need to divert a section of the main South West Water sewer currently dissecting the site, it is expected that the development will take two years to complete.

In terms of construction, the development will be undertaken under the Considerate Constructors Scheme. The Code of Considerate Practice, as well as seeking to improve the image of the construction industry, sets out the best practice for informing, respecting and showing courtesy to those local residents affected by the work. The existing privately-owned garages adjacent to the site will be retained and do not form part of the development.

Nick Sanderson

Acting Managing Director, 3 Rivers Development Ltd.

Forthcoming book launches

The following two articles bring member’s attention to the launch of two books over the forthcoming months, one about the Carew family by Rivers Carew, and another about the merchants of Tiverton by Peter Maunder. The first is the text of Rivers Carew’s book launch at Tiverton Castle while the second is Peter’s abstract summarising what his book is about.

Editor

The launch of Footprints in the Sand: Words of Welcome

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to you. First, I would like to say how grateful I am to Alison and Angus Gordon for allowing their home to be the venue for this book launch. It’s quite an invasion. Alison did say she thought it would be fun. I hope she won’t have changed her mind by the time it’s over.

A book of this kind, naturally, is not the work of just one hand; in many ways it’s a corporate effort. Family, friends and genealogists have helped me greatly in one respect or another – and I have thanked them in my acknowledgements. But there’s one helper I want to thank again here - my former wife Siobhán. Quite simply, without all the work she’s done to see the book into print, there would be no Footprints in the Sand being launched today. I would also, in his absence, like to thank the Earl of Devon for having very kindly contributed the foreword. You may wonder why I embarked on this project, which has occupied me on and off for a good number of years. Well, I had felt for a long time that I should learn more of my family’s long history, and retirement gave me the chance to do something about it. We are well employed in trying to preserve the footprints our ancestors leave in the sand, before they are swept away by the tides of time.

I began in earnest by investigating the story of a link we were said to have acquired to the family of Christopher Columbus. I was fortunate to find a genealogist in Madrid who really knew his stuff, and it emerged that the belief was well founded. There was a link, and it came through the lady my grandfather Sir Henry married in 1889, Frances Gertrude Lock-Roe. The story was pieced together following a lucky discovery: of an intriguing document in an archive relating to the Columbus family in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. It was an agreement concerning a payment being made to Gertrude’s grandmother.

Quite a story, if I may say so, and in due course, I had the satisfaction of seeing it published in Family History, the journal of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies in Canterbury. But as my family could trace its descent back to a man named in Domesday Book, there was a lot more to discover, and I continued to dig. One of my motives was being the last of my line to have lived at Haccombe, the former family seat near Newton Abbot. I wanted to set down the story right from the start - for my family and friends, initially, but I also thought it was a piece of history that could have a wider appeal. I’m beginning to believe I may have been right.

I conclude with a reference to an article I read recently, this time by the former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, about Philip Larkin. Larkin hadn’t published a collection for a while, and every time Motion asked whether he had anything on the stocks, Larkin would answer, “I’m a chicken with no egg to lay.” Biologically not a very sound metaphor, perhaps, but I’m going to borrow it. After years of threatening to, this rather ancient chicken has finally confounded nature, and laid an egg. I hope those who do me the honour of cracking it open will enjoy what they find inside.

Rivers Carew

The book will be published in three formats: hardback, e-book and Amazon paperback. The hardback version, costing £20, will be available to order either through Neilsen, quoting ISBN 978-1-9998074-4-3, or purchased directly from the publishers, DuBois Publishing, by emailing: duboispublishing@cantab.net.

The e-book will be available on Amazon Kindle from 12 October 2018, and a link to the book will be posted on the Footprints homepage when it goes live (http://www.duboispublishing.com/footprints/footprints.html).

A paperback version will also be available through Amazon.

Tiverton Cloth

The Story of the Town’s Woollen Trade, 1475 – 1815

For more than three centuries, the Devon town of Tiverton was dominated by its woollen cloth trade. From spinners and combers, weavers, fullers, dyers and serge makers to merchants and clothiers, almost all of its population, men, women and children alike, was involved in some aspect of the manufacture of woollen cloth. Tiverton’s kerseys were renowned for their quality, whilst its mixed serges clothed the working people of the Low Countries. Leading local figures, whose names are still familiar, earned vast fortunes and in their day held sway over the town. Their legacy remains in Tiverton today. Some merchants branched out into entirely new ventures, which are charted here for the first time. Others were less successful, but their stories are not neglected, as they too left their mark on the town.

Although an inland centre, Tiverton always had an international outlook, its merchants trading overseas, largely through Topsham, from the very beginning. The effects of war, piracy, shipwreck, fire, plague and civil unrest are all documented, as is the role of the early trade unions or workers’ clubs. This new book charts the many and varied aspects of the history of this trade, from its beginnings at the end of the fifteenth century, right through to its demise in the early nineteenth. The history covers in detail the people and their stories linking them to sites in today’s town.

Tiverton’s role in the cloth trade has sometimes been neglected in the Devon context, not least because of the lack of surviving records. This book aims to redress that balance to put Tiverton in its rightful place as an important centre for the woollen trade in Devon. The author brings his own local knowledge, as well as business experience, to bear on hitherto untapped archival sources, to bring a fresh perspective to the town’s cloth trade. The product of almost twenty years of research, the book is enhanced by carefully chosen illustrations, most hitherto unpublished. Recent finds of lead seals catalogued and illustrated here for the first time add an extra layer of understanding to this fascinating history.

The book, in hardcover A4 format, comprises 450 pages and includes 75 black & white illustrations and a comprehensive index. It is expected to be available in the next few months, priced at £18 at Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life or direct from the author.

Peter Maunder

Examination of MDDC’s Local Plan 2013-2033 on 20.9.2018

This hearing focused on the controversial proposal for the development of 71 hectares (175 acres) of agricultural land at Junction 27 M5, included in the Local Plan in 2017 at a late stage by the casting vote of former MDDC leader, Cllr. John Daws. The proposal will include:

· Travel Hub (7ha/17 acres) – motorway services, electric car hub, hotel

· Eden Agronomy Visitor Centre (9ha/22acres) – Eden exhibition hall, food research and education, Devon life experiences centre, food retail area, hotel

· Adventure Zone (6ha/14.5acres) – Surf lake, beach, high ropes activity

· Outlet Shopping Village (6ha/14.5acres) selling discounted branded stock.

· Road, rail, truck and infrastructure services.

MDDC was supported at the hearing by a 20 strong team with their barrister, planning consultants, international retail outlet consultants, the local developer, Savills and the fund providers Friends Life/Aviva/Axa. Opposition to this development was voiced by Tiverton Civic Society (TCS), Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), parish councillors from Sampford Peverell, Willand, Taunton, Uffculme, Cullompton and a representative of the site land owners. This highly contentious project is likely to have a significant negative impact on retail and commercial businesses in Tiverton, Cullompton, Crediton and other towns in North, East and Mid Devon. Valuable farmland will be lost.

MDDC planning consultant, Jonathan Guscott, and their retail advisors, stated that outlet shopping centres do not compete with local town centres as the branded goods sold are “controlled” by the Council, but rather help develop the local economy with income and jobs. They contend that the Eden Agronomy Centre, food stores and surfing facilities would increase local income from the annual tourist trade coming to Devon coasts and Cornwall. Supporters of the proposal admitted, however, that individually the outlet shopping centre, adventure zone and Eden Agronomy Visitor Centre were financially not viable. They confirmed that the total proposed project inclusive of its parts were necessary to make the project financially viable.

Fern Clarke, TCS, highlighted the severe impact that an outlet shopping centre would have on Tiverton, citing the heavy impact on Banbury’s, Barnstaple, following the opening of Atlantic Village, and noting that independent retailers in Tiverton selling branded products could not afford to discount their stock by 30%. She expressed doubt that the combined projects would be viable and expressed concern that failure of the proposal would result in the land being used for warehousing.

Dr Phillip Bratby, CPRE, gave a robust statement objecting to the Eden Westwood project on the grounds of loss of farmland, lack of need due to the proximity of the Devon coast, noise, pollution and traffic increases and severe impact on local towns and businesses. Statements from Sampford Peverell parish councillors reinforced this concern. The objectors mentioned also issues including regular flooding on part of the site, two parcels of the land which local landowners have refused to sell, there being only one specific proposal for this site from Friends Life/AXA and the local developer i.e. Eden Westwood, the impossibility of “controlling” the retail outlet goods sold in competition with local towns, and the Mid-Devon environmental impact.

We now await the judgement of Planning Inspector Mr Paul Griffiths after a contentious meeting which started at 10am and finished at 5pm.

Michael Sanderson

The Opening of Tiverton’s Grammar School

In the last edition of the Tiverton Civic Society’s Newsletter, April 2018, John Massey and Fern Clarke wrote about the loss of Tiverton’s 1910 Middle School Building, replaced by a modern primary school building. Peggy Ellicott, one of our members, queried the stated date when the Tiverton Middle School became a Grammar School. As our Chairman, Jeremy Salter, correctly stated in his introduction to the April 2010 edition of the Newsletter, Tiverton Grammar School opened in 1945, initially as separate boys and girls grammar schools. In 1953, it was re-opened as a mixed grammar school.

Peggy attended the Girls’ Grammar School from 1946. She recalls that ‘the boys were educated separately from the girls but in the same building. The girls used the left side of the building (viewed from the entrance) and the boys the right side of the building. Both sides had their own doorways and both had separate assembly times. A stone was laid in in 1953 to commemorate the union of the two sides.’

For more information of the history of Tiverton’s grammar school, Tiverton Civic Society website has a link to an article written by Nigel Arnold dated Thursday 31st March 2016, in which he traces the origins of Tiverton’s grammar school. Peggy Ellicott and Fern Clarke

Reminder

Subscriptions for 2019 are due on 1st November 2018

Tiverton’s Prisoner of War Camp

The PoW Camp from Bolham Road in 1945

Earlier this year, Tiverton Museum acquired a newspaper which had been produced for Tiverton’s World War Two Prisoner of War camp (92 Working Camp). The camp was located close to the site that Petroc and the High School occupy today.

The weekly newspaper ‘Die Eule’ or ‘The Owl’ dates from September 1946 and features stories and articles, puzzles, jokes and reports of a football match between Tiverton and Silverton. Most of the paper is in German, apart from a section about learning English. It appears that the newspaper started after the war ended, in 1946.

Museum staff were delighted to acquire the newspaper (thanks to a generous donation from a supporter) as we had no idea that the camp had produced a newspaper. As the museum does not have very many items relating to the camp, we made a public appeal for more information about the camp and some of the people who stayed there.

Members of the public contacted the museum to share stories and information about some of the former PoWs, and the camp itself. It appears that it was first used for Italian PoWs, and then German PoWs later on. During the day, the PoWs worked on local farms, often forming long last lasting friendships with the farmers and their families. Some of the PoWs made toys and wooden ornaments in their spare time.

The camp being dismantled

Over the summer, the museum was loaned two wonderful pecking chicken toys that were made for local children by German PoWs. They were made from packing cases and scrap wood, and are beautifully decorated with some scorch marks and paint. We are keen to hear from anyone who has other toys and items made by PoWs locally, and who would be happy to donate their items to the museum!

On the site itself, we understand that no physical remains of the camp remain, although it was there until the late 1950s or early 1960s; we have heard from one local person who remembers some of the huts being used by the college before they were taken down. We have also heard of one of the huts from the camp being re-used on a local farm, and would love to hear if any other huts exist. Museum staff are still keen to hear from anyone who remembers any PoWs, or the camp so please do get in touch. We hope to visit the National Archives one day to read the camp records which are kept there.

Pippa Griffith

Left: Jack Woolway (standing) with Walter Marx and Angela Woolway

Right: Johann Petschi, a German PoW who spent time at the Cruwys Morchard and Tiverton PoW camps. His certificate of registration tells us that he worked at Well Farm. Johann stayed in the UK, and worked at Southwood House in 1949.He lived at Butterleigh, then in Ford Mill Cottage Bampton, before settling in Chevithorne in the late 1950s.

This pecking chicken toy was sent by Walter Marx from Germany in April 1947. Walter sent it to Angela, daughter of the Woolway family, whose Canonsleigh Barton Farm he had worked on at Burlescombe

2

Watch and Ward