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It’s great news that the Waverley is coming to Bideford again on 15 June and we would love to see more historic ships visit our ancient port alongside the SS Freshspring. Last week, seven of us from Bideford, including both town and district councillors, visited a ‘Factory-Museum’ in northern Spain specialised in traditional shipbuilding, to…
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This week’s column is provided by Bideford and District Archive. The area covered by the community archive is geographically large and some of the outer edges still hold shimmering echoes of their Celtic past. For those of us who like our history ancient, this is the place for us. On 21st June at 4pm there will be a…
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Proposals to create a Trust Port for the whole Taw and Torridge estuary have sparked a search for a historical document dating from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. When proponents of the Trust Port addressed a packed meeting in Appledore recently, they were told in no uncertain terms that residents had a historic right…
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How useful is Tarka as a local brand? We have the Tarka Trail, the Tarka railway line, and goodness knows how many businesses using the name from cafés to self-storage, van hire, and plumbing. A statue of the hero of Henry Williamson’s 1920s novel (full title: ‘Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-life and Death in…
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Pollution of our waterways and seas has been much in the news recently and the television programme ‘Dirty Business’ has brought this to an even wider audience. The programme showed how heavy rainfall and inadequately maintained treatment systems have resulted in frequent pollution incidents. At the same time, policy changes regarding self-monitoring by water companies…
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What would you do to improve Bideford? And what would you get rid of? Those are the questions a group of us asked the public at the recent EAT festival on Bideford Quay. Bideford Regeneration Board has recently launched a Masterplan and Strategy Report, so this was a good opportunity to get feedback from residents.…
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Bideford welcomed in the spring with a special History Day, held at the Amateur Athletic Centre on The Pill, organised in conjunction with the South West Maritime History Society. Ninety people packed into the hall, some from as far away as Birmingham, Bristol, and Gloucester, to hear a programme of talks focusing on the Tudor…
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Researchers at Bideford Archive have been investigating the story of Northam’s Bone Hill monument as reported in the local press in 1897. The initiative came from William Blakeney, who had retired to Westward Ho! after a career as a Navy hydrographer drawing up maps of the coast, mainly in the Far East. He belonged to…
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Bideford and River Torridge Heritage Harbour get more things done by partnering with others. At national level that’s by being part of the Maritime Heritage Trust. Locally, other heritage organisations are obvious collaborators, and the River Torridge Heritage Group brings together twelve local organisations from along the estuary with a common interest in heritage. For…
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Today at midnight the Government’s consultation on Local Government Reorganisation will close. The Government is seeking views on proposals that will see the end of district councils like Torridge and North Devon, as well as Devon County Council. Instead of two tiers of local government, with a different council responsible for collecting the rubbish from the one that…
Bideford and River Torridge Heritage Harbour 