Budleigh Past and Present

It’s five years now since I blogged about local blue plaques in an earlier post  here   wondering whether Budleigh Salterton should follow the example of other British towns and have a standardised blue plaque to honour notable residents of its past.   Unveiled: (l-r) Cllr Courtney Richards, Roger Saunders, Budleigh’s Mayor Cllr Chris Kitson, Clly Lynda Evans, Anita Jennings, Cllr Alan Dent, and blogger Michael Downes The latest to be remembered in this way is the architect Colonel William Hatchard-Smith. The plaque, on the town’s Public Hall, was unveiled on 23 May 2016 by the Mayor of Budleigh Cllr Chris Kitson in a ceremony attended by other local councillors and  by local resident and Friend of the Museum Anita Jennings, who originally made the suggestion that the architect should be honoured. Roger Saunders, Chairman of the Otter Valley Association, and I as a representative o...

There’s a poignant air about this photo that I took of Kimmo Evans in November 2013, a year before his death from leukaemia.  He’d come to Budleigh Salterton’s Peter Hall to give a talk jointly organised by the Otter Valley Association and Fairlynch Museum.  As Community Development Officer for East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty he wanted to explain why the AONB is celebrating its 50 years. It was an excellent talk: he radiated enthusiasm for his work. I still remember his amazement that so few of the audience had heard a nightjar, and the offer that he made on the spot to organize a night-time trip to Woodbury Common to hear its strange whirring call.  You can listen to it now at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOAGUfBFcvM   At the time I noticed how frail he seemed, and later I learnt that he was ill. It was sad to learn of the premature death of such a lively, interested and much-loved man. The following appreciation of Kimm...

Guy Kerr, left, with OVA Chairman Roger Saunders at Fairlynch Museum  You may have noticed that Fairlynch Museum changed its logo some time ago. We thought a dash of colour was needed, and that  Mediterranean shade of blue seemed just right.  Those Budleigh pebbles form an important part of our geological display. And of course we are the only thatched museum on Devon’s World Heritage Coast… Hence the recent visit to Budleigh by Guy Kerr, who was appointed as Jurassic Coast Trust Community Coordinator last year. Roger Saunders, Chairman of the Otter Valley Association, and I met up with him at Fairlynch to find out more about his role.  Q: You work for the Jurassic Coast Trust? Can you tell us something about it? GK: We’re an independent registered charity which supports the delivery of science, conservation, arts, education and sustainable development programmes along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Q: And your job? GK: My j...

This red phone box message provided effective publicity for the OVA Local Heritage Assets exhibition As I mentioned  here, members of the Otter Valley Association have been researching the area’s local heritage assets and the first exhibition took place on Saturday 21 February in the Temple Methodist Church Hall in Budleigh.   The exhibition was also an opportunity for the OVA to promote itself and the valuable work that it does for conservation in the Lower Otter Valley.    Approximately 300 assets have been nominated by local residents and the exhibition included an interactive map to indicate their location.       Outside Budleigh Salterton itself, landmark buildings worthy of note include the Rolle estate terrace cottages built for farm workers by the philanthropic Hon Mark Rolle (1835-1907).   N...

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...