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Post by Dave on Jan 15, 2014 6:57:06 GMT
An excellent read Dave. I read a question at one point and didn't see an answer. please forgive me if you have answered later but the cinema opposite the train station entrance was The Regent Cinema, hence why the fossil flats are Regent House
Thanks for reminding me of the name of that cinema. Growing up in Newton Abbot it was not a cinema I ever went in except one very wet bank holiday when I was about twelve years old. Back in those days you always were taken to the beach on a bank holiday or the pictures if it was wet. Can still smell that stink at gas works bend what a turn off that must have been for visitors to the Bay.
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Post by snapper on Jun 1, 2014 20:51:26 GMT
That was the original 'Prison Cell' for Paignton. To get to it you need to go down what is now a footpath (used to be a lane) connecting Princess Street and Mill Lane/Littlegate Road.
As to last used in 1867? I remember, as a kid using it as a 'den' during the 1960's and the local tramps made use of it right up until the time that the local council put a door on it!
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Post by snapper on Jun 1, 2014 21:12:11 GMT
Some good photos there Dave, the ones of the Coverdale Tower certainly bring back a lot of memories, I lived in the big house in the grounds surrounded by the old palace walls from 1959 right up to 1980.
As a kid I had a four storey brick shed / castle, To suggest it was ever defended with 'water bombs' against the massed hordes (pedestrians) sneaking up on it while walking along Tower Road or Church Path would be wrong, very wrong... honest... Never happend...
The Bay was a good place to grow up in as a kid. Lots of things to do if you made the effort, from swimming off the local beaches, sailing in the bay to going for bike rides out in the sticks to Totnes and beyond.
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Post by Dave on Jun 3, 2014 15:58:16 GMT
Hi snapper and a warm welcome to Daves World. So it was you who threw those water bombs at me lol. I enjoyed putting the thread together but sadly have not had the time lately to put any work into this site. I must try and make some more time as there is so much more that can be added and really should be.
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Post by julyguy1 on Nov 14, 2014 9:09:51 GMT
Hello Dave,
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed your piece about old Paignton and I am delighted you have used a couple of my articles therein.
I do a regular history page for the Torbay Times and would like to know if I could occasionally refer to some of your material, I will of copurse credit you.
Kind regards,
Peter Carroll (Author) Email peterdaphne61@aol.com
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Post by julyguy1 on Nov 14, 2014 9:17:58 GMT
Forgot, in my recent posting, to add my book about Torbay on Amazon Kindle:-
Men and Women of vision (South Devon)
Some pf my other books can be found on Kindle too and I have had a couple of hardbacks ublished too.
Regards,
Peter Carroll
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Post by Dave on Nov 14, 2014 18:59:46 GMT
Hello Dave, My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed your piece about old Paignton and I am delighted you have used a couple of my articles therein. I do a regular history page for the Torbay Times and would like to know if I could occasionally refer to some of your material, I will of copurse credit you. Kind regards, Peter Carroll (Author) Email peterdaphne61@aol.com
Hello Peter I have read so many things you have written and enjoyed them all. Please feel free to use any material on my site incuding any pictures. All the best Dave
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Post by scrumpypete on May 15, 2017 4:45:04 GMT
HI, Dave. I think you missed The Igloo from the list of shops that have closed. I can only 'see' Paignton now on 'Google Earth', so there's no way of telling if Cove Clark is still there in Victoria Street... it was my favourite shop with its model train running around on the upstairs floor.
I've been gone from Paignton now for 55 years, and Britain for 42, but of course it's still, as you rightly say, home. So much has changed - yet so much stays, unlike here in Canada where buildings are being demolished around us daily.
I used to live up behind Oldway, and walk through the grounds daily to catch the school bus - and when I was older I worked overlooking the gate at the 'bottom lefthand corner, as it were. I think I caught a snippet that said the development wasn't going through... I'm so glad. I always like the place - and your photos have brought back so many good memories (clock golf, dog walking, courting, tennis with school-buddies, catching tadpoles - and even walking in the grotto behind the waterfall)
Thanks for all the photos... I'm gonna peruse as much and as many as I can...
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Post by scrumpypete on May 15, 2017 4:58:10 GMT
Newton Abbot was, to a 10-year-old Paignton boy, the furthest ends of the earth. You got snow there when Torbay didn't... how wild is that. But when I was 20-something I worked 3 years for the Newton Abbot RDC as it then was, and another year at the Art College. And later still spent many a Friday evening at the Cider Bar. Happy days/nights. When the developers built that 'Market' on the middle of the shopping mall, they took the heart out of Newton I think - imposing permanence when previously the stall-holders would set up as they wished. Do you recall 'Mark' the butcher and his wagon? He had a hat with no crown, but still doffed it to scratch his head. He was the nearest to a 'barrow-boy' I'd ever seen... "Tell you what I'll do...".
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Post by Dave on May 15, 2017 17:39:39 GMT
HI, Dave. I think you missed The Igloo from the list of shops that have closed. I can only 'see' Paignton now on 'Google Earth', so there's no way of telling if Cove Clark is still there in Victoria Street... it was my favourite shop with its model train running around on the upstairs floor. I've been gone from Paignton now for 55 years, and Britain for 42, but of course it's still, as you rightly say, home. So much has changed - yet so much stays, unlike here in Canada where buildings are being demolished around us daily. I used to live up behind Oldway, and walk through the grounds daily to catch the school bus - and when I was older I worked overlooking the gate at the 'bottom lefthand corner, as it were. I think I caught a snippet that said the development wasn't going through... I'm so glad. I always like the place - and your photos have brought back so many good memories (clock golf, dog walking, courting, tennis with school-buddies, catching tadpoles - and even walking in the grotto behind the waterfall) Thanks for all the photos... I'm gonna peruse as much and as many as I can...
Hi Pete and welcome to Davesworld. Yes the Igloo is no more and I believe Cove Clark is another great shop that has been lost. I'm not sure if you are aware of what is happening to Oldway, if you don't then please read this thread
davesworld.proboards.com/thread/511/oldway-mansions-today-15th-august
Like you I am so glad Oldway is now not going to be turned into a hotel and the grounds full of houses. But the building is falling into rack and ruin due to it being closed up for a number of years not, much like the Pavilion building in Torquay. One can only hope the Friends Of Oldway soon come up with a plan to stop this wonderful gem falling into even more disrepair and also find a way to open it up again for us all to enjoy. |
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Post by Dave on May 15, 2017 18:02:53 GMT
Newton Abbot was, to a 10-year-old Paignton boy, the furthest ends of the earth. You got snow there when Torbay didn't... how wild is that. But when I was 20-something I worked 3 years for the Newton Abbot RDC as it then was, and another year at the Art College. And later still spent many a Friday evening at the Cider Bar. Happy days/nights. When the developers built that 'Market' on the middle of the shopping mall, they took the heart out of Newton I think - imposing permanence when previously the stall-holders would set up as they wished. Do you recall 'Mark' the butcher and his wagon? He had a hat with no crown, but still doffed it to scratch his head. He was the nearest to a 'barrow-boy' I'd ever seen... "Tell you what I'll do...".
Well the good news Pete is the Cider Bar is still there and open, but they have to know who you are before letting you drink any of the real strong stuff they sell. Yes like so many other places Newton Market was ruined in the name of progress. I must confess I do not know Mark the butcher, but the old market had one very well known and almost famous trader called Mark.
He had a very large van I believe that opened up at the side, he was always parked on the side wall of the Alexandra Picture House right opposite the old town fire station. He too wore a hat and I am sure he also used a walking stick due to having a bad hip? He sold saucepans, ornaments and everything else you can think of and there were always crowds of people listening to him and buying from him.
Times have changed for sure and as a young Newton boy me and my mates would always be in the market on Wednesdays during the school holidays. Back then there was no multistory car park over the cattle market and we would turn up with large sticks and get in the pens to get the pigs and sheep out for the farmers to load onto their cattle trucks. Would not be allowed to happen today in this mad health and safety land we know have to live in.
Right next to the cattle market was a cafe and also a sewing machine shop and then a number of houses. this was long before Bridge House was build over the river Lemon right next to the market car park. My gran lived in one of the houses and I always remember going down in the cellar that was always full of rats.
Those houses like so many back in the those days did not have a bathroom, so once a week it was over to the town baths in the market to get the weeks dirt off. Talking of the fires station it was part time back then and most of the firemen worked at Bradley Mill. The siren would sound in the town and then it was a mad dash to the fire station to watch all the firemen arrive and getting dressed as they jumped on the fire engine now heading to the fire.
My grandfather who passed away just before I was born was also a well known market trader. His name was George Best and he sold fish from his lock up. On Saturdays he always closed at lunchtime as he was a local football referee. He turned up for the games still wearing his white shirt and bow tie that he wore during the match. Over twenty years ago I read a bit in the local paper about my granddad, it seems no player was ever brave enough to back chat this George Best.
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Post by scrumpypete on May 16, 2017 3:53:30 GMT
Dave - thanks for getting back and for the update. I stand corrected - Mark was as you say he was, I musta mixed him up with some butcher. I recall the market caff - damn good meal for a quid. Yes - I used to hear the fire siren go off, and a couple minutes later from my office I'd see some idiot racing along tooting his car horn down Marsh Street. It took me a couple months to realise he was a fireman.
Even when I was there, the Cider bar was cautious... Richard and (can't recall the missus) only let newbies and women have halves until they were certain. My first missus could get pints after a short while... me, I could only manage 4 pints max. And no hangover. Oddly enough there was another Peter Blackmore that used to drink in the Cider bar, although I never met him. There was an old feller there name of Jock... boy did he have tales of long ago. Lost a leg in the bombing - only person seriously hurt, I hear. (I took the present 'old lady' there one visit back to the Old Sod, and I've not heard the end of how badly the cider affected her). And, then again, there was the 'Jolly' where the missus of someone I knew would take her clothes off if there was sufficient money in the pot.
Do you recall the leather factory on 'steignton road? What the heck is that brick building - looks to be Sherborne House... that must have been the cinema. Too, there was another cinema back in a bit... i recall watching "Let it Be" and methinks it closed not long after that... only us 4 art students in there.
I now live in Courtenay on Vancouver Island... the name is familiar to you, of course, since there's a main street called that in Newton named after the nearby family . My Courtenay is " named after George William Courtenay, captain of the British ship HMS Constance, which was stationed in the area between 1846 and 1849" (wikipedia) . Scion of said family.
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Post by scrumpypete on May 16, 2017 4:13:21 GMT
Hi, Dave... there was a classy butcher corner of Torquay Road and Church Street... green painted IIRC. Had rabbits hanging in the window. You won't remember Maypole, corner with Tesco on it. It's still 'Maypole Corner' to us old-timers. Gladwyns - the name rings a bell... musta bought clothes there. I see "A.R Baker optometrist" in Hyde road has changed ownership (it would do - he was old when I was a tacker).
Probably too much more to recall. E.g. - the late Regal Cinema in Torquay used to show "Special Pre-release" (I didn't know the difference) for 6/6d, but a week later the movie was in the Regent Cinema for 4/6d. Although we just had to see '2001' in the Regal, and the whacky-baccy that was passed around sure did help.
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Post by scrumpypete on May 16, 2017 4:17:16 GMT
Dave - you had a pic (can't find it now) of old stone buildings... 3 gables IIRC... near the bus depot. I don't remember them at all. What?? And the pic of the bus depot doesn't show quite what is happening.
Oh - and as a bit of local lore - the (disused?) church corner of Dartmouth and Commercial Roads is reputed to be built upon an oaken raft because of the area being back-filled. And that it moves up and down one half inch with the tides.
I see Big Tree was topped - any idea when? My granddad drove bus back along when people sat on the roof. He forgot one day and drove under it, wiping everyone off the top! He also broadcast from a radio station that was in the Pavilion at one time. Seems that place is losing its appeal, eh.
And to 'Snapper' - so it was you, was it? Wait til I get my hands on you...
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Post by scrumpypete on May 16, 2017 4:41:28 GMT
Gonna bore you with a couple more details, Dave. Hang in - won't be long... There was an ice-cream factory in Winner Street called "Dimeo's" where the Auction room is now (I think). Made ice-cream for the Council's outlets. And across the way, the Oldenburg had a large portico on round columns... probably went to widen the road. BTW, did you know Winner Street is a corruption of Wineyard Street, since there was a vineyard thereabouts. Probably an adjunct of the Mission on the hill above.
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