Salcombe Hill, Sidmouth

Sidmouth

Tuesday May 22, 2012

 

What luck to have beautiful weather for my day in this place that is so dear to me.

 

This is part of the 630 mile South West Coast Path, which runs 'from Minehead, Somerset to Poole, Dorset via Lands End.' I would love to walk a lot more of this path, especially from here to Lyme Regis.

I believe the route has been altered. Now, instead of walking between the red cliffs and the large back yards, you go along some residential streets before getting to to the path. Rocks that look like oyster shells are in the ground and are used in walls.

 Looking ahead.

Looking back.

Then, for me, the most amazing sight, bluebells! Bluebells were a big deal for me on this trip - I thought I'd missed them. To be in Mom's favourite place on her birthday, with bluebells... It was uncanny and glorious and very sad all at once. Mom and John are gone. Glenn is gone. I'm running around England, who knows why. But I'd like to stay here several days and come to this hillside every day.

I absolutely loved this walk.

The Guildhall in Plymouth

Plymouth

May 14, 2012

 

Ancestry research

I went over to the Guildhall, which was mostly rebuilt after the war, but was dismayed to see the bunch from some tattoo event there cleaning up. Apparently they'd be there all day, so I had to tread carefully over floor cloths and around tables while burly guys toted equipment out.

 

I wasn't too sure what I was looking for. There is supposed to be a window there dedicated to my great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Stevens the mayor. I found three in one room that were like stained glass church windows. In a main hall were windows with pictures painted on - quite amateurish. There was also supposed to be a coat of arms. A shield/crest is in that room but no one in the building could tell me what it was for. There was writing on the wall below it but it was all covered by portable walls. I asked when they might come down - thought about going back the next day but was informed that some do for the mayor was being set up when the tattoo people were finished so the Guildhall would be closed all week. Luckily a helpful, non-tattooed man came along and moved the walls away for me. Didn't see anything related to my family there.

 

 

These pictures appear to be stuck on the glass, like Mac Tac.

Carvings on the ceiling supposedly depict the labours of Hercules.

The shield and panels were all behind the movable walls before the nice man moved them aside. The top part of the design on the shield is like part of the town's coat of arms.

I would think the window was lost when the building was gutted in the war, but can't find any info to confirm. Somewhere was stated that the Arms was formerly in the guildhall, and was in the window. I would have liked to have seen it. Apparently it had (a?) chevron azure and two eagles. In searching on the internet I learned something about colours used in heraldry...

There are five colours and two metals that may be used in heraldry, called tinctures. They use French names and are:

• Or (gold)
• Argent (silver)
• Gules (red)
• Azure (blue)
• Vert (green)
• Sable (black)
• Purpure (purple)
  
  
• Less common tinctures include:
• Tenne (orange or light brown)
• Sanguine (dark red)
• Murrey (dark purple)
• Bleu Celeste (light blue)
• Carnation (flesh coloured)
• Cendree (grey)
  These are, however, much rarer than the seven above.

Not related as far as I know, but Tozer is a name in our family. This man, Clifford Tozer, was alderman in 1952.

Outside, not far from the Guildhall, sit the remains of Charles Church, shown here with the mall in behind.

Thomas Stevens, mentioned above, was born in Plymouth in 1799 and was baptized in Charles Church on January 3rd, 1800.

First full day - Part 6 - The End

Plymouth
May 13, 2012

 

Heading back toward town and my hotel, I passed through a seedy section of shops which didn't seem to fit the area.

The spooky looking Royal Eye Infirmary. Are there that many eye problems?

Over a door. Here's another thing I didn't know - that Drake renamed the Pelican to Golden Hind during a voyage. (I would have thought renaming a ship might be considered bad luck.)

Charles Church burned during the war but the shell is kept as a memorial.

Armada Way passes through the main shopping area. Between the big screen (this was before the London Olympics, remember) and the Guildhall on the left is Royal Parade, a main street.

Back at the Promenade, the race was still on and continued until well after suppertime. I went to Dutton's on the water for fish ‘n’ chips and mushy peas.

First full day - Part 4 - Ford Park Cemetery

Plymouth
May 13, 2012



Ancestry research

To me, cemeteries in Devon were like adventure parks. It was fun to see so many family names, whether related or not, and thrilling to find stones for actual ancestors. Each new piece of information is like finding a puzzle piece. And, after the devastating loss of Glenn, feeling connected to my ancestors gave me some comfort. It was a privilege to be in this place where family members were born, lived and died, and maybe that was one reason why I felt so at home in Devon.

This was across town beyond the train station.

Don't remember what this building was that I saw in passing.

I came to a large park, Central Park, and walked along an edge of it. Magpies seem to be everywhere in England.

This sign is at the front of the cemetery.

However, I came in through the back but even then didn't immediately grasp the size of the place. I didn't know which family members, if any, might be buried here, and only had some of my notes on hand. There was a family vault somewhere in Plymouth... but with 250,000 graves at this site, finding anything relevant seemed unlikely. So, I did what my sister and I did when we were trying to find St. Mary Lake on Saltspring Island - I followed my nose.

Turning right off the lane, it quickly became apparent that it would be easy to fall or twist an ankle on the uneven ground obscured by grass. I kept to the right side, paralleling the lane toward the front of the property.
Nearer the front I turned left...

And there it was. To my left I saw the name Stevens. My thoughts ranged from - 'Oh there you are' as if I'd been led right to it, to wonderous disbelief that I was looking at a stone for my great-grandparents. My grandmother's parents died too young, of TB. She barely would have known them, but their deaths caused her life to go in a different direction, to Canada. Maybe she would have stayed in England otherwise.

I had no idea such a stone existed anywhere. John Stevens is my great-grandfather.

The stone reads:

JOHN STEVENS
BORN JUNE 21st, 1847
DIED DECr. 21st, 1885
ERECTED BY A FEW OF HIS OLD FRIENDS
ALSO ELIZA, WIFE OF THE ABOVE
BORN SEPt. 17th, 1854
DIED JUNE 29th, 1887
GEORGE HERBERT, THEIR CHILD
BORN JANy. 14th, 1879
DIED APRIL 13th, 1881 

It wouldn't surprise me that friends of John's would erect a stone. He was involved in a lot of things: the Volunteer Rifles, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and the Conservative Assoc., treasurer of the Plymouth Lifeboat, secretary and treasurer of the Fisherman's Insurance Society. etc. But are any bodies actually buried there? I later got a disk on Ford Park but the information may not be complete - their names aren't listed. Why didn't I just pay the £10 (or so) fee for a search?

If the birthdate for Eliza is correct, then that means she was married on her 23rd birthday. We don't know a whole lot about Eliza Huxham (Stevens). It's unfortunate that for some reason John Stevens' parents weren't inclined to give their kids middle names. I'm not sure that Eliza had one either. We know that she was from Ivybridge (or Ermington), Devon and that her father, William Henry Huxham, was a butcher. If we're looking at the right census records, then her mother was named Jane (from Calstock, Cornwall) and she had a brother, also named William Henry who also became a butcher, and the family moved to Plymouth when Eliza was a child. 

My Great-grandparents and their children

The information on this stone that doesn't fit with ours is the death date for the child, George Herbert Stevens, child number 1 on the page above. We believe the date on this stone is wrong. It definitely says 1879 - 1881 on the stone, but our family info has him at about age 6, not 2, when he died of whooping cough.

It's curious that the males in the above photos all have light hair, while my Grandma and Kate didn't.

I would learn that when one stone is found for a family member, it's good to check nearby to see if there are any more.

As far as I know, these people aren't related but the stone on the ground next to John and Eliza's is of interest because of the name Pardew. Susan Fowler Jones Stevens married into a Pardew family. She was a younger sister of my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Jones Stevens. We know that her husband, Arthur, was a ship owner. I assumed, perhaps erroneously, that his father, John (1803-1861), was too as there was a ship or two called the John Pardew. 

TO
THE HONOURED
AND
EVER LOVING MEMORY OF
OUR DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER
PRISCILLA NICHOLLS PARDEW
WHO PASSED AWAY 10th OF MARCH 1933
JOHN ANDREW PARDEW
WHO SUDDENLY PASSED AWAY
13th APRIL 1910 AGED 54
ALSO OF
FRANK ARUNDEL PARDEW
YOUNGEST SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION
9th SEPTEMBER 1918 AGED 26
BURIED AT DERNANCOURT, FRANCE
ALSO OF THEIR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER
NINA MARGARET PARDEW
WHO PASSED AWAY
16th APRIL 1916, AGED 21
IN MEMORY ALSO OF
ELIZABETH PARDEW
WHO DIED 18th MARCH 1885 AGED 71
SAMUEL PARDEW
WHO DIED 24th JANUARY 1888 AGED 78

This John Pardew may have been the one was a music teacher, choirmaster, organist and violin soloist. From the net: John Pardew, was a well-known classical violinist in Plymouth during the 19th century. He taught the Prince of Wales the violin, but died at just 53 after a large dinner, having drunk two pints of water which apparently gave him a heart attack.

All the while, a little bird just sat there chattering and keeping me company.

I still hadn't found the vault but it seemed unlikely that I would find anything else astounding on this visit so I stopped in at the office in or next to the church (can't remember which) on my way out and picked up a search form.  

First full day - Part 3

Plymouth
May 13, 2012

Following the green line along Armada Way in town, with a stop at the mall to buy a street map. From there I would head out past the train station to do some family research.

 Drake Circus Shopping Centre in the background.

Inside the mall.

I was glad to see a Marks & Spencer store. Ours, in Canada, was closed many years ago.

First full day - Part 2

Plymouth

May 13, 2012

Now following my route, as well as I can remember it, on the magenta coloured line from the Promenade down to the water and then into town.

It was a great day for this event in the Hoe.

Off they went alongside the Citadel and down toward the water...

... while I headed inland through the park.

The Citadel gate.

I can return on Tuesday for a tour.

Don't remember what this interesting building was.

 Rounding down by the Citadel wall.

I hope the drab block of a building I'm pointing out is Dutton's, which was to become my favourite restaurant. Their fish 'n' chips were pretty good and so were their scones. Mainly, the people were really nice and I always felt comfortable there. As I sat eating by myself I'd ponder whether or not Glenn would have liked it.

Always, boats are on the water.

The Merchants House.

The Guildhall again.