Blue Plaques, Seaton, Devon

A joint celebration of the 1000th anniversary of seaton in 2005, along with the centenary year of Rotary International, gave rise to the idea by Rotarian member Douglas Smith of providing blue plaques for the historic buildings in the town. The official English Heritage blue plaques are used to identify buildings where famous people once resided but, along with the expense and difficulties in gaining approval, this wasn't felt to be applicable. Therefore a different approach was used whereby the historic buildings themselves were highlighted, rather than who lived there.

With a short list of 20 buildings, 16 owners agreed to have blue plaques on their walls. Manufactured by Rob Gibbons, of R & H Signs, they were made in aluminium with a pvc laminate and bear both the Seaton Coat of Arms and the Rotary International symbol, together with a brief history of the building.

Check House

Check House was built by Sir William Trevelyan and his wife, Pauline, and was used as their seaside residence between 1864 and 1866. Originally called Calverly Lodge, it is thought that it may have been designed by John Ruskin. Sir William had inherited the manor of Seaton, and he and his wife developed and made many improvements to the area. Pauline was a patron of the Pre-Raphaelites and they entertained many well-known people of their day, including Thomas Carlyle and Florence Nightingale. Their friends also included Tennyson, Christina Rosetti, John Millais and William Morris’s wife Jane.

A grade II listed building, the interior includes a Beer Stone staircase with a wrought iron balustrade entwined with lilies. Now a Care Home, in 2005 an extension won the Healthcare Design Award for the best extension to an existing home.

The building itself is quite lovely, and there are some delightful examples of late Victorian Gothic features. Personally I feel that the additional check design on the new extension has taken a quirky, but beautifully designed building, and totally unbalanced it. Despite that, it's unusual and interesting with some fabulous history...just ignore the new bit; that's what I did when taking the photos! ;)

The separate page for Check House with a lot more history, information and photos, and can be accessed here. 

Seaforth Lodge 

Seaforth Lodge is a short distance along from Check House. and was built in 1863 for the Dowager Lady Ashburton, who also entertained noted visitors of the day, including the Carlisles and various members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Wonderful wrought iron balconies and porches can be seen to the side and rear of the building, and is one of the delightful features of its time.

Still residential but it's now separated into different apartments. The main building, complete with an observatory on the roof, overlooks the cliffs, and at the front is a two-cottage building facing the road.

 

The separate page for Seaforth with more history, information and photos, can be accessed here.

Axmouth Old Bridge

Although it looks stone-built, the bridge was actually completely manufactured in concrete and moulded to look like stone blocks. Built in 1877 by Sir Walter Trevelyan, who was a keen advocate for its use, it is now the oldest mass concrete bridge in England.

Taken on a lovely misty day, the photo above shows the old bridge on the right with the new one on the left. The old bridge is now used as a pedestrian walkway.

Seen at low tide, below, is a line of rocks just upstream from the bridge. I did think this was part of the remains of two attempts to dam the river during WWII, but have been recently informed that there's nothing left of those, and that these piles are placed to protect the new bridge piers from erosion.

Subsidence at the Axmouth side of the bridge. This is the 'fishing side', whereas the yachts and pleasure craft are moored on the Seaton side where they can access the sea from the harbour.

A lot more information about Axmouth Harbour can be seen on its separate page here.

Axmouth Bridge Toll House

A toll bridge until 1907, the little toll house still remains on the Seaton side of the river and is now a residential house. The Lord of the Manor at that time was S. Sanders Stephens. He paid £2,200 towards the sum of £5,000 raised to free the bridge from tolls. Interestingly, Mr Stephens owned the company Stephens Ink and lived at the nearby Queen Anne style house, Stedcombe Manor...once known by locals as 'The Inkpot', both due to the style and the ink association. 

And, as with the others, there's a full article of the Toll House with extra photos and information, which can be accessed here.

One of the things that I sometimes struggle with is what to include, and more importantly, what to leave out. It's very tempting to take photos of everything, just for the sheer joy of photography and working on my (now defunct) website. But, I sometimes have to remind myself that it isn't a gazeteer, but a personal journey of places that I've visited and found interesting. This is why I've only included the above blue plaque buildings in Seaton so far. 

Mind, I haven't visited all of them so there may be additions on my blog if and when I do. :)

Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth, Devon

Once part of Blackmore House, which no longer exists, the gardens were taken over by the Urban District Council in 1952 and subsequently made into a public park, retaining much of its original walls and horticulture. 

I'd often walked past during my visits to Sidmouth and was quite intrigued by some of the features, notably the very old walls, and other interesting things that I could see in the distance. A week before Christmas in 2011 I had some time to kill whilst waiting for films to be processed, so I had a wander in.

Looking from the other side of the gates, above, I was rather pleased to capture a seagull in the photo...even though it looks more like a flying handkerchief!

Palms aren't indigenous to Britain, but we do have a lot of them on the South-West peninsular, thanks to those intrepid explorers who brought seeds and plants back from their travels abroad. The climate is temperate, therefore palms thrive here and are very much a part of our coasts and townscapes now.

One of the more unusual features, I was enchanted by this wonderfully quirky wall post.

Below; a palm that looks as if it's growing from a giant pine cone, presumably caused by the outer palm fronds dying off and being cut back. The tiles look quite old and may have been part of the original garden, now used as a very pleasant seating area with wooden benches.

 

Next to that is a glasshouse. From the outside it looks like the kind of modern conservatory that often gets tacked onto the back of a house to create an extra room. Inside however, it's rather lovely with a tiled floor and interesting plants.

An interesting piece of rock in the centre of a pool, which I suspect acts as a flowing fountain but it wasn't switched on during my visit and the pool was almost dry.

A cottage garden is created in the corner outside, with a fake door and shuttered window. It's quite nice but not really very cottage-gardeny. The brick path and weathered wall is almost authentic but the planting is more municipal than rural, and that door canopy is just horrible to my mind.

Below is a wonderful avenue of pleached trees, pleaching being a technique of weaving the branches of trees together to form a hedge.  I'm glad I saw them in the winter, as the bare branches make such lovely shapes.

 
Another original remain is this delightful wall, below (photo taken on a further visit the following Spring). As well as enjoyment, the gardens would have provided for the household too, and this type of wall may be for training fruit trees against; probably plums and damsons or even peaches. It may also have kept the kitchen gardens separate from, and out of sight of, those walking in the garden for pleasure. However there are some lovely old trees there and the wall could be merely to create 'rooms' so that not all of the garden is revealed at once. 

And finally, a look across the lawn with the wintry shadows of the trees. An altogether enjoyable visit. As well as a place to walk, sit and enjoy, it's also one of the venues used during the Sidmouth Folk Week. Personally, I love it quiet like this, but it's also fun with outdoor music and dancing too. :)

Belmont House, Lyme Regis, Dorset

This is a house with some very interesting history attached, not only locally but also from my own personal point of view. A simple two-storey Georgian seaside villa built in 1774 by Simon Bunter, it was originally known as 'Bunter's Castle'. Passing to the Coade family and renamed Belmont House, it was later added to during Victorian times, and was the home of two of the town's most celebrated residents.

The first of these famous residents was Eleanor Coade, the originator of the Coade Stone; the house given to her by her uncle in 1784. Her family originally lived in the area, where she was born, but later moved to London. The rich decorations of Coade Stone on the facade was created by her own factory in Lambeth. There is a lot of conflicting history about Mrs Eleanor Coade, not least because she shared her name with that of her mother. However, Eleanor never married, but as a business woman in Georgian times, she was given her prefix as an honory title. Owning a business was not considered a suitable occupation for a single lady!

The second famous resident was the author John Fowles. Although a prolific writer, he is probably most well known for his book  'The French Lieutenant's Woman', the story of which was set in Lyme and was completed and published whilst he lived at Belmont House. A film of the same name was also made in Lyme Regis. By then, of course, the house had seen some alterations during Victorian times, with the addition of further buildings to the rear and a quirky turreted tower.

Original boot scraper by the front door.

The Grade II Listed house was taken into the care of the Landmark Trust in 2007 at the request of Mr Fowles’s widow Sarah to fulfil his wish that the house should not be inappropriately developed and also made available for others to enjoy.  It was John's wish that it would be made into a writer's retreat. Sadly, Landmark Trust was granted an application to demolish the Victorian additions, bringing it back to its original standing as a Georgian seaside house and retaining the tower as a stand-alone edifice.

As soon as I discovered that the house was about to be so drastically altered, I was keen to visit and take photos of it in 2010. However, this wasn't my first visit...

During my final year at University in 1994/5 I produced an animation for my main project, and it was something I wanted to continue with. After graduating, I had the idea of making an animation about the Undercliff between Axmouth and Lyme Regis, and as part of my research I wrote to John Fowles. He replied to my letter and invited me over to visit him, which I did. He was a lovely man and showed me around Belmont House, including his studio, where he wrote his books on an old Underwood typewriter overlooking the sea. I've never forgotten that visit and I felt very sad that part of his heritage was soon to disappear.

The beautiful old building in the grounds (above) was the original stables and coach house, which has been retained by Landmark Trust and made into a museum.

 
The observatory tower was originally built by one of the owners of Belmont House, a Victorian gentleman called Dr Richard Bangay. A local GP, he also had a passion for astronomy. The machinery that opens the dome and moves the telescope has been retained and the whole tower restored, now standing on its own since the additional buildings have been removed. These photos were all taken before the restoration of course, so the tower is shown with part of the later addition that attached it to the main building.

I only took a few photos, but a few more along with these can all be seen on my YouTube video slideshow set to music; link below.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIWJ4BywGdU

 

Village Hall, Axmouth, Devon

This Grade II listed building was once the village school and now serves as the village hall. It was built circa 1840, although the later addition of a gabled porch bears a shield above the door with the date 1894. Like many buildings in this area the walls are of stone rubble, with stone quoins and stone coping to the gable ends.

The first two photos were taken on a previous visit to St Michael's church, next door. The others were taken on a visit to a village history exhibition held in the hall, in spring 2011.

The porch, below, which was added some 50 years after the original build, which answers why the later date was added. The gable end has a three light window with intersecting tracery.

 
The gable end facing the road contains a Y-tracery window, below.

 
Across the courtyard is this funky little building. I don't know what it's used for now, but I suspect that it was once a toilet block for the pupils when the hall was a school. It reminds me of my infant school, when using the loo meant a nice walk out in the sun...or a run across the playground during cold and rainy weather.

Below, a view of St Michael's where the south and west sides of the hall abut the churchyard.

And a view of the south gable end taken from the churchyard.

As well as the playground, the interior also reminded me of my old infant school due to the long room running throughout the length of the building and a partitioning screen part-way along. I also took some interior photos, but they were too blurred to use apart from the one below. 

And, to round off my visit to the exhibition, I sat and enjoyed coffee with a huge slice of chocolate cake...visible by its absence on the plate. ;)