This website is occasionally found by former residents of
Harberton who perhaps spent their childhood here or have other memories of the
village from times past. Sometimes they have old pictures too. The collection
below reproduces the content of these incoming contacts. The Harberton Village
Website sincerely thanks the contributors for allowing their text and images to be shown here.
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Please
Contact Us with your reminiscences. It may be
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1952 village centre picture
1953 Coronation text & pictures
Garden Terrace and residents 1960s/1970s (1) text only
Garden Terrace and residents 1960s/1970s (2),
Church House Inn 1966 text & pictures
References to The Manor and Angle Cottage 1952-1981
Doreen Frost, born 1930, lived in Harberton until 1942
Donald Ward, evacuee in Harberton 1940-1942
Theresa Whitcher - mother Margaret Damerell's life in
Harberton
1952
picture of Harberton village centre showing the school above the church, the
Henry Wyse almshouses behind the pub, and Garden Terrace in the lower centre of
the picture, with the old buildings leading up Fore Street to the pub, some 25
years before they were all demolished make way for Church Court.
[further information received from
Frank Greaves 27/10/05]
Many thanks for the close up of Garden Terrace. The Arnolds lived in the "top"
cottage, that on the left of the photo. As mentioned it was originally 2
cottages and retained 2 front doors.
Bill Arnold certainly used part of the garden in front of the terrace and also
an area above the cottage.
Sorry it has taken a while to come back to you. I have been looking through some
of our many old photographs and have found a few. There are probably more but
rather than wait until I have gone through them all I enclose a few.
I hope you find them of interest.
1 Louise and Bill circa 1960 location unknown
2 Bill in his postman's uniform in his garden
3 Church House Inn 1966 My wife and her grandfather stood
in church gateway
Garden Terrace
4 1971 4 generations in front of the cottage
5 1971 Louse Arnold holding great-grandson - Edward Greaves
6 1971 4 generations
7 1977 Bill Arnold with his granddaughter and 2 great-grandsons - Edward and
Mark
Louise Arnold died about 1973 and Bill continued to live on his own in Garden
Terrace until the cottage was due for demolition. He moved into a residential
home in Totnes where he died, aged 93, just prior to Christmas 1980. Until
shortly before his death he was extremely active walking around Totnes every
day.
Certainly I have no objection to this being circulated around your village
network. It may promote memories.
Hopefully I will find more photographs in due time.
Very best wishes
Frank Greaves
[received from Marion Tester 25/10/05]
A couple of photos I have dug out taken in 1953 for the Coronation:
One is of 7 Tristford Road and the other one going from left to right is Betty
Goddard, Mark Goddard, Emma Widger [Ed: Marion's aunt] and I think the other couple are Len and
Elsie Rouse but I am not sure.
Regards - Marion Tester
[received from Frank Greaves, Subject
"Garden Terrace Harberton", 27/9/05]
I congratulate you on the Harberton website. It is very interesting and brought
back many happy memories of holidays spent in the village in the 1960's and
70's.
We live in North Nottinghamshire but my wife's mother was born in Harbertonford,
and moved to Worksop in 1942.
My wife's grandparents, William (Bill) and Louisa Arnold, lived in a cottage in
Garden Terrace. It was actually two knocked into one, and still retained 2
staircases. Facilities were primitive - one cold tap in the yard - shared
between 2 or 3 cottages. Toilet also in the yard was actually connected to the
sewers but you had to fill a bucket and throw it down the pan to flush!
Electricity had been installed in late 1950's.
Bill was a retired postman and may still be remembered by older residents.
The aerial photo clearly shows the cottages almost in the centre of the picture.
I keep on coming back to your site.
Continue with your good work
regards Frank Greaves
[received October 2004 from Lucy Barrow]
"Very interesting site as I used to live at the Manor or Old Vicarage from 1962
till 1976 then at Angle Cottage till 1981. Bits missing in list of construction:
bus turning bay and new sewage works. Also would be nice to see Ken Luke
mentioned in dispatches. He did a lot for the village in 60s 70s 80s. Also Mrs
Woodberry who gave the kids free sweets from her shop"
[Ed: During summer 2004 a visitor to the Church House Inn turned out to be a William Foster, now living abroad, whose family bought the Manor (for £200,000?) when it was first sold off by the Church in 1952. It apparently needed a lot of work done on it.]
[received 19/10/04 and 22/10/04] from
Doreen Frost]
[19/10/04]"Hello Webmaster
I was born at no1 St Clements Terrace in the summer of 1930 and lived in the
village until 1942. I have many memories of my childhood there and was
interested to see the village recently when I made a visit and had a trip 'down
memory lane'. I am Doreen Frost and now live in Bath. I remember the village
shop owned by Mrs Parnell (Parnie to us kids), and the sweetshop in the front
room of a cottage at the top end of the village run by Dolly Tingay.
I remember well the night a German bomber was being chased and jettisoned all
it's incendiaries on the village. Fortunately they landed on the field across
from Ford Farm and were put out by the local men using sand bags and stirrup
pumps.
I won't bore you with any more information, but if my recollections are of
interest I am happy to share them.
Thank you for the interesting website. I can just remember Ed Chapple and his
one eye. What a tale of optical disasters. Best wishes.
Doreen Frost"
[22/10/04]
"Hi John
How nice to get such a prompt response from you. I am glad you like Harberton. I
have happy memories of Tristford because during the war I used to collect waste
paper for the war effort. Every Saturday morning I would set off with my soap
box on wheels, call at the lodge where you now live and trundle down to the big
house. The cook always answered the door and would load up my trolley with the
Squire's papers and magazines. She would then give me a penny and a newly baked
jam turnover which I used to eat on the way down to the other lodge. The people
there were called Hawkins and he was chauffeur to Squire Trist. It was a sad war
for them because their son Donald, who was a pilot officer in the RAF was
killed..
The waste paper was stored in some old stables behind the Church House Inn. It
was dry and comfortable there and I used to settle down and read the magazines.
I always looked forward to Saturday mornings!
I am surprised there is no one around who remembers the incendiaries. The plane
must have unloaded its complete load. We were on the bomb run into Plymouth
which was very badly hit night after night. You could see to read a newspaper
from the glow of Plymouth burning. My older brother found an unexploded
incendiary in one
of the fields around Dundridge which he brought home, emptied out and we kept it
as a trophy in the linney of No 1 St Clements.
On another occasion a German plane crashed in a field between Harberton and
Harbertonford. Villagers could see men in the tailplane trying to get out and
tried to save them, but the plane burst into flames and the crew all perished.
They were buried with full military honours in Totnes.
I am sorry I cannot help you re the Toll House but I will ask my older brother
if he remembers it.I will have a look but am pretty sure I have no photos of the
village. In those days all we had was a Baby Brownie camera and films were too
scarce and dear to use on scenery. I have an interesting one of the 1937
coronation celebration which I can let you have.
By all means use my reminiscing for web material. It might stimulate some more
information. I am in the locality from time to time, so could drop in to see
you. Quite by chance I met a couple called Mowat when I was wandering around the
village, and they told me about your website so when I got back I did a web
search and found you.
I guess that's enough info for the time being. Keep in touch.
Carry on the good work.
Doreen"
[received 25/6/14 from Donna Ward -
Donald Ward, evacuee in Harberton 1940-1942]
I was delighted to find your comprehensive website whilst on a visit to
Harberton with my Father, Donald Charles Ward. We are currently staying in
Tigley until the morning of Friday 27th June 2014.
His first home in Harberton was in some very small cottages in the area of the
ford (we are still trying to locate these). He stayed with a lady, maybe by
the name of Mrs Hodges. She lived at the cottage on her own.
We have been to visit the house from the outside (which I think is currently
for sale). You have a great photo of those houses on your website.
In Harberton (maybe in front of the Church Inn) a group of entertainers were
performing on a make shift stage.
Donald went on to Totnes to stay with Mr & Mrs Bennett. Mr Bennett was the
Headmaster of the primary school, just off from Totnes High Street.
He remembers being very well looked after and the fact that he had chicken pox
whilst he was there.
He remembers running back to Leechwell Cottage shouting that the 2 planes had
crashed. The adults were very calm & tried to ‘not make a fuss’.
About 2 days later, Donald & friends went looking for pieces. He bought back a
20mm cannon shell (from the Hurricane)?
Y
[received 27/8/07 from Theresa
Whitcher]
"I've been looking at your website this evening with my mum, Margaret Damerell.
Margaret was born in Wesley Place, moved to Victoria Cottages and when married
lived in Tristford Lodge where my dad's family (Blackman) had lived. Looking at
the photos brought back many happy memories for mum. Mum remembers Doreen Frost:
mum recalled a story of how she was playing with her brother Bill Damerell and
Doreen's brother Bill, outside a house in the village (mum wondered whether
Doreen was there as well) when the spinster (Miss Bartlett) emptied her chamber
pot over the children playing outside (mum thinks they were probably being
noisy), I gather most of it ended up on Doreen's brother. Mum says that she
remembers the incendiary bombs being dropped around the village - she says the
fires were so bright that they thought that Dundridge House was on fire. Seeing
the pictures of the ford to the end of Victoria Cottages made mum laugh as she
remembered her dad on his way home one evening from the pub, being unsteady on
his feet and falling in the water. Hope to pass on more of mum's memories as and
when they are recalled."
["Tristford Lodge" is actually West Lodge]