VILLAGE LIFE IN MALBOROUGH

2012 MEETINGS

Meetings scheduled for this year are as follows.  Apart from June, they will all be held in the Baptist Church at 7.30 pm.

Wed 1 Feb:  "The Joy of Archives" A talk by local author Felicity Goodall.   This will cover almost exclusively local stories or local people who have featured in history, the sort of stories you can dig up and where.  Using examples from her “Lost Plymouth” book and other books, as well as mentioning some stories she came across when doing a local archive audit.”

Wed 4 April:  Bygone Trades & Industries of the South Hams"  Reg & Betty Sampson

Wed 13 June:  Outside visit.  To be confirmed.

Wed 3 Oct:  "The Coast between Start Point and the Salcombe Bar"  by Roger Barrett

2011 MEETINGS

 MERCHANT SAILING VESSELS OF THE SALCOMBE ESTUARY

Our meeting in February featured a talk by Roger Barrett on “Merchant Sailing Vessels of the Salcombe Estuary”. There was a record turn-out and the talk was very well received, thanks to Roger’s extremely well researched, interesting and vividly illustrated presentation. It was fascinating to learn how our locally built boats were so important to trades such as bringing fruit to England from far-flung places. We particularly liked the fact that, even then, St. Michael was supplying us with oranges – no, not Marks & Spencer but from the island of that name (well, Sao Miguel) in the Azores!

HISTORY ON THE CLIFF

Our April meeting attracted a very good audience for our speaker, National Trust Ranger Andrew Marsh, who gave a fascinating talk entitled “History on the Cliff”. He covered a wide range of subjects and historical periods, from the prehistoric fort on Bolt Tail, to the WW2 airfield at Bolt Head, with stops along the way to discuss the different types of boundary markers, The Warren and the transatlantic cable.

Among a number of interesting anecdotes, Andrew told us that the revenue from the sale at Smithfield Market of the rabbits caught on The Warren was sufficient to pay the rent of all the farmers involved in the enterprise – perhaps you could call this “bunny money”!

DEVON RURAL ARCHIVE

Our June “out and about” meeting to the Devon Rural Archive at Shilstone, near Modbury, was fascinating. First, we were given an introduction to the archive, housed in a large purpose-built building and containing a growing collection of books, periodicals, journals, photos, plans, maps, prints and some manuscript archives. It specialises in “delving into the history of Devon buildings and landscapes” and the archive is open to the public for research at specified times. They also organise a number of interesting events including talks and guided walks in Devon – have a look at their website, www.devonruralarchive.com.

After poring over ancient maps and leafing through books from their comprehensive collection, we were lucky enough to have the owners’ permission for a tour of the historic grounds and part of the manor house itself, guided by Consultant Archaeologist Abi Grey, a past pupil of Malborough School. She filled us in with the remarkable history of the site, from its existence as a late Iron Age/Romano British enclosure, through its recording in 1086 as a manor house, Silfestana, and its various incarnations through the centuries. In the early 19th century, the old house was demolished and a new one built, reusing much of the material, including 16/17th century carved window frames, from earlier structures. Unfortunately, subsidence necessitated half the house being demolished after only 21 years and the surviving half became a farmhouse, which the present owner bought, in a dilapidated state, at the end of the 20th century.

In 2000 an archaeological historian was commissioned to remodel the house “in a way that was befitting to a site with such a remarkable history”. Now, ten years on, the house is nearing completion and Abi showed us round the wonderfully atmospheric ground floor, which includes some amazing 17th century carved oak panelling depicting sphinxes, sea monsters, Jacobean gentlemen and Green Men!

In the grounds, we were able to see traces of the original extensive terraced formal gardens and water gardens, including an eerie grotto with a stone frieze of dancing figures, believed to be Greek gods, still partially visible. Well worth a visit.

HISTORY OF THE BUNKER

 A large turn-out attended Brian Taylor’s talk about his experiences as a local Malborough boy doing his National Service with RAF Hope Cove at the bunker at Soar.

Some 18,500 sq. ft in size, the bunker was originally built in the 1950’s Cold War era, as part of the RAF’s Rotor air defence system. Brian gave us details of the construction and its attendant problems, such as the impenetrable layer of rock the excavators came up against, necessitating a change of plan from what should have been an underground facility to one that was a third above ground.

Archive photographs showed operators in a similar 2-storey Plotting Room moving “planes” around an enormous table with telescopic wands, following instructions from supervisors in upper level “cabins”. We saw pictures of the various types of radar equipment used and Brian peppered his account with anecdotes about ferocious guard dogs, paper-spewing teleprinters and cautionary tales about spending too long in close proximity to the radar towers.

The bunker was only used by the RAF for a couple of years, after which it was used by the Home Office as a Regional Seat of Government to be used in the event of a nuclear war. We heard that one trial run was boycotted by ministers when they were told they couldn’t take their wives!

A wonderful insight into life in the bunker and a chilling reminder of how close we actually came to Armageddon.

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In October 2010, the Malborough History Group held a two-day photographic exhibition in All Saints Church entitled “Village Life in Malborough”, using a selection of photographs lent by local people at two recent Scanning Days for our Malborough Village Archive.

The exhibition, sponsored by the South Devon AONB and the Heritage Lottery Fund, contained around 200 photographs, the earliest from 1896, depicting local village life over the last couple of centuries, together with profiles of local people and places and scrapbooks full of programmes and photographs of the Malborough Amateur Dramatic (MAD) group’s performances from 1979 to 2002.

Malborough School kindly lent a couple of log books from the late 1800s, which gave a fascinating insight into daily life at the school, including news that, on 11 May 1881, “many children have absented themselves … owing to two serious wrecks in the neighbourhood” and, earlier that year, “attendance has been rather poor this week as many people are busy with their gardens, in which the children work”.

An added attraction was the showing of Tim Skillman’s DVD of reminiscences of the 1930’s in Malborough and a 1994 amateur film of the village’s annual Maypole Dance.

We were delighted by the success of the exhibition and we would like to thank the AONB for its invaluable support. Special thanks are due to all the volunteers who helped out and, in particular, to John and Pauline Cole, who did most of the work of sorting the material and compiling the exhibits. Everyone who came had a wonderful time and we have been promised many more photographs and stories to add to the Archive. Malborough has a fascinating history and some colourful characters and the important thing is to preserve our heritage for future generations to enjoy.

If anyone has photographs or items of local interest, please contact a member of the History Group committee (see our Home Page).