Colyton Vintage Tractor Run, Seaton, Devon

Starting at the Colyton Peace memorial Playing Fields, an annual event of vintage tractors and other agricultural vehicles parade through local East Devon towns and villages, collecting money for charity. The photos were taken in June 2016. I just happened to be walking along from the seafront in Seaton - where there the bank holiday market was held - when I saw a tractor coming around the corner.

I hadn't really planned to do anything with these. Anyway, I dug them out to see what I had and decided to make an article of this event that's peculiar to this part of the world. On doing the research I found that 120 agricultural vehicles took part that year. My photos are just a tiny fraction of that as I only stayed for a short while. 

The Run began in 2000, and has continued up to this year so far - apart from a hiatus of three years from 2020 to 2022 inclusive. The 2020 run was to have been the 20th anniversay but was instead celebrated on June 11th 2023.
There was a change in the route that year, altered to Beer, through Seaton, Axmouth, Musbury and Whitford, before heading back to its starting point.

Much as I like tractors I haven't made a study of them so I don't recognise any of these unless I can see the name on the tractor. The one below is a case in point!

Massey Ferguson is a very well known brand that even I recognise the name. The original company was started by Daniel Massey in 1847, merged with A. Harris, Son and Company to form Massey-Harris Limited, then with the Ferguson Company of Moira in Northern Ireland. 

That is an extremely potted version of what is a complex and interesting history. :)

The 2016 run was journeyed from Colyton and along the Jurassic Coast, through Seaton Town Centre and traditionally ending at Branscombe Village Hall, until the change in 2023.

 

The tractor seen below also had its name on the front. An Ursus, it was built by a Polish agricultural factory, which was founded in Warsaw in 1893. The name ursus is Latin for Bear.

 

And that's about it for this one. Just a short article but I thought it might be of interest. A couple more photos below.

I just managed to squeeze this one in before the end of the month. Next one up is the lovely group of Arts & Crafts houses and bungalows on what I call the Higgledy Piggledy road. Real name coming up on the post!

My new flat bed scanner is an absolute dream. A Canon Canoscan Mk 9000F, it's so fast that I don't even have time to sit down inbetween scans and takes a fraction of the time it took on my lovely old Lexmark followed by the not quite so lovely Epson Expression. No printer with the Canon but it does scan slides and negatives too and I don't really use a printer anyway.

Anyway, I'm well chuffed and am looking forward to the next set of photos when I can take them. Definitely onwards and upwards now, lol.

Cheers and have a lovely Lammas / Lughnasadh Day.* :)

*Lammas, meaning Loaf Mass, is celebrated on 1st August, and was significant to the Celts and Anglo-Saxons, celebrating the wheat harvest and thanksgiving for the abundance of food. Also a Christian holiday that honours the first fruits of the harvest season. Now celebrated in churches as Harvest Festival.

The Deer Stalker, Exeter, Devon

 

This is only a tiny post with just two photos but as I don't have anything else for the Odds & Ends series I've allowed it to have an article to itself.

Situated at the Eastern entrance to Northernhay Gardens is this delightful statue called the Deer Stalker made of bronze on a granite pedestal. It's Grade II Listed and was sculpted by the artist E Bailey Stephens ARA. It was erected in 1878.

Although it's not so evident on the photos, the stalker depicted is wearing a kilt to show his nationality as a Scot. Holding back his enthusiastic hound he shades his eyes looking for their prey.

I don't have a photo including the plinth but the plaque on there containd the Exeter Coat of Arms, beneath which is :

"The Deer Stalker by E B Stephens ARA presented to his native city by a number of friends and admirers of the sculptor. During the Mayorality of H D Thomas Esq AD 1978."

That's it for now. I do have a lot of B&W photos taken in Exeter. Some can go on an article (or more) of Exeter Buildings, but there may be one or two stand alone ones which can have a post of their own like this one. 

Meanwhile, I have just come out of a period of chronic fatigue, more or less housebound for 5 weeks until a few days ago, only managing to get out once during that time. Since then I've been out several times to get my strength and walking ability back, going to a convenience shop just down the road. I don't think I can get to Beer village again anytime soon though, as I still can't walk very well at all, so I'm going to shelve the Fore Street articles for now. If I can't get there I'll continue with what I've got, but for now I'll finish some photo shoots here in Seaton.

I would say 'Onwards and Upwards', but it's been more like 'Backwards and Downwards' recently, lol. Not sure what's coming next but there's still plenty to do with the photos I have and will be getting soon...I hope!

Cheers. :)

 

Infant School & Masters House, Seaton, Devon

 

 

Following on from the Former Schools post I took some more photos of these two delightful cottages. So I've decided to write another article specifically for them rather than just slot the extra photos in the original one. There's also quite a lot of interesting information to add too.

First off, I must apologise for the photos. I didn't realise they weren't focussed properly and although I've tried to correct it in post editing, they've actually got worse.

Anyway, what I'm going to do is manage with these for now then exchange them for others after taking more. Fingers crossed!

Built in 1840, it's a Grade II listing and comprises one building containing the school room on the right and the master's house on the left. The main door is between them with the inscription 'Infant School 1840' on the porch.

Slotted between houses with higher roof lines. altogether they form what is named Yew Terrace, according to the 1889 Ordnance Survey map, and is along what was once Sidmouth Street, now called Harepath Road.

This lovely little infants schoolroom is designed in a Tudor style throughout with moulded portico and finial above the entry porch, comlimenting the dripmoulds above the windows. The porch is delightful with its slightly pointed archway and fitted benches either side. There's also a mural on one inside wall and if I can get permission I'll take a photo and add it with the new ones when I have them.

A single storey, the school room consists of large, leaded pane windows, each consisting of three mullioned and transomed lights. In the window below, I just about managed to capture a small inside window at the rear of the school room. Comprising two lights with diamond panes, the left light also includes a stained glass monogram.

Now two separate cottages privately owned, the buildings are called 'No 11 and the premises of The Women's Institute' in the Listed Buildings entry. The listing date was 1983 and had belonged to the the WI for some time before that. I'm not sure when they sold it but I think it was sometime during the early 1990s. 

Now onto next door to the Master's House at No 11, which is now called Cherry Cottage. This one consists of two storeys with three small leaded windows on the first floor with two larger ones either side of the door on the ground floor.

The walls are roughcast in stucco with a plank door and flat hood above. There's a brick chimney stack at the roof ridge.

The building is attributed to a Captain Proby, who'd also built Ryall's Court School. It took a while to find out which one with dates that match but eventually tracked him down. He was William Henry Baptist Proby - born in 1794 and died in 1839 - and had gained the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy

Although he'd died a year before it was built he was instrumental in arranging for its construction and was also part of the commission to build a workhouse for the poor in Seaton.

Something I found very interesting was a log book for Seaton Infant School by William Henry Baptist Proby, which was in auction at Toovey's Antique & Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers. The section concerning significant events at the school was written circa 1876-1920, which was long after our William died. However, he did have a son with exactly the same names as himself so it was probably him following in his fathers footsteps.

The significant events included general attendance, visits and school inspections. An inspector's report is quoted in the auctioneer's description of contents that "the school is doing 'very fairly in reading, writing and numbers...singing is fair, needlework is very fair' but 'desks of proper construction ought to be provided' ".

It's so lovely to imagine the little ones in their Victorian clothes sitting on bench forms and reading aloud or plying their needlework.

I've always loved seeing both these cottages as the garden on the left is a gorgeous cottage garden and the right one has such delightful architectural features. It also contains the loveliest of single roses with an incredible scent that I always pause to enjoy.

 

And there we have it!

As soon as I can I'll take some better photos of the schoolroom. I was going to do that before writing this article but I'd already left it so long - and I didn't want to go back on my promise this time. Anyway, I'm honestly not sure what's next as almost everything relies on getting more photos. 

However, I do have another new scanner! I didn't like the 'new' one I'd set up for various reasons. Although unused, I'd had it in store for quite a long time, so I crossed my fingers and spent a fair bit of money on another one. It's a flat bed that also scans negatives and slides, which is much better. I have scanning to do from a recent photo shoot too, so that's good. New stuff! :)

Cheers for now and I hope to see you very soon. Oh, and having made up my mind when I started my website (then blog) that I won't do any politics - apart from the odd little rant about Councils and silly decisions regarding my subject matter - but I do want to say this...

Chin up, keep as well as possible, and don't let the wossnames get you down! :)