Our new book on the history of ‘Galmpton and South Huish Then and Now’ is with the printer and we plan to launch it at the Hope and Galmpton Recreation Hall 90th Birthday Party celebrations on 4th of July. See you there !mm
The origins of the names of the three villages in the parish are all ancient. Hope comes from the old Norse “Hop” meaning a small bay or inlet. South Huish is Old English for “southern household” and the name Galmpton has had many variations over the centuries, but the root of all the variations concerns rent-paying…
The strong winds and big seas of this early November brought to mind “our” Eddystone Lighthouse and the great storm 1703. The Eddystone reef consists of three ridges of spiky rocks and two central rocks 14 miles SSW of Plymouth. For centuries the reef claimed the lives of countless sailors, increasingly so in the late…
I had been expecting to write about bad winters in days gone by, but as we haven’t had any snow … yet, I thought I’d save the snow stories, and thought instead about what we are missing during the pandemic, and one of the many things is entertainment especially dancing. The first evidence of dancing in the…
Being the season of ghost stories and bonfires, I thought I’d look for stories involving the parish, but came up with virtually nothing. There was a bonfire of course as part of the alarm system to warn the Nation of the approach of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The bonfire was at the end of…
The 1841 census shows that only The Hope and Anchor, and the Bird in Hand (now the Cove) offered accommodation, but before the end of the 19th century, and before the Earl Devon of was forced to sell his property here, he encouraged local people to take in paying guests. The history group has copies of wonderful comments…
Welcome to the history page. We have had a good response to the first blogs, and feed back received means I am able to correct some information. Owen Masters tells me that the “green soap” was in fact, white Sunlight soap, It came from the SS Persier. She was en route from Swansea to Antwerp, with…