The photograph

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH
When researching I come across some lovely old photographs and sometimes those pictures have a story behind them.
 These photographs were taken by a local photographer called Albert Azulay Wallace, who lived in Sidmouth and documented the people around him. I have accumulated quite a few of his local scenes and characters taken in the early 1900s. Ann Knight shared these with me a few years ago. They show wonderful scenes of the Signalman and his family at Tipton St John station .
They are the Richards family who lived at Stanley Cottages. John was the railway signal man for the London and South Western Railway and he and his wife Ellen had 3 girls Joan, Phyllis and Marjorie. The charming photographs show a proud father with daughters dressed in white pinafores, wearing laced up leathers boots and carrying wicker baskets. It appears such a happy scene yet shortly before it was taken the family were devestated by the death of their middle daughter Phyllis, when she was just 3 years old. She died from diptheria contraccted from her older sister Joan. She is buried in Tipton churchyard halfway up the hill beside the path. There were many cases of Diptheria in Tipton and Metcombe reported in 1910 with the Medical Officer closing the school so that all the classrooms could be disinfected .
       "All possible precautions were taken to prevent the spread of the disease, but the conditions of home life had rendered isolation impossible....The Tipton district generally  was inspected and attention paid to the removal of manure and refuse heaps, and sanitary improvements and better drainage had been suggested"
A report from Ottery Council Meeting, Western Times newspaper  1910
But these measures came to late for Phyllis, she had died just days before the council meeting.
Thank goodness today we have vaccines and better sanitation
Next time you walk up the churchyard path pay your respects to little Phyllis, who never got to attend the school like her sisters or grow up in our lovely village.

Green lanes

Green Lanes
If you are out for a walk around Tipton and the surrounding area, the chances are that you will take the path of a lane that has been well trodden over hundreds if not thousands of years. The ancient tracks that intertwine across our countryside are the highways of the past, the routes from one village to the next, or even further on to the next local town, city or port . Goods would have been moved through these lanes on foot with the help of a pony or donkey. They would carry packs on with loads such as wool, lace, potatoes, fuel, flowers and fresh foods.  The paths favoured were the ridge tops with good views of the surrounding valleys so that one could see any thieves that may try to hold you up and take your goods. East Hill has numerous paths, being an area that brought people together from the Sid and Otter valleys  heading to Honiton. The higher roads were dry and better drained making them easier to traverse than routes down in the valleys which were often boggy and would easily churn up with mud. The paths up the hillsides were usually naturally carved gulleys made by the rain water running down the valley sides, wearing down the tracks as it flowed. Lanes would be as direct as possible but valley bottom routes would be determined by where the river was either shallow enough to cross or had a bridge. Occasionally cottages stood at the wayside, many folk living in them would be making lace or other produce. At one time cottages stood at Coombe, beside the lane following the goyle, with the stream running through, but they were demolished around 1910.
Sundays would have been a busy day with people travelling to their local church, which would have been either Venn Ottery or Harpford.  Many small tracks lead into Venn Ottery from West Hill, Metcombe, Fluxton, Coombe and Tipton which I am convinced were used by all the people walking to Communion in their Sunday best.
 Trees line the boundaries of  the tracks and fields, great Oak trees tower above the  banks of catkin, blackthorn, may-blossom, dogrose and honeysuckle that add to the colour and scent through the seasons.  Seaway Lane , named as it was the main route to Sidmouth, was once lined with Elm trees before Dutch Elm disease took effect and Green lane was well known for the huge Beech tree on the staggered crossroad that was struck by lightening..The lanes at Venn Ottery have archways of hazel and holly that shade us on sunny days and keep us dry on rainy days. The pathways also hold a variety of wildflowers such as celandines, primrose, bluebells, campions, ferns and foxgloves. Many animals use the tracks to move through the countryside, leaving occasionally through their own gaps in the hedges to find scented secret pathways.
We are so lucky to still have these lanes and walking them does make you wonder who once trudged the same route, through all weathers to get to their destination, maybe stopping to rest by the wayside, with their donkey. On a misty day you can almost imagine the horse and cart coming towards you  over the brow of the hill on Green Lane...but more likely a horserider or an offroad 4 wheel driver nowadays!

"If you have but a slight knowledge of the state of trade in early times, of the industries, customs and dress worn by the common folk you will be able to recreate the story of the past. A sunk lane, a ridge road, will be a page in the book of history, one that is well worth reading. If you see that which is old clearly you will have a greater awareness of the beauty and wonder  of your heritage."
William Rising Bray (Sidmouth 1935)

The photo album

The return of the photograph album.

A few months ago a friend of mine got in touch with me. He and his son had come across an old photograph album, at a car boot sale in Somerset, dated 1901 which had
           "Awarded to Eva Wheaton,  from Tipton St John School for punctual       attendance"
written in the front cover. He knew of my interest in history and knew that I lived in Tipton so he thought that I may be interested to see the book. He sent me some photos of it and I quickly messaged back asking him to please buy it for me. I was so excited when it arrived; the leather fronted album was very damaged (which I already knew) but it had the inscription in the front, some beautiful printed frames and many old phototgraphs.
So....I set about finding out who Eva was by researching her family tree and blow me if she hadn't grown up just down the road from me! Eva was born into the Wheaton family in 1892 one of nine children, her father Charles was a shepherd  in Venn Ottery and Eva went to school at Tipton St John. When I was at school we would  be given books at the end of term for kindness and good work, and it seems Eva was given the album by her headmistress, E Symes,  for her good attendance. It is even mentioned in the school log books  (which Ann Knight and I read a few years ago) that she was given the prize.  Ironically her father was fined for not sending his son, Evas brother to school a few years  earlier but maybe the boys were made use of at home on the farm or maybe he had learnt his lesson and Eva had been made to go to school!  I also discovered that Eva was the cousin of Harry Channon Wheaton, our brave WW1 soldier from Venn Ottery who died in 1917. Harry and Eva would have grown up together and gone to school together.
Eva went onto take servants chores in local houses after leaving school and then she went to work  at the Golden Lion with her younger sister Lucy working for the Innkeeper, Mr Fry. In 1925 Eva marries John Drew (who was a footman to Lady Ilchester before joining up to fight in WW1) and in 1939 they are running a pub together in Ottery St Mary, The Five Bells Inn, with their son Norman. She died in 1980
Sometimes it's strange how things come to you...a book from so far away found by an old school friend who I only see every now and then, and it turns out that the book would have been in a house just down the road from me over 100 years ago!
Well I think it's amazing!! Some might say fate, anyway Eva your book is safely back in Venn Ottery and Tipton.
Many thanks to Nick Carter and his son, for discovering this little gem and The Golden Lion for taking delivery of the album.
The photographs are of Eva, before she was married and her baby son Norman.

Floods

50 years ago our village was severely affected by the torrents of water that flooded houses and completely swept away the bridge.
There was a huge clear up afterwards and the Army put up a Bailey bridge to keep the road and village open.
Prince Philip made a visit by helicopter, landing in the Tipton St John Playing Fieldand visiting villagers to see and hear about the floods , oh .....and having a pint in The Golden Lion!
Two villagers describe what they remember from that July day and night.

"  ...Cant remember exact date, but I know it was July.  The rain was coming down in torrents and the first flood came down through the Village from the Goyle.  This flooded all the houses through the village and caused a fair amount of water damage. We had been clearing up the mess from that in my brothers house and I also went and helped Mrs Blunn with the dress shop, she lost a lot of her stock because of it.  When we had cleared up a lot of the mess, I went home to change and eat and then drove my Aunt’s car back down to the Village and parked it where I had been told to by the Station House, I was probably the last person to go over the old River Bridge.  We were advised that there was going to be another wave of flooding and were trying to move furniture etc. upstairs at my brothers to save what we could from the next lot, even a washing machine.  Chris and Jill lost a lot of their wedding presents in the flood.  The next lot of water came down across the fields towards the back of the house. Apparently it had got blocked because of the hay in the fields.  It came in a big wave and as it crashed into the back of the house the brick wall holding up the kitchenette caved in with a tremendous crash.  Jill and I were on the stairs and Chris was in the room it came into and just managed to jump through the window before a rather large piano was washed across the room and jammed itself into the window.  The water came into the house to a depth of about 4ft.  We had to push open a door, behind which was floating a large settee and then open the window to see Chris outside in the water.  He wanted us to get out in case of further collapse.  We went through the window into the water and swam across the road, I could just touch the road in the middle, so it must have been about 5ft.  John and Margaret Quaintance kindly took us in and made us dry and comfortable, their houses were up out of reach of the water.  The houses through the village were uninhabitable for quite a while afterwards.     Jill was introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh when he visited a few days later, he made a comment about “webbed feet” to her.  Incidentally the car had floated from one end of the Station Yard to the other but started first time.  We had to get back to Tipton Vale via Ottery.  The Army eventually came and built a bailey bridge to join the Village together again."
Marilyn Berry

"We had torrential rain all day, the village had been flooded in the afternoon from the brooks. I went down to the village in the evening and the river was rising up making a huge noise, then the Mill stream started to come out. We walked back up the village as the water rose ending up at Potters Corner at about 1am. You could hear the football hut break up and then the bridge, the telephone box was getting submerged, bins and other bits were floating around"
Len Baker

Photos from Sidmouth Museum, Tipton Times and some private collections.

Fluxton airplane crash

Do you remember this?  In July 1980 an aeroplane crash landed onto fields near the river at Fluxton, thankfully all 62 passengers on the plane were evacuated safely, although some sheep were killed during the impact.
The incident was obviously newsworthy and caused great excitement, with many coming to view the plane. I remember walking up the river with friends to see it. We called that area "Carters Airport" for quite a few months afterwards!
Photo courtesy of Tracy Kensdale.
#tiptonstjohn #tiptonstjohnhistory #tiptonplanecrash

Armistice Day

Armistice Day 100 years ago in a small Devon village.....
1918 saw the end of The Great War and Tipton St John took part in the celebrations of the Armistice signing as did many towns and villages all over the country.
This newspaper report was in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 1918.
          "Not to be outdone by its bigger neighbour at Ottery, this little village (Tipton) kept up the signing of the armistice by holding a torchlight procession around the village, headed by the Ottery Town Band and afterwards rolled several tar barrels through the village. "
It must have been a bitter sweet celebration for many villagers, with everyone being affected by the War in some way.
Six village men lost their lives during the First World War and people of the village collected money so that a memorial could be placed in the church. This took the form of a marble tablet with the names of the fallen men etched into it. In 1923 a church service was held to commerate the memorial and the church was so full even before the service began that latecomers had to stand outside to pay their respects. Sir John Kennaway on behalf of 195 subscribers unveiled the memorial and "the mournful notes of the last post rang out with remarkable clearness from the church across the valley".
Poppies have been sold each year since supporting Armistice Day and in 1930 Mrs Morshead (of Angela Court) and the WI collected £11 11s 1d  toward Earl Haigs Fund.  The same year the school children made a cross of Laurel leaves and put their poppies in it with a card attached "In loving memory of our brave soldiers from Tipton School"   It was placed on the War Memorial, which was also covered with poppies and flowers.

This November we will be remembering William Pottinger (Metcombe), Thomas Pratt (Coombe), Samuel Lowe Bennet (Tipton Lodge), William James
( Metcombe), Thomas Bastin (Tipton) and Harry Channon (Venn Ottery) amongst the many other brave men, women and animals who gave their lives.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them."

#tiptonstjohn #tiptonstjohnchurch #devonyeomanry #armisticeday #thegreatwar #worldwarone

Venn Ottery Churchyard

LIVING CHURCHYARDS
Here at Venn Ottery Church we are working towards making our 'God's Acre' ablaze with native wildflowers,  alive with bees, butterflies, birds and small mammals, a sanctuary for the living aswell as the dead. Churchyards can provide a huge contribution to the biodiversity of the countryside and at the same time engage and educate the wider local community
In our churchyard we already have a little haven for wildlife, with a variety of species in residence.  There are bees living in the tower, these have been in residence for 20 years, you can hear the walls humming on warm days and they can be seen busy flying back and forth visiting plants in and around the churchyard. At night our bat colony comes to life, we have them roosting in the porch, the tower and the main church. If you see droppings in these places these are evidence of our little friends. In 2017 we took part in the Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Survey with some great results, we were stunned by not just the amount of bats but also the variety. During the winter of 2017/18 we had a Brown long eared bat taking refuge in a draw in the vestry.
Birds can be found feeding and nesting in the churchyard, the Yew tree provides food and shelter as do the hedges that surround the church. We have Tawny Owls roosting in the tower and calling at night too. The grasses and mosses are havens for ants, worms and other insects which in turn feed the birds. The moss is also an ideal home for Bumble bees to live in, along with other types of bees and wasps. Even the headstones are hosts to an array of lichens spreading out over time. On  Sunday June 3rd after the church service we will be planting a few wildflower plants to add to the variety of flora that is already florishing here. We hope that this will encourage more wildlife into the churchyard. If you would like to make a contribution towards the planting or help please come along and if you have more ideas to make our churchyard welcoming to those seeking sanctuary please give us your suggestions.
Judith Taylor
vennotery@hotmail.co.uk