Budleigh Past and Present

I recently discovered, as I wrote  previously that Budleigh Salterton still has splendid cast iron manhole covers bearing in many cases the name of a local builder and the town’s name. Not quite so many as there used to be, judging by the number of driveways to houses where the owners obviously felt that a metal plate in the middle of their new brick paving would look out of place. Encouraged by the Otter Valley Association’s Nicola Daniel I’m going to show you a few more.    The above Pantoll was actually sent to me by OVA member Martin Smith who seemed to share my enthusiasm for manhole covers: he told me that he has four  Pantolls in his garden.  I’ve yet to find out about J. Pantoll but that shouldn’t be a problem; the building firm J.E. Pantoll & Sons is still operating in Budleigh Palmer is a name that crops up again and again. A manhole cover by J.C. Palmer was included in my earlier piece on the subject.  John...

The exhibition of nominated heritage assets is taking place soon as I mention elsewhere , and I now I’m feeling guilty that I contributed so little. I’ve been too busy blogging. It’s too late to submit anything now, I think, but here goes… Manhole covers!  Do you notice them? I mean the ones that have names on, like the one at…  But I hesitate. I have a problem here, because I have always noticed them, and ever since reading about the unscrupulous metal thieves who scoop them up and carry them off to be melted down I’ve been worried about their future.    They’re definitely part of our heritage: “ a fascinating part of local history" as Charles Wagner, the London Historic Areas Adviser at English Heritage said in response to news of the crime wave which was sweeping the capital’s streets ten years ago, leaving dangerous empty holes. The problem has not gone away. In fact ‘Manhole cover...