Strange circles at Churchtown Farm

I wonder if anyone else has noticed the strange grass circles at Churchtown Farm near Saltash? I've been visiting there for many years but have only noticed these circles appearing in the grass this year. I read in the newspaper, because of weather conditions, that Roman ruins had become visible in grassed areas around the country and their pattern could be seen from the air. I think these circles reveal something that is under the fields but I'm not sure what. Above is a photo that I took just this week. I'm sure that if I could have got higher, the circles would be a lot clearer and easier to see. During the Second World War, barrage balloons were moored at Point Field at Churchtown Farm and I wondered if the circles could be due to their foundations. However, the circles, some perfect, seem to be all over the many fields there. Back in the 1800s, Forder and Churchtown Farm were linked by a wooden viaduct which was eventually replaced by the stone viaduct that is there today. It could be that these circles show parts of this building work underneath. It would be interesting if the circles were showing something older that has yet to be discovered. My guess would be that they're probably something to do with the barrage balloon site but as there seems to be little written history or photos of Churchtown Farm during the war, it's hard to discover if this is the case.

King Billy's Statue at Mutton Cove

The statue that stands beside the dockyard at Mutton Cove, known as King Billy, is of William IV who reigned between 1830 and 1837. The statue was originally a figurehead on the 120 gun warship, 'Royal William'. The ship was converted to steam in 1859 and the figurehead was replaced with a smaller one. The original figurehead was then placed at the southern end of the dockyard where it has remained a landmark for many years after. The replacement figurehead cost the Admiralty £35. It no longer exists because the ship it was on, later renamed Clarence, was destroyed by fire in 1899 while it was a training ship moored on the Mersey. In the 1990s, the figurehead at Mutton Cove was deteriorating fast so it was decided to make a fibreglass copy which now stands in place of the original. The original wooden figurehead has now been restored and stands along with other preserved figureheads at Black Yarn Stores at Devonport Dockyard.

Hostins of Atherton Place, Devonport

Here's a lovely old photo of Hostin's newsagent and general store at Atherton Place. From the newspaper hoardings, Plymouth Albion have been successful, the Polar expedition is in peril and there is 'an unbeatable forecast for all the big pools'. Those were the days when winning the Pools was equivalent to winning the lottery. There are adverts for Clubs Cigarettes, another for Woodbines and there's a boot and shoe repair service offered. An advert in the window advertises the Tivoli which is showing 'After Dark' and 'Humility'. The magazines on show include 'Wife and Home', 'Practical Wireless', 'Picture Show', 'World Radio', and 'Radio Times'. There seems to be a collection of postcards on display in the centre of the window.

Terry, who wrote to me earlier about the Saltash Passage mine, tells me:

'This photo features William Henry Hostin and his wife, Laura Wright Hoskin (nee Reed). The shop was at No 2 Atherton Place which is halfway up Charlotte Street, between St Leo's Place and Warren Street. It's still there but isn't a shop anymore. The shop window has gone and has been turned into a bay window.'

Terry included a photo of the shop as it appears today and I've featured it here.

Terry continues:

'Mr and Mrs Hostin were my grandparents and I was born in the room behind the shop and lived there for a short while. Next door was a post office when I was young. My gran used to give me sixpence on a Saturday and then whisk me next door to buy a savings stamp for my post office savings book. I only had it in my hands for 90 seconds! Sixpence was a lot then - those were the days!'

Things have certainly changed over the years.

Plymouth Guide 1961

Here's another ebay 99p bargain! This Plymouth guide dates from 1961 so that makes it as old as me!

Included within its pages are adverts for the Hoe Cafe, Moss Bros, Janet Joyce, Capps Jewellers, Wightman's Camera Shop and Pophams - now all long gone. If you were hungry back then, there was a Wimpy Bar at 94 Cornwall Street, the Magnet Restaurant at 34, the Tudor Restaurant at Ebrington Street and Goodbodys on the Royal Parade. Entertainment was either at the Hoe Summer Theatre or at one of the many

cinemas which included the ABC, the Drake, the Gaumont, the Odeon, The Plaza, the State, the Belgrave or the Palladium. Regular Saturday dances were held at the Guildhall, the Duke of Cornwall and the Continental Hotel.

Hedley Claxton hosted 'Gaytime' at the Hoe Summer Theatre which included talent contests, concert party competitions, military bands, choirs and 'sparkling entertainment'.

If you needed to hire a car, Rowland Trim could provide you with the latest Morris Oxford, Morris Minor, Ford Anglia or Ford Popular. The main garages seem to have been Esso but I think this was before the popular 'Put a Tiger in Your Tank' campaign.

There were many cafes including the Hoe Cafe, Humphreys Cafe at West Hoe and Chequers Cafeteria and Restaurant at Bretonside.

For clothes, there was J Modes, 'in a style you like' and Richfurs of Royal Parade. Well known shops included Dingles, Spooners, British Home Stores and the Co-op at Derry's Cross. Of course, there was also Ivor Dewdney's in Cornwall Street selling 'superior quality pasties and pies'.

There were pleasure boats to Kingsand, Cawsand and Bovisand. Other river trips went to Salcombe, Looe, Fowey, Dodman Point, Calstock,

 

Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo.

The Hoe was packed at the time with many deckchairs, swimming and beauty pageants at the Lido, cafes, boat trips, entertainment, sailing and fishing.

It all sounds great apart from the fur coat shop on Royal Parade (they were mainly Nylon anyway!). Certainly much seems to have changed over the years.

 

Nude bathing in the Tamar

The Tamar is full of yachts, boats and jet skiers but it's very rare nowadays to see anyone swimming there. If someone was spotted in the waters today, the police boat would probably be called out, together with the lifeboat rescue team.

A hundred years ago, things were very different. The Tamar was a very popular place to swim especially down by Saltash Passage which, at the time, even had a bit of a beach. The photo shown here was taken beside the Royal Albert Bridge and shows children in Victorian times paddling and enjoying a dip in the waters there. It's hard to imagine a similar occurrence today especially with the river's muddy banks which are littered with sharp rocks and various broken bottles. In the background is the training ship for wayward boys, the T S Mount Edgcumbe. Marshall Ware remembered: Most of us could swim across the Tamar before we were 16 and we received life-saving training from the Devonport Swimming Club. In those days, boys were allowed to bathe in the nude although I wasn't because my father was a local councillor for the St Budeaux Station Ward so I wasn't allowed to take part in the local activities without a bathing costume. When the women arrived on the scene to bathe, the boys were turned out lock, stock and barrel, often in a state of undress, from the eight bathing cubicles. It's strange how times change and if this photo didn't exist, it would be hard to believe that children ever once swam in the waters beneath the Royal Albert Bridge.

Treasure beneath your feet

When I was a boy and we'd moved back to Plymouth from Singapore in the 1960's, my dad found two items in our new home while digging in the garden. One was a coin and the other was a military badge. The coin was encrusted with years of dirt but, after a lot of cleaning, I could see two heads on it which turned out to belong to William and Mary who reigned together in the late 1600's. The coin was a halfpenny and had amazingly lain in the ground for 300 years. The cap badge that was also found belonged to the Manchester Regiment but I've never been able to accurately date it. I always supposed that it was dropped by a soldier stationed at the nearby Knowle Battery. Nothing else was found and in the late 1970's, two crazes took off. One was skate boarding and the other was metal detecting. I would have probably been a lot cooler getting a skateboard but instead I went to Dixons and bought a metal detector (this was after unsuccessfully trying to build my own!). I think they were £19.99 which seemed a fortune at the time. I'm sure that other coins must have remained buried in the garden but I never found any of them. Searches of the area only revealed coins from the early 1900's while people told me that they had discovered coins hundreds of years old and even found Roman coins nearby. After finding endless junk, the hobby eventually became very boring and the metal detector lay in a cupboard for many months. I remember two things that I found with the metal detector that I would have rather not come across. One was an incendiary bomb and the other was an animal trap that I very nearly put my arm in (it was covered in leaves). One year later and I had a box of pre-decimal coins, bullet shells, a few military buttons and other things that I didn't have a clue what they were. Eventually, I gave it all to my nephew.

I don't know what happened to the metal detector but it disappeared sometime in the early 1980's.

A few years ago, I bought another metal detector off Ebay. Amazingly, it's lay in the cellar ever since! There are reports nearly every week of amazing finds, some of them quite local, and there's always that temptation to dig it out and to go exploring. I doubt I ever will though!

Haunted Plymouth

I was kindly given a copy of 'Haunted Plymouth' by its author, Kevin Hynes. The book makes fascinating reading and tells tales of mysterious ghosts and apparitions in and around Plymouth. From hauntings in Saltash Passage and Wyndham Square to strange activity at the Gin Distillery and the Reel Cinema. During the Second World War, there were many reports of people seeing dead relatives and neighbours and even today their spirits appear to be present in many locations within the city. We all seem to have had odd experiences that can't be explained including hearing strange noises and bumps in the night to seeing fleeting shadows and lights. Some of the ghosts in the book are more apparent than others with legs being seen disappearing up stairs and ghostly visitors in full period clothing. Our grandparents always seemed to have a story about someone who had seen a ghost or knew of someone who lived in an old creepy house full of strange noises or occurrences. I've experienced it myself but were those strange noises behind the walls a previous long-dead owner or just a few scurrying mice? Is it real or just in our imaginations? Check out Kevin's excellent book and decide for yourself! Haunted Plymouth by Kevin Hynes is published by The History Press and is available at all bookstores. If you want to meet Kevin, he will be signing copies at Waterstones on Saturday 4th September 2010 between 11am and 1pm at the New George Street branch and between 2pm and 4pm at the Drake Circus branch. Kevin also takes people on regular ghost walks starting on the Barbican. There's more information at http://www.hauntedplymouth.com/