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Have you ever noticed a brass plaque outside 24 Bridgeland Street, which reads ‘Rooker and Bazeley, Solicitors’? The antique Gothic script in the word ‘solicitors’ suggests there is a long history attached to the building, as indeed there is in houses up and down what is one of Bideford’s most emblematic streets. The difference is…
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It is good news that Westward Ho! beach has been awarded the prestigious Blue Flag status for the 23rd year running and a huge accolade for the many local people and organisations who keep our natural heritage safe and clean. But news has also arrived that Westward Ho! is one of the worst beaches in the…
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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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Proposals to create a Trust Port for the whole Taw and Torridge estuary have sparked a search for a historical document dating from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. When proponents of the Trust Port addressed a packed meeting in Appledore recently, they were told in no uncertain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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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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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…
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Bideford Regeneration Board’s Masterplan makes much of the town’s built heritage as well as our maritime history. But there is another aspect to our urban heritage which perhaps receives less attention: our arboreal heritage. From the ‘wonky conker’ on the Quay to the Monterrey pines at Chudleigh Fort, our town is rich in trees which…
Bideford and River Torridge Heritage Harbour 