1. The Water Supply.
2. The Village Inns and Clubs.
3. Social Activities.
4. Election Times.
5. Sunday Observance.
6. School Life.
7. Military Matters.
8. Transport and Communication.
9. Local Government.

1. THE WATER SUPPLY Click to return to top of page.

Today all the houses in the village have a piped water supply, but in the 1880's and 1890's all the water was pumped up from wells. Many of the houses had wells, which were often shared by neighbours. For those not so fortunate there were six parish pumps, situated at convenient sites in the village.

The most popular pump was situated near the Cross Tree and every day men, women and children came with their brown earthenware pitchers and joined the queue which gathered around the village pump.

Rain water for washing purposes was collected from the roofs and carefully stored in a disused cider barrel or paraffin cask. When this supply was exhausted water was obtained from the Mill Stream, near Caen bridge. A cask of water drawn from the Mill by a donkey, could be bought for 3d. Two of our young villagers did a considerable trade in this way, especially during a dry season. They also went to Saunton Sands and filled their donkey cart with sand which they hawked on Saturdays at a penny a bucket. The sand was used for spreading over the stone floors of the kitchens - the housewives preferred sweeping to scrubbing.

2. THE VILLAGE INNS AND CLUBS Click to return to top of page.

OF the ten houses of refreshment four were at Cross Tree and the others were scattered over the village. Some were fully licensed but others only retailed beer and cider. The beer was home-brewed and sold at 2d. a pint and the cider was also of local manufacture.

We could always tell when brewing operations were in progress. for the perfume of hops and malt pervaded the atmosphere. The next day the excise man paid his weekly visit to sample the new beer.

Most of the farms had large orchards and on many of the farms there was a Pound house. The boys of the village often helped in the cider making by turning the handle of the apple cutter. Apples of all kinds. ripe and rotten, were thrown into the machine and the pounded pulp was shovelled on to the floor of the press. previously covered with reed. Between each layer of pulp more reed was placed and when the cheese was complete a wooden press was screwed down upon it. The fresh juice soon began to flow into the butt placed for its reception. We boys then had our reward by being allowed to suck the sweet cider through a straw and we often went home with a bottleful of apple juice in our pockets.

Devonshire cider has ever been a favourite beverage of the Devon workers. The farmer kept sufficient for his own requirements and the surplus was sold to the inn keepers who always knew where to get a "drap of gude zider "

The inns not only provided liquid refreshment for customers. but they were also the gathering places where men got other pleasures. such as games of cards. dominoes and draughts. Today they have their clubs for skittles and shove ha'penny (and, of course, darts) but in the nineteenth century they had clubs which functioned very much like Friendly Societies. They received small weekly subscriptions from all families and sick and funeral benefits were doled out, as well as shareouts at Christmas time.

My grandfather, although not a customer, was a member of the Red Lion Club.

The coming of the Friendly Societies eventually led to the closing of these useful clubs of the village and by the beginning of the 20th century the Oddfellows Club had become the only club in the village, later to be followed by the National Deposit Friendly Society.

The New Inn Club, of which my great uncle was secretary, was the last of the old inn clubs to survive and I saw its last club walk.

The members, dressed in black clothes, with blue favours and bowler hats trimmed with light blue ribbon, lined up at their headquarters at the New Inn. Refreshments were handed around. the roll was called and then, led by the brass band. the members walked in procession through the village streets. They came back to the parish church where a service was conducted by the vicar. Afterwards sports were held in a nearby field.

Those were the days when the inns were open from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m. There were men in the village who spent quite a lot of their time in visiting one pub after another and by turning out time they were in such a drunken state that they had to be taken to their homes. Often a donkey cart was used for this purpose. I knew of two well-known men who had to be taken home in wheel barrows.

The old Inn Clubs were swallowed up by the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, which met in the Oddfellows' Hall in Caen Street now No. 13. This Hall was formerly used as a Dame's School and was in all probability the first Independent Chapel in the village.

Every year the Oddfellows held a club walk and Fete. This was known all over North Devon as Braunton Revel. It was undoubtedly the liveliest day of the year. and crowds gathered from all parts of the neighbourhood.

The members of the Order. clad in their regalia, met at their headquarters and, headed by the local volunteer band. marched first to the Parish Church and then through the streets. In the front of the procession four members bore a huge banner. Then followed the officers in coloured aprons and gold braided sashes after whom came a long procession of members wearing lighter blue sashes.

The afternoon was given up to sports in a field which was crowded with men, women and children who enjoyed the pleasures of a village fair. One part of this field was roped off for sports. There were open as well as local events and the champions of North Devon were often competitors. Climbing a greasy pole for a leg of mutton, tied on the top, was an attractive event.

Street traders as well as the pubs did a roaring trade. The augmented police force was kept busy till the last train to Barnstaple took the merrymakers away.

3. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Click to return to top of page.

IN the nineteenth century the people of the village organised most of their pleasures. The centres of various social activities were the churches, which were well attended. The Sunday schools of St. Brannock's, Congregational, Wesleyan and Plymouth Brethren were all filled.

It can be safely stated that most of the families in the village were connected with one or other of the places of worship. Those were the days of the Bands of Hope. That of the Parish Church was organised by the lay reader Mr. Page, and a well-known lady Miss Robinson, in a room at the back of the Temperance Hotel. Children of all denominations were encouraged to attend and invited to take some part. It was at one of these meetings that I first heard a blind man, Fred Lovering, read from his Braille Bible - a wonderful performance at that time.

The Wesleyan Band of Hope was held on the first Tuesday of the month. The programme consisted of musical items, recitations dialogues and sketches. Halfway through the programme an address would be given by a well-known temperance orator. Among the chief speakers was Archibald Bencraft, Town Clerk of Barnstaple. He was brimful of dry humour and kept the audience in roars of laughter. His presence would always draw a crowd. At the end of each meeting new members would be enrolled and the badge of a piece of blue ribbon pinned on a coat lapel or blouse. In those days, when there were no cinemas, magic lantern entertainments were always popular and the largest halls in the village would always be filled to see the pictures.

There was much musical talent in the village and in the 1890's a Choral Society was formed. The members were drawn from the three churches and they met for their weekly practices in Chaloner's School under the baton of Mr. Heap who was master of the school and organist of the Parish Church. When he left the village the training of the choir was undertaken by Mr. A. E. Wilshire of Ilfracombe. I remember being taken when quite young to one of the Choral Society's concerts. The first part was a rendering of Haydn's "Creation" and the second part miscellaneous.

The star turn of the evening was the rendering of the duet "Love Divine" by Mr. Sydney Harper and one of his boy choristers at Barnstaple Parish Church, Alfred Long. Both of them, after that time. gave life long service in musical circles of North Devon. The Barnstaple Male Voice Choir, conducted by Mr. Alfred Long, has broadcast on many occasions. The orchestra generally consisted of members of the Ilfracombe Band, led by two clever violinists. Herrs Kopsel and Hahn. Braunton Choral Society. without doubt, played its part in the musical life of North Devon in those days.

Some time in the middle 1890s an orchestra. under the leadership of Mr. John Reed, was started by local instrumentalists. They held their practices in a room in Merryfield Lane. formerly a meeting place of the Brethren. This band became very popular and gave frequent concerts in the Congregational schoolroom and in summer time entertained the villagers under Cross Tree. There was never a lack of musical talent in Braunton.

We were also entertained in other ways, especially when a travelling company came and stayed in the village for a week. A convenient room in North Street was furnished as a theatre and plays were staged. with a different programme each evening. Sometimes a troupe of "black" minstrels would come from Barnstaple and give a show in the Oddfellows' Hall.

Large crowds gathered when Bostock and Wombwell's Circus and Menagerie came and pitched in a field now the Recreation Ground. The afternoon performance was immediately after school and we schoolboys were allowed in at half price. We had a great thrill when we mounted the platform and passed into the menagerie. We were in another world ! I went to Bostock's on more than one occasion. but the first visit is the one that is most vivid in my memory. Elephants. bears, camels. lions, tigers and apes of every description were all wonders to boys whose only idea of a wild animal was a fox or badger. occasionally seen around the countryside. or a monkey perched on an Italian barrel organ. The performances with wild animals were thrilling and often frightening, especially when the roars of the snarling and growling lions seemed to rock the cages.

I shall always remember the half naked Zulus standing on a platform and throwing their assegais at a wooden target and never missing their aim. There were also a tattooed man and a bearded lady. We fed the monkeys with nuts and the elephants with buns and finished our afternoon's entertainment with a ride on Jumbo's back. This show gave us a topic of conversation for many a day.

We were up early next morning watching the menagerie depart, with the hope that it would visit us again some time. There were occasions when a travelling conjurer would come to our school and give an exhibition of the magic art, when school lessons were over. For many days we would wonder how he managed to pass a ball from one glass case to another, through the tape connecting them, and many of us would try to pass as amateur magicians.

Once, in 1895 an entertainer brought the new Edison invention - a phonograph. The records were on discs and the machine was kept going by power from a wet battery.

We sang a school song into the trumpet and soon after heard a reproduction of our own voices. All the wonders of those days have become commonplace, but to boys of the l9th century their impressions have been lasting.

There was one night in the year when the boys of the village observed an old custom long since forgotten. This was on Lent Sherd night, the night of Shrove Tuesday. Armed with sherds and broken pottery they would stop outside a house singing, "Tibby, tibby toe ! Give me a bit of pancake and then I'll go." Of course we never got any pancake. but we pelted the door of the house and then ran off, sometimes chased by the policeman.

To evade the officer of the law we would jump over walls into back gardens and get back to our homes without returning to the street.

4. ELECTION TIMES Click to return to top of page.

Parliamentary General Elections came every three years and the villagers took a lively interest in politics. The hoardings and barn doors were plastered with pictures. slogans and cartoons dealing with the policy of the two parties. Meetings were held in Chaloner's School and were addressed by candidates, members of Parliament from other constituencies and local politicians. Open air meetings under Cross Tree, conducted by peripatetic speakers, were often held and there was great fun, especially at question time. One crowded meeting in the 1890's was most lively. The Liberal candidate, Mr. E. J. Soares, later Sir Ernest, was supported by Dr. Macnamara, M.P. for Camberwell and an ex President of the National Union of Teachers.

Dr. Macnamara was a racy speaker and was quite an expert at dealing with hecklers. On this occasion two or three noted rowdies, well filled with liquor, started interrupting the speaker and were pitched out by the stewards. Then two local members of the Tory party started heckling and questioning Dr. Mac. Time and time again he shut them up, with quick retorts, but they still persisted in their efforts to upset the meeting.

They were both shouting at the same time when Dr. Mac. interjected with " Steady on ! Two donkeys can't bray at once." They immediately stopped and one of them replied, "All right ! You carry on." Mac. was for the moment nonplussed and crestfallen, but he retaliated by telling a number of funny stories aimed at his opponents. They had no reply and the tables were so greatly turned against them that they had to retire in disgust to the nearest local and talk about that "School Master fellow" who could cap everything that they said with a funny story.

In those days the pubs kept open all day and a good deal of free beer was ftowing on both sides. Not only on polling day but throughout the election favours were worn and, when father was not afraid to disclose his colours, the children paraded the streets bedecked with election cards and party colours. Yes ! The villagers were more interested in political matters than today.

5. SUNDAY OBSERVANCE Click to return to top of page.

All places of worship were well attended and there were few empty pews. The sight of a whole family making their way to church was not uncommon. Families had their own pews and filled them. Children first of all went to morning Sunday School and afterwards joined their parents in public worship. They often had to sit under a sermon lasting 40 minutes and yet were ready after dinner for Sunday School lasting an hour. After Sunday School they would probably meet their parents and go for a country walk and after tea attend evening service which lasted an hour or more.

After the evening services in the summer time there would be a Sunday parade for the teenagers and courting couples.

Sunday was a day when tradesmen, sailors, farmers and other workers were able to join in worship as a community and they were all the better for it. Quite a number of farmers came with their workers to the village church or chapels from the neighbouring farms, in horse drawn vehicles. The Wesleyans had a stable and yard for their conveyances. The farmers from Luscott, Ash, Heanton Court, Chivenor, Wrafton, Saunton. Boode, Nethercott, Winsham, Halsinger and the outlying districts always drove to Braunton to attend morning service.

In most homes, Sunday was a different day from those of the rest of the week and particular attention was paid beforehand to ensure it.

Boots and shoes were given an extra polish and the best clothes were set ready. Male adults had black suits with bowler hats and many had frock coats and silk toppers. Their wives wore black silk and satin dresses and beaded mantles. Their heads were generally adorned with high peaked bonnets, tied with black ribbons.

Teenagers and young men wore white straw hats, with coloured bands in the summer, but these were exchanged for bowlers in the winter. White starched collars and cuffs were also much in evidence and to smarten their appearance the young bloods took care that the choicest blooms in the flower garden would adorn their buttonholes when they went to church.

Among the old people of both sexes elastic sided boots adorned their feet and on wet days it was usual to add a pair of pattens to the footwear. These pattens were like wooden and leather sandals fixed on iron frameworks and they made quite a clatter on the stone pavements. There were churchwardens at the Parish Church. deacons in the Independent Chapel and stewards and local preachers in the Wesleyan Chapel not forgetting the leaders in the Brethren.

It was always the custom for the servants to accompany the farmer and his family to church. In those days there might 5e three or four servants living in. One farmer who was churchwarden insisted on his servants keeping awake during the sermon and to ensure this called upon them in turn, when seated at dinner. to repeat the text of the sermon. One Sunday he called on Dick, an illiterate cow boy. "Now Dick, my boy, what was passen's text this morning ?"

"Aw, maister, I coulden' catch it proper, but 'twas from the Bible, I knaw. I think Passen zed, ` In the days of Snatch-a-crab there was a boar salmon in the land ' (In the days of Sennacherib there was a sore famine in the land). Dick was evidently dreaming about fish.

There were red letter days in connection with the Sunday Schools. St. Brannock's treat and festival was in June, and on the great day the children with their teachers. led by the Volunteer Band, 'would parade the village bearing large banners and then march to a field near the Church. After a tea in Chaloner'a School thcy would repair to the field and keep up their festivities, including dancing, until it was dark.

The great day for the Noncomformists was in the week following the Sunday School Anniversary and there would be parades similar to those of St. Brannocks, minus the band.

Although only a small boy then, I well remember the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The churches united in a special service of thanksgiving in St.. Brannock's Church, conducted by the Vicar, the Rev. W. G. Morcom and the Rev. D. R. Davies, the Congregational Minister. Led by the band, the children of the united Sunday Schools, all bearing their banners, had a grand parade through the streets to the Church. After the service all went to a tea and the adults attended a luncheon. We were all presented with Jubilee medals and then went to a field for sports and games.

That was a great day in the history of the old village. The religious lifc of the Victorian days helped us to be friends and neighbours and the village benefited by it.

6. SCHOOL LIFE Click to return to top of page.

There were two schools in the village, a board school built in 1878 and Cha1oner's School, founded in 1668 by the Rev. William Chaloner, who was the vicar of Braunton.

The Board School had separate departments for boys, girls and infants. I started my education in the Infant School when I was three years of age. The teachers were the Head Mistress, Mrs. Pike and a staff comprising of an assistant-mistress, two pupil teachers and a monitress. We were taught to read from large coloured sheets hung on the blackboard. We wrote on slates and were taught to add up with the aid of an abacus.

Knitting with two wooden needles was taught to boys as well as girls. I wall remember with what pride I took home the scarf I had knitted. This was presented to me on being promoted to the Boys' School at the;age of seven. When I went to the Boys' School the Head Master was Mr. Ingram, but he had to retire through illness, when I had been there two years. His successor was Richard Mellhuish Hayman, from St. Luke's College, Exeter. Dick came with a great reputation as a sportsman, for he was a great Rugby football player and during his college days had earned a place in the Devon County team as a forward. He even captained the Barnstaple Rugby team in its palmiest days, when theywere champions of the West, and had seven men in the CountyTeam.

We could always tell on Monday mornings whether Barum had won or lost. He was in the best of moods when he had led histeam to victory, but if they were beaten then the schoolboys had tosuffer. One could tell from his cauliflower ears that he was ascrummager. On Mondays, Dr. Lane, who was one of the members of the School Board, would come to the school and Dickwould retire to the cloakroom where the doctor would paint hisears with iodine. When he came back to his desk those twoorgans looked very much like tangerine oranges Dick Haymanwas a very thorough teacher and disciplinarian. He knew howto wield the rod, especially on the lazy boys. Outside the School he was a real sportsman and Rugby football in the winter andcricket in the summer kept him fit. He was also a keen follower of Izaak Walton. He knew the best places in our stream fortrout and could wield the outdoor rod as cleverly as the one he kept in his desk at school. Many of us had the pleasure of accompanying him on his fishing expeditions on summer evenings. We village boys of that time owe a deep debt of gratitude to our schoolmaster.

Those were the days of annual examinations by Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools when grants were made to the School Boardby the Board of Education on their results. We passed from onestandard to another, after the examination, if we were successful in the three Rs., reading, writing and arithmetic. We were also tested in English Grammar, Geography, History and Recitation. Our teachers took pains to ensure the maximum number of passes. Wealso had annual examinations in Religious Knowledge and Drawing. Old villagers to-day (1966) will recall the fear that crept into ourhearts when the two inspectors Mr. F. H. Codd and Mr. R. Matt came into the room, but our trembling ceased when the latter began to test us, for he was the kindest of men. Many years later,when I became a teacher, he showed me the same kindness as hedid when examining the pupils of the school.

There were several events that I particularly remember during those early schooldays. One day during the early 1890s, when we came out of school at 4 o'clock we saw that the London Inn, an old thatched building. opposite to the entrance of our playground.was on fire and the roof was well ablaze. The Fire Brigade had just arrived from Barnstaple. Seeing that the Fire Engine and Appliances were horse drawn and had to be brought five miles, it can easily be understood that the conflagration had spread all over the house before the Brigade arrived. The firemen were busy laying hosepipes from the engine to the Mill Stream, 150 yards away, when we came on the scene. With the aid of willing helpers the pump was soon got into action. On each side of the old-time engine there was a long handle with room for six men to pump. Soon twelve men began to pump and within an hour the flames were extinguished and the neighbouring houses saved, but the London Inn was a smouldering, gutted ruin. On the same site the present inn was rebuilt.

About the same time we had the Great Blizzard. The snow began to fall one afternoon. continuing without stop during the night. When we awoke in the morning we found that the snow was knee-deep in the streets and in some places there were drifts 6 feet deep. I remember men with spades and shovels clearing away snow from doorways to release those who were imprisoned inside. The neighbouring hamlets and farmhouses were entirely cut off from the village.

No work could be done outside, other than clearing snow to make the roads passable. On the morning of the blizzard very few of the boys attended school. but we. who were fortunate enough to get there, were commended by our Headmaster and told that we were real Englishmen. There were no lessons that morning and we had a holiday from school for several days until the blizzard had passed.

A few years later we had a great flood. Very heavy rain had filled the River Caen so that it overflowed into a meadow at the back of the school. The water soon rushed through the School playground into Caen Street below. The drains were soon choked with debris and within an hour the water was two feet deep in the street. Householders very quickly began to seal up their doors, but some were too late and their houses were soon flooded, so that the occupants had to live upstairs. 1 well remember being carried pick-a-back by one of the pupil teachers, Julian Huxtable, who waded almost knee deep through the water.

People who came by train from Barnstaple or Ilfracombe were cut off from the east side of the village. To overcome this difficulty some sailors and fishermen hurried to Vellator and brought a boat to the flooded street. They did a good trade ferrying marooned travellers backwards and forwards.

There was a humorous side. however. to this disaster. for at times the boat was overfilled and we saw more than one person get a ducking. One noted villager, the crier, was being ferried from the station and when the boat was almost at its destination the two boatmen deliberately caused the boat to upset. and J.Y.T. was precipitated into the water, much to the amusement of the onlookers. Next day the sinks and the drains were cleared and the floods subsided, but many houses suffered the loss of carpets and damage to furniture. Two similar floods have taken place since.

In 1896 I left the Board School and started as a pupil at Chaloner's School. This school was built in 1866 from investments left by a former vicar in 1668. The Rev. William Chaloner bequeathed a certain amount of money for the education of boys of the village. A school was conducted in an old room near the church and boys were admitted at the age of seven, but in 1866 it removed to a new building. There was an entrance examination for all small boys before they could get the benefit of Chaloner's endowment.

At the age of 5 or 6 a boy would go to a Dame School for which he would pay 2d. a week. At the age of seven he would one day appear before the Vicar and his two wardens. First of all he had to read a chapter from the Bible. Then he had to write a copy and add up several lines of figures. If successful in the test he became a pupil of Chaloner's. My father was a successful entrant at the age of seven. When the Board School was opened Chaloner's School became a secondary School and continued so until 1948. While I was a pupil of the school the Head Master was John L. Ralph, B.A., a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge. He was assisted by a French Master, M. Butler, a young man from Bordeaux and on Mondays Mr. W. L. Baron spent the whole afternoon in teaching Art. There were 36 boys in two forms A and B and Juniors between the ages of 8 and 12.

At Chaloner's we received a very sound education and at the end of each year sat for the examinations of the College of Preceptors. There were seldom any failures. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons we had holidays for sport. Our games field was at Wrafton l miles away. After our Wednesday sports we all had tea at the house of our Head Master who went by the name of "Cave." He was a bachelor and lived with his sister at "The Laurels" in Wrafton Road. Among the boys at school were about half a dozen who were boarders and Miss Ralph superintended that department. After a football match we entertained the visiting team at the Laurels when Miss Ralph provided extra cakes for tea, in addition to the usual bread and butter and halfpenny buns.

Once a year we were taken on a school outing to Saunton Sands. After games on the beach and bathing in the surf we had a sumptuous tea at the Lorna Doone Hotel, when strawberries and cream were given first place on the menu.

John Ralph was a Scotsman with a keen sense of humour. He was most patient and painstaking and gave his pupils quite a lot of individual attention. He was a keen disciplinarian and woe betide the boy who came to school with unprepared homework. The boarders had prep every evening lasting an hour and a half and the same was expected of the boys who lived at home.

Every morning we were drawn up in front of the master's desk and tested in turn. If we missed a question a dot was put down in a square opposite our names. We earned ten marks if we got through without a fault, but if we got five dots we had to write our lesson out and bring it next morning. We had to do it even if it meant going without our meals.

In spite of his strict discipline he had the respect of us all. His pupils went into all walks of life, including engineers, bank managers, clergymen, schoolmasters civil servants, army officers, servants of the Eastern Telegraph Company, Ships' Officers. farmers and tradesmen. In the 1890's Chaloner's School obtained as good academic results as any secondary school in the district.

In my first year at Chaloner's a number of Frenchmen, from the shores of the Bay of Biscay, came to Saunton to plant pine trees in the sand hills. Our French master, M. Butler, went to Saunton every afternoon, after school, to act as interpreter. This work was never completed, for, after they had been working a few weeks trouble arose between England and France over the Fashoda question and the French workers were called home. They never returned and the tree planting ceased.

After five years attendance at Chaloner's School I left and commenced my life work as a teacher, but on Saturday mornings I spent the whole time at school where my old master coached me for further exams. Chaloner's boys are now in every quarter of the globe and they remember John Landon Ralph, not as a schoolmaster, but, as a friend and school mate. Chaloner's School played an important part in the education of the village boys for nearly three hundred years and the village was the sufferer when this valuable institution was forced to close.

While at Chaloner's, I learned to ride a bicycle which in those days was a luxury. Among the pupils at the school were the four Colman brothers who resided at Putsborough Manor House, 3 miles away. They were the great-grandsons of the Victorian philosopher, John Stuart Mill. The three elder brothers rode to school on their bicycles and the youngest, Alan, rode a long tailed pony. In the dinner hours we would hurry back to school and Harry Colman would give us rides on his cushioned tyred bike along the Ilfracombe Road. In that way many of us became proficient cyclists and were soon looking for our own machines.

The Colmans were all keen on football and cricket and each in turn captained the school teams. They were also keen naturalists, especially in bird life, and during the weekends in spring and early summer they would explore Baggy Cliffs for sea birds to augment their collection of birds' eggs.

All four brothers became civil engineers. Harry Colman was an officer with a South African regiment in the Second World War and saw much service in North Africa. He was one of the inventors of the flailing machine for destroying land mines.

7. MILITARY MATTERS Click to return to top of page.

The men of Braunton were, from earliest times, ready to defend their country and fight both on land and sea. In the Middle Ages, the Butts, near the Church was the place where the straw targets were stationed for archery practice.

The old records tell us that in Elizabethan days there was a defensive fort at Castle Hill just above Knowle. In the 1890's there were six old guns resting on the fortress walls and some of them still exist.

During the Civil War, Braunton men, under the command of Colonel John Luttrell of Saunton Court, fought on the side of Parliament.

Braunton men also helped to man the ships that went from North Devon to fight the Spanish Armada. They were also to be found in ships at the British fleet that fought in the Napoleonic Wars, and in the Devonshire Regiment, "The Bloody Eleventh" fighting in the Peninsular Wars.

At the end of the nineteenth century there were Volunteer Battallions of the 6th Devon Artillery in various parts of North Devon. including Braunton, where Major Ferguson was in command. Their Drill Hall was in East Street and they had open air drill in different grounds. Whenever they paraded in Scarlet tunic, blue trousers and blue helmet they were led by their brass band, which was also in evidence in club walks and gala occasions. There was also a detachment of the North Devon Yeomanry, consisting mainly of farmers and landworkers. They had special drills just before going to their annual camp and the boys of the village found great pleasure on summer evenings watching cutlass drill in a field on the farm of Sergeant-Major Tom Ashton. Among the North Devon men who volunteered for service with our Yeomanry Regiment was Tom Perryman. He served right through the South African campaign and on his return was given a royal welcome by the parishioners who met him at the Railway Station and dragged him through the streets in a wagonette.

During those war years we had to rely on our newspapers and bulletins issued by the local news-agencies at Barnstaple for news from South Afrtca. Local ladies formed committees and instituted working parties to make comforts for the Tommies. Concerts were held to provide funds for this purpose and an important item on the programme was the singing of Rudyard Kipling's "Absent Minded Beggars," the chorus of which ended with " Pay, pay, pay ! "

A collection was always taken after that was sung. We became very excited when we heard of the reliefs of Ladysmith and Mafeking. Many old villagers still remember the night of May l7th, 1900, "Mafeking Night." The news of the relief of that small town, which, under Colonel Baden Powell, withstood a siege for many months. came to us early in the evening. We soon began to celebrate by marching through the streets, singing patriotic songs and finished up by going up to the top of East Hill where we sent up rockets and used up quite a lot of ammunition in firing a couple of horse pistols.

8. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION Click to return to top of page.

TODAY it is an easy matter to travel from the village by car or National bus, but in the l9th century it was not so. The only convenient means of travel was by train on the London and South Western Railway, and then only to places on the line. To reach neighbouring villages people either had to walk or hire a horse-drawn vehicle.

When I was a boy quite a number of the villagers had never been further than Ilfracombe or Barnstaple and knew nothing of the many beauty spots of the neighbouring countryside.

Trains certainly ran frequently and we could get excursion tickets for 6d. return to Barnstaple and one shilling return to Ilfracombe. Often excursions to London were run at ten shillings return, covering 14 days.

There were no motor cars and the only bicycles were "penny farthings," " bone shakers," and "solid tyred" bikes. I remember two of the villagers who had "penny fathing" bikes. Captains Gould and Harry Clarke were expert riders on these machines. There were also a few locally ridden wooden wheeled "bone shakers." They had iron tyres and hanging on the handle bar was a tongued bell which kept ringing. The solid tyred and cushioned bicycles were still used at the end of the 1890's, but they were most uncomfortable.

We had to rely a great deal on horse drawn vehicles and sometimes on a donkey and cart. Goods were brought from Barnstaple by carriers' carts.

There were still a few people who preferred travelling to town in the four-wheeled carrier's wagon rather than by train. This was a tedious journey and took quite an hour to complete.

Often in the summer time four-horsed coaches loaded with visitors from Ilfracombe, driveri by Sam Colwill or Tom Copp, would pass through Church Street and up over Abbot's Hill to New Road on their way to Barnstaple, Bideford and Clovelly. We would hear the merry tones of the coach horn and would run to the top of Heanton Street to see the galloping horses pass by.

The occupiers of some of the country houses kept many horses in their stables for driving and riding purposes. It was not uncommon to see a pair-horsed landau or carriage driven through the streets by a coachman with a footman by his side. The stables are now empty, the coach houses have been turned into garages, while the coachmen and grooms have sought fresh occupations.

On Friday, which was market day at Barnstaple, the roads showed great activity, for the farmers and their wives travelled in their spring carts loaded with dairy and vegetable produce, to market. Cattle, sheep and pigs, now carried in motor cattle trucks, were driven on foot to the cattle markets. There were quite a lot of carts drawn by donkeys and it was not uncommon to see men riding to work on the back of the humble ass. I have a vivid memory of seeing Dan Chugg riding to market on his donkey mare with a load of vegetables slung on its back. Doctors travelled long distances on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages to visit their patients. All business vehicles were horse-drawn.

During the summer season Saunton Sands was a favourite holiday resort and Croyde Bay was also very popular. Holiday makers came to Braunton by train and were then conveyed to one or other of these resorts. There would often be a dozen or more carriages, including wagonettes, landaus, bassinets, and even a donkey drawn bath-chair, on the stand at the station plying for hire. On arrival at the station passengers would be greeted with "Cab, sir ?" "Cab, Ma'am ?", from the bowler hatted cabbies who crowded around them. A trip to Saunton could be had for a shilling return.

The cab owners had some fine, well-bred horses and some of them were very speedy. One of the horses on Braunton cab-stand, "Tommy," belonging to Mr. George Staddon of the Railway Hotel, was the best of his breed in North Devon. One day a gentleman from South Wales missed his train to Ilfracombe, which would have connected with the passenger steamer leaving for Cardiff. He was in a dilemma, as he had just over an hour to catch the boat. He offered George Staddon, Junior, a sovereign if he could get him to Ilfracombe just before the boat left. Tommy was harnessed to a light trap and they quickly set off. They covered the distance, just over 6 miles, in less than an hour. Mr. Staddon was paid a sovereign and Tommy was rewarded with a long drink of a bucket of beer.

Even the farmer's long tailed cart, furnished with a bundle of straw on each side, was often requisitioned to carry passengers. It was not a very comfortable mode of travel on the rough roads of those days, but we often travelled with as many as six on each side when we went on Sunday School picnics. I was not as comfortable as the present day motor travel, especially when the wheels stuck in the deep ruts, but it was far more enjoyable.

There were a few donkeys with carts let out on hire. As many as three adults and the same number of children could be bundled into a donkey cart and conveyed in this way to Saunton Sands and back. Two old ladies of Knowle, Mrs. Windsor and Mrs. Hancock, were well-known figures riding in their donkey-cart on their way to Broadsands to gather laver.

The wheelbarrow was a vehicle much in evidence, especially on Saturdays. Each of the three coal merchants had two or three wheelbarrows for the use of their customers.

Boys of the village would be sent to the coal cellars for a hundredweight of coal which would cost a shilling and this included the use of the wheelbarrow for its conveyance to the home. It was not uncommon to see half a dozen wheelbarrows, loaded with coal, being pushed along the street. taking the weekly supply of fuel to the workers' cottages.

9. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Click to return to top of page.

PREVIOUS to 1894 local affairs were under the control of and administered by the Vestry Board who also elected overseers of the Poor.

In the early l9th century the destitute and workless were cared for locally and there was a Hospital for the Poor in a building next to the Church.

When this ended they were sent to the Workhouse at Barnstaple. Parish Relief was paid weekly by the District Relieving Officer at the pay table which was in a room under the Old Parish Room, adjoining the Churchyard. On Saturdays we could see a number of old and disabled parishioners of both sexes, wending their way to the pay table to receive their weekly Parish Relief, which ranged from 2/6 to 7/6. Those who were sick and too crippled received their pay from the officer who visited their homes.

In those days little was done to relieve existing conditions. The streets were dirty and full of wheel ruts. They were repaired by being coated with small stones which were worn down by the traffic. The stones used for road repairing were large boulders brought from local quarries or pebbles from the Pebble Ridge at Westward Ho! and broken to a suitable size by men who had pitches by the roadside. With the invention of the steamroller there came better roads. but they were poor compared with the modern tarred roads.

There was no regular water supply and the drainage was bad. After heavy rains the streets would often be flooded and we could play with our toy boats in the gutters by the pavements.The Parish Councils Act of 1894 gave the parishioners the right to control water supply, sanitary matters and lighting and when the first council met. it soon became clear that they would deal with all three. Public parish meetings were called to discuss progressive measures and they were sometimes lively and amusing. When the question of water supply was being discussed one opponent said, "Whaat do us want wi'a rezivoy ? Us got plenty of watter as us be, an' if it goes short us can go tu straim an' vetch 'it," He was followed by another parishioner who said, "Watter us waants and watter us'll hev," and they weren't long before an adequate supply of piped water was obtained from a reservoir constructed in Buttercombe Lane, and new drainage and public lighting soon followed.

Those early Parish Councils were elected by a show of hands, but candidates came forward in such large numbers that a poll was demanded and it was not an easy job to get on the Parish Council.

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