Alwington, Portledge House 1907

Growing up in the 1960's

We lived in Headon's Cottage, Fairy Cross - it had been an old German doctor's cottage in the 1700s, a Doctor Wacerill who is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard,  and his faded plaque was still above the front door - walls made of cob and thatched roof etc. We were just up the road from Portledge drive - my grandfather William George Harris was woodsman and forester on the Portledge Estate for the Pine-Coffin family for over 50 years and his grandfather before him had been the estate foreman. As a boy I very often walked our Rottweiler dog , Limbo, down Portledge drive turning into the woods halfway down and making our way over some wooden bridges and past a couple of huts my grandfather had made for shelter, past what seemed to be a big lake often with ducks on it and ending up at the sea  - also remember the wooden beachhut there (I suppose for changing into swimming costumes - not that it got much use!) and that it was always full of flies in summertime. Had to be careful going down Portledge drive as "us" villagers were not welcome in those parts by Miss Vickory, later Mrs Knorkie, who was running the old house as a hotel then and seemed to think all those areas were private. My grandfather and old Colonel Pine-Coffin didn't agree and me and the rest of my family always went down to Portledge woods and the sea - I always kept my distance from the big old house/mansion/hotel and it was always a bit of a mystery to me - would have loved to have gone inside for a look around! My sister and I were very lucky to have had a childhood like it - wonderful carefree happy days.
We have lived in Queensland, Australia since 1972 but recently through the internet got in touch with Susan Pine-Coffin and was sorry to hear that they had had to sell Portledge after a family connection of over 900 years.

Simple Times

Well our address was quite easy ,
Fairy Cross,
Near Bideford,
North Devon.
Tel. Horns Cross 328   !!
Our mail always found us with no problems at all. There were not a lot of us there in those days. We lived in Headons Cottage, it used to have a thatch roof until it caught fire in the mid 1960s and was then replaced with slates. I remember the walls were made of cob and would crumble away if you kept running your toys or marbles into the same place!! The cottage had been a German doctor's house in the 1700s and his faded old plaque was still above the front door - Dr. Wacerill is buried at Alwington church yard - old Colonel Pine Coffin asked my parents to leave the plaque there for historical reasons and I hope it is still there!! My father knocked down a big room adjoining the kitchen as it was in bad repair. The kitchen had a big open fireplace - nothing like a roaring log fire in the depths of winter - our Rotweiller dog "Limbo" used to hog the fire to stay warm!! The living room was cosy again with an open fire, I can remember watching our childhood programmes on our small black and white television, "Blue Peter"', "Crackerjack" , "Dr. Who" (which really scared the daylights out of my sister and I!!) and Grandstand on Saturdays - really liked the cricket  tests in those days, even sport was so simple and fair - no-one ever questioned the umpires, if you were out you were out and most times people just walked anyway!! Those programmes were on BBC 1 - our local  ITV station was Westward with Francis Drake's Golden Hind as its logo - "Westward Diary" was our local news programme then. We didn't see a lot of television because it was only on for limited times anyway which was a good thing !!
Upstairs my bedroom, which was quite big. looked out into Tom Jeffrey's farmyard and the cows always kept it quite mucky in wet weather!! My sister had the small middle room and my parents the room that looked out to what was the main A23 road. All the rooms had open fireplaces but we never lit them upstairs. I can remember my sister and I had little valve radios and I used to listen to BBC radio comedy and quiz programmes - sometimes it was freezing cold and it was snug under the blankets listening.
I remember my father unearthed an old well in the back garden and went down so far before it was not safe to go further in case it caved in - we found bits of pottery and things including a couple of complete earthenware pots - who knows what else might still be there ?
My grandfather, William George Harris, my mother's father, lived across the road from us in what is now called "Woodsmans Cottage" - he worked on the Portledge Estate for over 50 years and his grandfather also worked on the estate for the Pine Coffin family. I can remember seeing my grandfather walking up the road from Portledge Drive with his stick in hand after spending the day in the woods - there would be many trees there today planted by my grandfather.
My sister and I went to school at Abbotsham and caught the school bus each morning together with " the council house kids " at the bus shelter. On Sundays we walked up to the council houses and them walked to Alwington church, halfway throgh the service we went next door to the old schoolrooms for Sunday School. Lunch on Snday was always a highlight of the week with a roast dinner and tinned fruit for dessert!!
My father had the use of the estate workshop which was behind my grandfather's place, and I can remember for some of the time before he retired Mr. Elston who was a thatcher stored the thatch up in the loft of the workshop - I can also remember finding a heap of old "Punch" magazines going back to the 1800s in the workshop one time - wish I had them now - the workshop had big benches with vices, sandstones for sharpening tools and heaps of old implements and tools for servicing Portledge Estate.
The village hall, a little ways down and around  the road, was the scene for Sunday School Christmas parties when parents would attend, a special tea and then games were played - I think Mrs. Elston provided the music on the piano - there were also Womens Institute peformances on the stage and it was fun for us village kids to see people we looked up to carrying on so - one song they sang one year was  "The W.I of Alwington Welcomes You", you're not likely to hear it again I suppose!!
Of course Christmas was the most special time of the year - my sister and I always decorated a real tree and for about four weeks leading up to Christmas the excitement was intense - our mother and father always made sure we had wonderful times even though they were not affluent days - it was really just magical times and fantastic memories and I owe a debt to them and all the people that came into my life during this period. I hope there are other people that can look back with equally as good recollections as I can because it warms you thinking that even in today's hectic and impersonal times it wasn't that long ago when things were so different!!

Evacuee

I was an evacuee to Parkham in 1943 and would love to hear from anyone who might have been there at that time. I had very happy memories of Parkham and attending the village school.
If anyone has memories of this period please contact me.
My email address is   alecnav@hotmail.co.uk

New Inn Littleham

The picture of the New Inn at Littleham Village brought back memories of my childhood. Together with a sister and three brothers we were evacuated to Littleham and after our home in London was bombed all the family moved into a house, Oasis, just across from the New Inn and we never returned to London. Mr Addis was the Landlord of the New Inn then and when the war finished we had a party in the village for V E Day with tables set up in the drive way of the New Inn. When Mr Addis moved in the late forties Tim Norris was the Landlord.