Witheridge - Photograph Index

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WI0351	Mr Lloyd Maunder was born at Essebeare Farm in 1874, and began his business around the year 1900. He bought his first pony and trap (seen here driven by Mr Fred Leach) and began wholesale and retail dealing in butter, poultry and eggs. The picture was taken in the roadway outside The Firs (the fir trees had not been growing long). In the background is Gordon House and Ansteys Court. The vehicle has carriage lamps, a long brake lever working on the offside rear wheel, and double elliptic springs front and rear. The butter was eleven pence halfpenny (5p) a pound. From these humble beginnings, the firm in 1987 employed over 1000 people and had a turnover of fifty two million pounds. Had the railway come to Witheridge as planned, this development might have been in Witheridge.
WI0352	The lower Toll House, built in the 1840s, opposite the National School, about 1920.
WI0353	Mr and Mrs. George Pullen at Rosemont Villa. 1900.
WI0354	Rogers builders yard in Fore Street (now Stonemans) was rebuilt after the big fire in 1907. Later Mr Ernest Hutchings yard. Left to Right: Jim Mogford, Bill Ford, Ernest Hutchings, Mr Rogers.
WI0354a	Wayside House home of Mr Ernest Hutchings and his wife
WI0355	Witheridge postman (early 1900s).
WI0356	Early 1900s. Miss Crook outside her cottage with a group of men outside the Blacksmiths behind Fern Cottage. Cottages on the left were where the Rest a While now is.
WI0357	Bill Thomas mother and his sister Clara outside Trafalgar.
WI0358	1915. Miss Elsie Blackford (left) and Emmie Pugsley in the Square.
WI0358a	1915. Miss Elsie Blackford (left) and Emmie Pugsley in the Square.
WI0359	1917. Mr William Bakers Model T Ford is parked outside the Angel, of which he was the landlord. It was a 1913 model 23 h.p. with wooden spoked wheels. Miss Cora Baker and Miss Stella Baker are in the car, and Mrs. Baker and Miss Olive Baker are at the upstairs window.
WI0360	The Square, Witheridge. Pre 1918.
WI0361	Fore Street. This is the oldest picture of Fore Street and must have been taken before 1907, because in that year a fire destroyed much of the row of cottages on the right of the street in the middle distance. It broke out early one morning in the yard of Rogers the builders. Mr Will Bragg rode to Tiverton to get the Fire Brigade, while others ran around the village rousing help and fetching ladders and buckets. However, the thatch was well alight and all they could do was to try to prevent it spreading even further. By the time the Fire Brigade had galloped out from Tiverton, several houses were gutted. The road was blocked for several days and carts had to go around by North Street, Ebringtons Row and out by the Manse. On the right is Ansteys Court (now a garden opposite the garage); one of the occupants was Mr Bert Adams who kept a blacksmiths shop on the triangular piece of ground at the top of the village at Chapner Cross. Those living in Ansteys Court were among the first tenants of Butts Close houses when they were built after the 1939/45 War. On the left is Lawn Cottage, occupied at the time by the Master and Mistress of the British School, Mr and Mrs Carter. It was not until the 1920s that it began its career as a garage.
WI0362	Witheridge 30 June 1908. In connection with the sheep-shearing classes lately held in Witheridge under the auspices of the Devon County Council, competitions were held on Tuesday in a field kindly lent by Mr Selley. The judges were Mr Dart, of Cannington and Mr Hooper, of Summer, whose awards were as follows: Class A (under 18 years of age) 1. R Vicary; 2.H.Selby (Westway): 3.C.Kingdom: 4.H.Davey: 5.G.Greenslade: 6. C Crook: 7.H.Ayre. Class B (under 25 years of age) 1. T Ayre: 2. A Vicary: 3.F.Vicary: 4. H Flew: 5. G Chapple: 6. F Selley. The sheep were sent for the competitions by Mr F J P Maunder, C.C. After the shearing, the competitors and others adjourned to the Angel Assembly Room. Amongst those present were Mr Carter and Mr Mansfield (who distributed the prizes), Messrs W Maunder F K Maunder, G H Selley, Andrews, Hooper, Dart, C Gunn, Vicary, A Maire, Crook, Hill, and W Manley (instructor). Congratulations were given by Mr Mansfield and Mr Carter to the local Committee for the efficient manner in which they had done the work entrusted to them by the Technical Education Committee of the County Council, and the hope was expressed that another year, more classes would be held. Thanks were accorded the instructor. That suit you have been wearing so long requires an old age pension. Therefore call in and see W Holcombe and Sons patterns for this season.
WI0363	Mr Bill Gold, Wheelwright. Left to Right: Bill Gold, Victor Stenner, Jack Bristow. 1920s.
WI0364	In c1900, Mr Amos Maire stands outside his premises (now Ditchetts) with his second wife Harriet and his son William. He was also the miller at Witheridge Mill.
WI0365	Ditchetts House became a shop in about 1926 when Mr Jim Buckingham, seen on the left bought it. The terrier in the doorway is Nip.
WI0366	Witheridge early 1920s.
WI0367	Witheridge scenes.
WI0368	From Trafalgar Square Whitfields the bakers.
WI0369	Butchers shop in Fore Street. Includes Tom Knott, Frank Maunder, L Thomas, E Hill. About 1914/18.
WI0370	Witheridge April Fair, before 1914. Witheridge April Fair is mentioned in the Directory for 1850, and probably started long before that. It always included a stallion parade, cattle, and tents were pitched in the Square. These included a Fairings Stall where a sweet merchant from Chulmleigh sold his produce. It took place on a Wednesday, but children were always let off school for the day.
WI0371	Witheridge Fair, pre 1914.
WI0372	1914 Ansteys Court.
WI0373	Mr and Mrs Kingdom in the garden at Littlebourne. Circa 1920
WI0374	Fore Street in the 1920s. Ansteys Court on the right.
WI0375	Ansteys Court (1920s). Jack Rice and Lila Bryant. He kept a grocery shop in Ansteys Court, and cleaned the village oil lamps. The pony was Kitty. Mr and Mrs Crang bought Kitty and the trap. Eliza Rice was to marry Arthur Bryant.
WI0376	Witheridge from the Tower. 1920s.

WI0377	1920s. Mr Lionel Gunn, Mrs Gunn and Miss Joyce Gunn stand in front of their shop (formerly Pullens, then Culhernes and now Village Stores).
WI0378	Early photo of Lakelands.
WI0379	From left: Ernest Hutchings and William Baker junction of Queen Street and the Square.
WI0380	Fore Street (Birds eye view).
WI0381	The galvanised roofed garage was altered from a thatched cottage in 1931 at a cost of £50 8s 4d. To the right of the garage can be seen the wooden construction that was Gordon Keith's fish and chip shop. Behind the shop can be seen the thatched building which was a blacksmiths.
WI0382	Witheridge Fore Street. About 1920s. The Firs (on the right of the picture) was built between 1902 and 1914, and the photograph can be dated roughly by the age of the pine trees.
WI0383	Back of Commercial Inn. From left: Mr and Mrs. Herbert Partridge, Mr W Partridge, Moira Partridge.
WI0384	William Reed, landlord of the Hare and Hounds for 31 years. He then farmed Buddleswick for 38 years until his death at 95.
WI0385	Queen Street, Witheridge. Circa 1913.
WI0386	On the left is the Hare and Hounds. The pub closed in 1967. It was destroyed by fire in October 1994, and rebuilt.
WI0387	Trafalgar Square 1920s.
WI0388	Fore Street. 1920s.
WI0389	Witheridge Fore Street. (late 1920s). Ansteys Court on the right has acquired a telegraph pole, and the house on the left has begun its career as tobacconist and motor engineer. The name Greenslade has appeared in the shop window behind the car. Letter in Gazette: WATERLOO HOUSE AT WITHERIDGE. Sir, A report in the Gazette states that the houses known as Nos.16 and 18 Fore Street, Witheridge, are to be demolished to make room for road widening. No.18 was built in the year 1815, and was called Waterloo House because in that year the Battle of Waterloo was fought. My father started a grocery business there in or about the year 1883, and there has been a shop there ever since. I was born in Fore Street and lived there for over 80 years until 1962, when I moved to Chelmsford. No.16 was used at one time by the Bible Christians as a place of worship before they built their chapel. (signed) W J Greenslade. 35 Patching Hall Lane, Chelmsford.
WI0390	A Foden steam lorry belonging to Notts Quarries, 1920s.
WI0391	Queen Street, 1920s.
WI0392	The Square, late 1970s.
WI0393	Mr Williams. His Chemists shop was the last in the village.
WI0393b	Mr Williams. His Chemists shop was the last in the village.
WI0393A	Mr Williams. His chemists shop was the last in the village.
WI0394	There has been a bakery on this site for over two hundred years. In the 1780s Mr William Burgess set up a bakery business on the spot which is occupied by Reed and Son today. It passed to Mr Henry Burgess who, on his death in 1855, left it to his daughter Elizabeth. She sold it to Mr William Whitfield, in whose family it remained for over eighty years, until it was bought in 1943 by Mr William Churchill. His father had started a rival bakery at the bottom of West Street in the 1880s. Mr Churchill closed his business on buying Whitfields. Mr Raymond Reed, Mr Churchill's nephew, started to work for him in 1943, and bought the business in 1955. Mr Reeds son, Paul, also works there. The old faggot oven was replaced in 1943 by a coke fired system, which in turn gave way to oil in 1970 and then to electricity in 1984. For the faggot oven, the baker would buy a hedge or coppice wood, have it cut and then have a woodrick made close to the road, so that cartloads could be collected as needed. Bakers not only baked their own goods but allowed customers to bring their own cakes and also their Christmas and Sunday dinners, to be baked in the oven. It was not unknown for a husband to fail to recognize his own families dinner when he came to collect it, and to go home with the wrong one.
WI0395	The Square early 1930s. Andy Mitchell by the War Memorial. Percy Chapple, foreground.
WI0396	1930s. These premises were the only ones in Witheridge to suffer damage in the Second World War, and not from enemy action but from our American allies. Before the invasion of Europe in 1944, American tank forces used to carry out manoeuvres on Exmoor, and, one day, a loaded tank transporter came up through the village from South Molton; it had already had a brush with the surroundings, for there were telephone wires draped round its Grant tank. Unfortunately, it got wedged where the road narrowed by Greenslades shop with its hubs touching the buildings on both sides of the road. The driver revved up, and the transporter moved forward taking a corner of the shop with it, and leaving the bed upstairs hanging out over the street. The American comment was, "what are these goddam houses made of, paper?" The walls were rebuilt, but a few weeks later another transporter arrived and this time most of the village went to watch it knock the shop down for the second time, which it duly did. There were American troops encamped at Deer Park Cross, Cruwys Morchard, for a time. They patronised the Angel, beer in one hand and whisky in the other, and the hedgebanks between Witheridge and Cruwys Morchard were said to be littered with their beer bottles.
WI0397	1930s. West Street, opposite Cannington House. Mr and Mrs Welch (left), Mr and Mrs W Thomas (right). There is doubt whether West Street was ever called Queen Street. It was only called West Street because the Post Office insisted that it had a name. The cottages were cleared to make way for garages.
WI0398	West Street Cottages.
WI0399	1938. Bill Darch aged 13, delivering milk for W S Selley.
WI0400	1930s. Mr William Partridge, Mrs Elsie Partridge, Mr Herbert Partridge.