GENUKI: North Devon Journal - Looking Back 5, Devon

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Further Items from Peter Christie's 'Looking Back' Column

In the North Devon Journal (2013)

Provided by Peter Christie

Extracts from past issues (1851-1987) of the Journal

2	1	1851	Nicholas Perry, described as 'a disorderly character' is fined 25p for being drunk in Torrington. The Mayor and councillors of Torrington attend a church service on Christmas Day 'as usual'.
9	1	1851	A Durham Ox 'of speculative notoriety' is auctioned at Torrington for £35. Thomas Dillon and Richard Hanger 'two notorious poachers' of Dolton are gaoled for 3 months.
16	1	1851	Mary Jones aged 70 dies after 40 years as an inmate of the Pilton Poorhouse. Second Back Lane in Barnstaple is renamed Trinity Street.
5	1	1860	The first issue of the Western Morning News is advertised in the Journal. South Molton, Torrington, Lynton and Braunton all discuss forming locally based Rifle Corps.
12	1	1860	John Andrews is gaoled for 6 months for stealing lead from Apps Brewery in Littleham. The Bible Christian chapel at Dyke, Clovelly is opened.
19	1	1860	Voters in a South Molton town council election are given 3 pints of beer each to vote for the Tory candidates. The Morthoe Clothing Club holds its annual distribution of funds.
26	1	1860	The captain of the local ship Louisa Braginton is tried in Liverpool for bringing Chilean political prisoners to the UK. Weare Giffard School is opened.
2	2	1860	Robert Cade an inmate of Bideford Workhouse dies in a lime kiln at East-the-Water from fumes. Torrington police superintendant William Cole dies aged 41 'after a lingering illness.'
9	2	1860	James Bowen of Appledore is appointed Captain of the Great Eastern steamship. The new Bideford Rifle Corps choose green coloured uniforms.
16	2	1860	It is planned to replace 'the confusion, insecurity, and exposure involved in the present primitive arrangement of South Molton market.' A Bideford public meeting discusses plans to establish some 'Public Baths'.
23	2	1860	51 parishes in North Devon petition Parliament to scrap the Devon county police force. Ilfracombe streets are infested with 'gangs of disorderly boys' smoking and pushing 'respectable people' off the pavements.
1	3	1860	The new Bideford Rifle Corps practice in the Pannier Market. A Braunton man who buys a 'bewitched' pig manages to lift the spell.
8	3	1860	A court at South Molton hears that of the 6 houses in Berrydown Cross hamlet 'four of them are beerhouses'. William Marshall a travelling bookseller 'dies suddenly' at Shebbear.
15	3	1860	A new police station with 2 cells is to be built in Steppa Lane, South Molton. The Journal loses a libel case but damages are set at one farthing.
22	3	1860	There are plans to link Exford Iron Mine on Exmoor to the sea by a 7 mile long tram line. Richard Hare of Appledore is said to have ridden a porpoise near the village.
29	3	1860	A fight breaks out amongst 200 'countrymen' outside of Bideford pig market. T.Cornish of Barnstaple publishes 5 tinted views of the town.
5	4	1860	Barnstaple Rifle Corps are given a shop in Butchers Row for their armoury. Isaac Stacey, a drunk, is placed in the stocks at Lynton.
12	4	1860	South Molton teetotallers have 110 members and are to open a coffee-house. An 8' long human skeleton is discovered on Lundy.
19	4	1860	The lodging house run by Catherine Fewings in Bideford is said to be a brothel. Morthoe church is undergoing refurbishment.
26	4	1860	A 'temporary' sideshow on Barnstaple Quay disrupts services at Cross Street chapel. P.c.William Weeks is dismissed for being found in a beerhouse at Clovelly.
3	5	1860	William Burrows a sailor and ex-policeman escapes from Barnstaple prison using a clothes prop. Hartland residents are said to 'still cling to old superstitions.'
10	5	1860	A £5 reward is offered in Bideford for vandals destroying shrubs along the river bank. Barnstaple town council are to spend £150 on a new map of the town.
17	5	1860	A new Post Office is to open in Bideford at 17 High Street. An illegal cricket ground at Furze Down Hill on Torrington Commons is destroyed.
24	5	1860	The rector of Holsworthy Christopher Clarkson is charged with assaulting his wife's maid. The new Bideford Rifle Corps discuss forming a band.
31	5	1860	The Torrington Female Friendly Society holds its AGM and 100 members attend. John Thomas replaces his father as the South Molton gravedigger.
7	6	1860	The editor of the Journal suggests the need for a 'fuddleometer' in cases of drunkenness. A foundling baby is left at Mrs.Popham's shop in Fore Street, Ilfracombe.
14	6	1860	The 'female mercantile assistants' of Northam and Appledore are said to be 'celebrated dancers'. Forty members of the new South Molton Rifle Corps swear the oath of allegiance.
21	6	1860	A labourer collecting gull's eggs on Lundy falls from the cliffs and dies. P.c.John Snell of Torrington resigns and Mr.Searle of Bristol is chosen to take his place.
28	6	1860	The Barnstaple borough police force is deemed 'inefficient' by a Government inspector. Five Bideford boys are gaoled for 12 hours for using obscene language.
5	7	1860	The Rev.J.Chanter of Ilfracombe orders the removal of coloured lettering on gravestones. Women are 'engaged in discharging limestone' from boats at Appledore.
12	7	1860	Mungo Henry 'a man of colour' who served 30 years in the Royal Navy is arrested for drunkenness in Barnstaple. Ilfracombe tourists arrive aboard a steamship in Clovelly being accompanied by a 'German band.'
19	7	1860	The Rev.Henry Luxmoore whose sermons 'have not been marked by brilliant oratory' leaves Barnstaple. Mitchell Hunt and 3 other Winkleigh boys are fined 2/6 each for playing football near the Post Office.
26	7	1860	An undertaker trying to save money sends a body to Exeter from Barnstaple in a box labelled 'Glass' - he is fined £1. Boys aged 12-14 are being taught sword drill by the Ilfracombe Rifle Corps Instructor.
2	8	1860	George Pearse of West Anstey is gaoled for 1 month for 'flashing'. A flag is presented to the Bideford Rifle Corps by Mrs.Keats.
9	8	1860	12 year old James Ayre of South Molton is given 1 week in gaol for scrumping apples. A carriage containing 6 people is backed over Bideford Quay.
16	8	1860	The South Molton Mounted Rifle Volunteers use part of the Town Hall as their armoury. G.Carter of Ilfracombe publishes a 'Penny Guide & Directory' for Ilfracombe and Lynton.
23	8	1860	Earl Fortescue visits the West of England Steam Biscuit Factory on Barnstaple's Strand. Bratton Fair only boasts 'one or two third rate exhibitions of glass-blowing, a learned pony etc.'
30	8	1860	Mrs.Pettle a Torrington glovemaker hosts 50 of her mainly female employees to tea. Mary Broadway a gipsy is gaoled for 6 days for telling fortunes at Winkleigh.
6	9	1860	William Scoyne of Chittlehampton is fined 5/- for being drunk in company with prostitutes in Myrtle Place, Barnstaple. A resident of Lundy called Spearman shoots himself and is brought to Clovelly for treatment.
13	9	1860	A disputed race at the Bideford Regatta leads to arrests after fighting breaks out. The flag of the old North Devon Militia is presented to Barnstaple town council by Earl Fortescue.
20	9	1860	A Reading Room for Working Men is to be opened in Ilfracombe. Barnstaple Fair features 'travelling theatres, clairvoyant lady, shooting galleries, Punch & Judy, panorama, a boxing booth etc.'
27	9	1860	The Torrington police are asked to patrol the cemetery on Sundays to control children who gather there. Class distinctions are said to be rife between the 1st and 2nd Companies of the Barnstaple Rifle Corps.
4	10	1860	Jane Edmunds a Barnstaple prostitute is found drunk outside the brothels in Queen Street. The Star Inn in Ilfracombe's High Street is badly damaged by fire.
11	10	1860	The Bideford Bridge Trust discusses widening their bridge. South Molton town council are to build a fire proof room in the Town Hall to hold their records.
18	10	1860	St.Mary Magdalen's churchyard in Barnstaple is so wet coffins float before being buried. An abandoned dead baby is found on Bideford Quay and this is said to be a 'frequent occurrence.'
25	10	1860	Howe and Cushing's United States Equestrian Troupe visits South Molton. Two silver bugles are presented to the Barnstaple Rifle Corps by the 'Ladies of Barnstaple.'
1	11	1860	John Price 'swimming master' of Ilfracombe's 'bathing beach' dies aged 58. The Journal buys a complete new selection of lead type to give the paper 'a more attractive appearance.'
8	11	1860	The cellars of Mr.Thorne's house in the Square, Barnstaple flood at every high tide. 93 year old Dolcibella Tucker dies at Goodleigh - having been one of the earliest Methodists in Barnstaple.
15	11	1860	A court case re the will of Richard Miller of Winkleigh hears that he was 'as mazed as a rattle' when he wrote it. An Ilfracombe public meeting supports the building of a new market house.
22	11	1860	A company is set up to build the Barnstaple-Ilfracombe railway. Jane Edmunds 'a prostitute living in an infamous den, at the entrance to Queen Street' in Barnstaple is fined £1 for abusive language.
29	11	1860	Elizabeth Blight a Merton servant is tried for concealing the birth of her illegitimate child. Thomas Warren of Warkleigh 'The Champion of the Plough' writes to the Journal.
6	12	1860	Mr.Hayes late station master at Bideford is now station master at Bombay, India. Philip Gould, a miner, falls down the shaft of Watermouth Lead Mine at Berrynarbor and dies.
13	12	1860	The Wesleyan Day School at Derby in Barnstaple has 555 children on its books. A Public Inquiry is held into the decrease in salmon numbers in the River Torridge.
20	12	1860	The Reverend Gossett sets up the Northam Penny Bank. A son is born to Richard Heawood, 'Captain' of the Bideford Anthracite mine.
27	12	1860	Skating takes place on the frozen River Taw at Barnstaple. Mary Loosemore a servant at North Molton, dies in childbirth after being sacked for being pregnant.
24	1	1861	The Overseers of Marwood are summonsed for not repairing the parish roads Charles Hopper of Woolsery is accused of poaching at Leworthy Barton.
31	1	1861	South Molton churchgoers are advised to take hot water bottles to church as it is so cold. In Barnstaple Mary MacManus calls Harriet Jones 'a turn up nose gipsy-breed fortune teller.'
7	2	1861	Barnstaple town council discuss sewage problems at the town's prison. South Molton town council give £25 to the town's Mechanics Institute to buy books.
14	2	1861	Mr.Harris of Lynton makes uniforms for the town's Rifle Corps. The Torrington Penny Bank is opened in the Market Hall - £8 is deposited.
22	2	1861	Sam Williams a Barnstaple apprentice runs away to Cardiff - he is gaoled for 1 month. The steam boiler at Molland copper mine explodes and kills 2.
28	2	1861	The furniture workshop of George Nichols next to Torrington Market catches fire. Two itinerant 'quacks' are fined £1 each at Barnstaple for obstructing the streets.
7	3	1861	Mrs.Hartley of York House, Bideford raises £250 for the lifeboats by selling her poems. Sergeant John Hill, a Waterloo veteran, dies in Georgeham.
14	3	1861	A letter from a North Devonian in the USA speaks of the new President Lincoln and the 'Southern Confederacy'. Thirza Matthews of Torrington is tried for the murder of her child.
21	3	1861	Berry Quarry at Combe Martin collapses and two men die. Thomas Shepherd of Bradworthy returns from the Australian goldfields a very rich man.
28	3	1861	John Toms dies aged 65 - he was the Ilfracombe correspondent of the Journal from 1824. Barnstaple town council order the drawing of a new town map at a cost of £105.
4	4	1861	The Ilfracombe Coloured Troupe fife and drum band' give a concert. Bideford councillors try to stop smuts falling from the overhead tramway in Barnstaple Street.
11	4	1861	Edward Welch of Torrington leaves his wife and 4 children for another woman - he is gaoled for 3 months. James Cudmore is fined 10/- for getting drunk at Dolton Revel.
18	4	1861	A sailor on 'the new schooner Alice, owned by the Rolle Canal Company' drowns in the Torridge. Burial fees in Barnstaple cemetery increase by 50%.
25	4	1861	Two girls Coles and Stanbury are fined 5/- each for loitering on Bideford Quay 'for the purpose of prostitution.' Torrington masons demand a rise of 4d a day.
2	5	1861	St.Mary's church in Bideford buys a new archive chest. The Torrington Penny Bank has 319 depositors and takes in about £8 per week.
9	5	1861	Mr.Morcombe a North Devon 'mine captain' is sued over an unpaid coal bill. W.Goss wins the tender to supply bread to Barnstaple Prison.
16	5	1861	South Molton town council give their Police Superintendent £4 p.a. clothing allowance. The Journal attacks a local newspaper editor as a 'miserable creature.'
23	5	1861	The Bishopsnympton Friendly Society holds an AGM for its 400 members. Joseph Baugham glove manufacturer of Torrington dies aged 72.
30	5	1861	14 year old William Heale of Ashreigney dies from eating unripe gooseberries. The American Civil War leaves the Torrington glove trade 'in a very depressed state.'
6	6	1861	Elizabeth Gould 'an abandoned female' of Sherwill deserts her 2 children in Barnstaple Workhouse - and is gaoled for a month. A 17 year old Berrynarbor bride leaves her husband after 3 weeks of marriage.
13	6	1861	A Bratton Clovelly man needs an 'interpreter' before a judge can understand him. Barnstaple town council are accused of illegally letting some property to a councillor.
20	6	1861	Samuel Tucker of Barnstaple is charged by the Chief Constable of Devon with forging his character reference for the police. The North Devon Mounted Rifles muster at Torrington in new uniforms.
27	6	1861	Izet Cole a Bideford 'nymph of the pave' is gaoled for 6 weeks for theft. The butcher's shop of Edmund Clarke at Merton is gutted by fire.
4	7	1861	The Meshaw Revel 'which consisted of wrestling, getting drunk, and brawling' is replaced by a picnic. George Whittaker is appointed the Journal's Bideford correspondent.
11	7	1861	Flagstones are laid at Ford Rock in Bideford to help swimmers. William Stacey alias 'Billy on the Road' is charged with theft at Torrington.
18	7	1861	The Barnstaple Fire Brigade captain is accused of 'blundering' at a fire. Bideford Regatta forbids 'coarse sports such as jumping in sacks.'
25	7	1861	William Britton, a Barnstaple photographer, sends out wedding invites bearing miniature pictures of him and his bride. The Torrington Rifle Corps is formed with 50 men.
1	8	1861	The Census shows the population of Barnstaple to be in decline. The Manor of Bradworthy is sold.
8	8	1861	Mr.Tedrake 'photographic artist' of Northam marries Grace Ley of Buckland Brewer. 300 members attend the AGM of the Hartland New Union Friendly Society.
15	8	1861	A Barnstaple councillor denounces the new county police as 'the greatest nuisance in the country.' It is proposed to protect Northam Burrows from the sea..
22	8	1861	15 year old Thomas Patterson has his hand crushed at the West of England Biscuit Factory at the Strand, Barnstaple. The Journal claims its largest ever circulation.
29	8	1861	A telegraphic wire is about to be erected linking Barnstaple to Ilfracombe. Stereoscopic photographs are taken of events during Ilfracombe Gala Week.
5	9	1861	Ann Hodge a pauper in South Molton Workhouse is gaoled for 2 months for destroying her clothes. James Jarvis a Barnstaple tailor drowns whilst swimming in the Taw.
12	9	1861	Elizabeth Vickery is charged with brothel keeping in Barnstaple but she emigrates to avoid trial. At Bideford James Paddon leaves his wife - 'she was of such a bad temper, there was no living with her.'
19	9	1861	Three cottages at Fairy Cross are destroyed by fire. Ilfracombe is infested with Portuguese 'Men of War' jellyfish.
26	9	1861	Frederick Maunder's wool factory in Tuly Street, Barnstaple is sold. The Torrington Amateur Band is formed by J.W.Setter..
3	10	1861	Mr.Knight, owner of Exmoor, sells moor ponies at Reading. Matthew Fisher a 17 year old Landkey boy is gaoled for fighting in a Barnstaple brothel.
10	10	1861	The Journal denounces rises in income tax. F.Knight, owner of Exmoor, bans deer hunting on his land.
17	10	1861	Building of Ilfracombe's new Market is halted due to a lack of stone. Thomas Rew a master mariner of Appledore is declared bankrupt.
24	10	1861	John Roger is burnt to death at Viveham Mine, Eastdown. Braunton Great Field produces large quantities of wheat and potatoes.
31	10	1861	Elizabeth Vicary 'an abandoned prostitute, residing at Chulmleigh' is gaoled for being drunk. A public meeting at Lynmouth protests at the closure of local footpaths.
7	11	1861	The Bideford farmers Club is set up with a reading room. John Lancey dies in an accident at the North Buckland Iron Mine at Georgeham.
14	11	1861	The Barnstaple Liberal Association is set up. Young people congregating under Torrington town hall are said to be a nuisance.
21	11	1861	A plan for a floating dock at Instow is published. The new Bible Christian chapel at Yarnscombe is opened.
28	11	1861	The steamer Waterwitch sinks near Lundy - its stern washes up at Hartland. At the New Inn, Braunton a girl is saved when her crinoline catches fire..
5	12	1861	Brandy casks wash up at Hartland and Mr.Pomroy nearly dies after drinking himself senseless. Richard Heath of Barnstaple dies - in his early days he was prominent Chartist.
12	12	1861	Dr.Dempster a Barnstaple dentist is divorced after his wife catches him with prostitutes. At South Molton the New Temperance Hall & Working Men's Institution is opened.
19	12	1861	George Harvey dies at Bideford railway station when timber he is unloading crushes him. Barnstaple shopkeepers agree to close their businesses on Boxing Day.
26	12	1861	Elizabeth Newcombe of Derby, Barnstaple is gaoled for soliciting alms with a 'begging petition.' Mrs.Susan Colwell a Barnstaple midwife is censured over helping at an illegitimate birth.
26	12	1861	Barnstaple shops are closed to mark the death of Prince Albert. Chilcott Farm, Tawstock is destroyed by fire.
2	1	1862	Elizabeth Macleod 'a wretched half starved looking creature' is gaoled at Barnstaple for 6 months for theft. At Tawstock a village 'Coal Club' distributes 40 tons of coal to poor labourers.
9	1	1862	A Barnstaple pub is found to be floored with gravestones 'bartered for drink' by the parish sexton. The exclusive rights to four seats in St.Mary's church, Bideford are auctioned.
16	1	1862	The 34 members of the Appledore Maternal Society have had 230 children between them - of whom 78 had died. A fire at Hartland Abbey nearly kills Sir George Stucley.
23	1	1862	A Reading Room is set up at Bucks Mills by Mrs.Elwes of Walland Cary House. The Barnstaple Post Office moves to Cross Street - which is described as being windswept and unsuitable.
30	1	1862	Work starts on a new town hall in Ilfracombe using stone from the Tors estate. Ann Chugg is charged by her master John Manley with theft from his toy factory at Bradiford, Pilton.
6	2	1862	17 year old Joseph Hayward of Hartland has a mechanical 'leg' made for him. The proposed widening of Bideford Bridge is costed at £3500.
13	2	1862	Sergeant Chanter of the Barnstaple Police is presented with £24 at the end of his long career. Richard Hobbs a paralysed, deaf mute of Bideford is charged with begging at Shebbear.
20	2	1862	A new school room is opened at Bideford's Lavington chapel. Rawleigh Factory in Barnstaple and the adjoining 29 workers' houses are to let.
27	2	1862	A public meeting at Ilfracombe discusses the possible fortification of the town. Police at St.Giles in the Wood are said to be officious and to be liars.
6	3	1862	The stock of Kenwith Castle Model Farm at Abbotsham is sold at auction. Ann Hodge 'a turbulent woman' of Witheridge smashes 21 panes of glass in South Molton Workhouse.
13	3	1862	Moves are started to build a telegraph station at Capstone Hill in Ilfracombe. Jane Edmonds a prostitute of Myrtle Place, Barnstaple is gaoled for 6 weeks for being drunk and disorderly.
20	3	1862	Police are called to act against 200 boys who collect in Barnstaple Market every Sunday. E.M.White is to rebuild St.Mary's church in Bideford at a cost of £3758.
27	3	1862	Barnstaple town council agree to buy 200 tons of street paving stone from Appledore quarry. The management of the Combe Martin silver mine issue their annual report.
3	4	1862	A subscription list to build the Barnstaple Albert Memorial is opened. Joseph Goss of the Rock House Inn, Georgeham is fined 2/6 for smashing the lantern of P.c.Richards.
10	4	1862	Bideford is to set up a 12 man Fire Brigade and pay each man 10/-. A travelling photographer visits Atherington where 'the rustics exhibit no small amount of astonishment and delight at seeing themselves face to face.'
17	4	1862	Appledore Wesleyan Day School is opened. Braunton is to get a new police house complete with a cell.
24	4	1862	Bideford is to pave over the 'watercourses' in Mill Street and macadamise the pavements. William Ward a Pilton shoemaker breaks his leg whilst taking part in a wrestling match.
1	5	1862	Bribery is said to be rife in the Barnstaple town council election. Of 300 men at Georgeham Revel some 150 end up drunk.
8	5	1862	A man at Ilfracombe is booed at his wedding as he only buried his late wife 5 weeks before. Richard Welch of Little Torrington is gaoled for 2 weeks for leaving his 3 children in Torrington Workhouse.
15	5	1862	A public meeting is held at Braunton to support a railway to Ilfracombe. A court case in Bideford deals with limestone cargoes landed at Cleave Houses for the local limekiln.
22	5	1862	Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur arrives by sea at Bideford. The Bampfylde Copper Mine near South Molton is said to be very productive.
29	5	1862	A 114 lb sturgeon is caught next to Bideford Bridge and sold at 6d per lb. The West of England Biscuit Factory at Barnstaple introduces bread making machinery.
5	6	1862	An inquiry reveals 58 people living in 12 cottages in Litchdon Street, Barnstaple have just one 'privy' between them. A publicity committee is formed at Ilfracombe to attract more tourists.
12	6	1862	An 8 year old Ilfracombe boy is gaoled for 1 week for throwing stones. Bishopsnympton Friendly Society hold their annual 'walk' and 400 attend.
19	6	1862	George Coles is fined 1/- for keeping 6 cows in Holland Street, Barnstaple - their droppings upset pedestrians. 63 members attend the AGM of the Torrington United Tradesmen's Society.
26	6	1862	Calls are made to demolish brothels at the corner of Boutport Street and Queen Street in Barnstaple. Costly improvements begin to Bideford Bridge after years of discussion.
3	7	1862	Mrs Julia Pine Coffin is charged with dangerous carriage driving in Barnstaple. The stewards of St.Giles in the Wood Male Friendly Society are taken to court over financial irregularities.
10	7	1862	The blind postman of Braunton Robert Dummett is declared bankrupt. St.Michael's church in Torrington is reopened after refurbishment.
17	7	1862	'Donkey chairs' and 'basket carriages' are blocking streets in Ilfracombe. Lewis Dascombe 'formerly a noted wrestler' of Bishopsnympton is removed from court during a trial as he gets too excited.
24	7	1862	The New Market in Ilfracombe is opened for the first time. The building of coastguard cottages and a watch tower at Clovelly are noted in the Journal.
31	7	1862	John Holman, a farmer of Westleigh, drowns whilst swimming naked off of Northam Burrows. Petrockstowe and Sheepwash parish officials go to court over who should look after Anne Wyllie and her 5 children.
7	8	1862	Rose Ash Revel includes wrestling and a boar hunt. Moves are started to form a Cadet Corps in Barnstaple.
14	8	1862	Mr & Mrs Trawin governor and matron of Barnstaple Prison are given a pay rise of £5 p.a. The son of Edward Capern, Bideford's 'postman poet' wins a penmanship competition.
21	8	1862	A little boy called Gloyne is shot and killed by another boy at Littleham. The North Devon Infirmary in Barnstaple is to build a Fortescue Memorial Wing.
28	8	1862	Mary Jane Abrahams of Newport, Barnstaple a lunatic is charged with assaulting a neighbour. Barnstaple sewers are flushed out with half a million gallons of water.
4	9	1862	A drapery shop in Joy Street, Barnstaple is demolished and rebuilt in 6 weeks. Thomas Gould of Combe Martin is ordered to pay 1/6 per week to Sarah Parkhouse for the upkeep of his illegitimate child.
11	9	1862	The Salutation Inn, Barnstaple kept by William Braund is said to be a brothel and is closed. Woodhouse Farm near South Molton catches fire and the local insurance company fire brigade extinguish it.
18	9	1862	The Blatchford Paper Mills at Barnstaple are destroyed by fire. Discussions open to build 20 tourist cottages at Northam Burrows.
25	9	1862	Green Lane, Barnstaple is described as an 'odorous locality' in a court case. The Reverend G.Waterman of Ilfracombe lectures on 'Ghosts'.
2	10	1862	Scandal is created when both sexes attend a lecture on prostitution in Bideford. Mr.Belton, manager of the Barnstaple Theatre, is granted a new licence.
9	10	1862	A Combe Martin miner goes to court over the use of horses to drain the mine. Joseh Huxtable of Smiths Arms, Berrydown Cross is fined £1 for allowing police to drink in his house.
16	10	1862	Labourers are charged 1d each to attend a lecture at the Burrington Literary Institute. The Reverend D.Guille of Little Torrington takes 20 men he employs to Northam Burrows for a holiday.
23	10	1862	The Combe Martin silver mines are said to be richer than previously thought. Edward Quantick a 17 year old Barnstaple apprentice is declared a lunatic after he breaks his master's windows.
30	10	1862	A new road from Torrington to Umberleigh is to be constructed. The Journal publishes a poem on the new Temperance Hall at South Molton.
6	11	1862	Lydia Scilly of Appledore takes Mary Ann Clarke to court as a 'witch'. Barnstaple churchyard is said to need bushes to add 'character and cheerfulness'.
13	11	1862	Tenders are invited to build a new 'Dock' at Instow. The North Molton Sick Benefit Society and the Independent Union hold their AGMs on November 5.
20	11	1862	Philip Blake is appointed Chief Constable of Torrington at £52 p.a. wages. A 9 year old girl and 2 year old boy go missing at Clovelly - they are later found dead.
27	11	1862	A new lifeboat house is erected on Braunton Burrows. Bideford town council rediscover their 4 silver maces in the parish church when it is being demolished.
4	12	1862	Tenders are invited to build the New Market at South Molton. Barnstaple Freehold Land Society is to build 19 cottages at Ebberley Place.
11	12	1862	Mrs.Gaydon a thief serving time in Barnstaple Prison gives birth to a son. The Albert Memorial Tower in Barnstaple is opened.
18	12	1862	Enoch Jones of Bideford is charged with sleeping in a lime kiln. John Rodgeman of Bideford is found dead in a local lime kiln - he leaves 9 children.
25	12	1862	Elizabeth Joce is gaoled for 3 months for stealing money from the Fortescue Arms, South Molton. The Government Inspector finds the Barnstaple borough police to be 'efficient'.
6	1	1910	A £5 reward is offered for information about bribery during the North Devon Parliamentary election. Johanna Carvley is sent to an Exeter lunatic asylum from North Devon after trying to cut her throat.
13	1	1910	Mr.Hammond of Barnstaple patents a pipe which stops nicotine entering the smoker's mouth. The Tory Parliamentary candidate is booed for 20 minutes at Bideford Pannier Market.
20	1	1910	A meeting in Barnstaple hears 'a vindication of the militant tactics of the Suffragettes' The Swimbridge tanning industry is said to be in decline.
27	1	1910	John Woolf landlord of the Ship on Launch, Bideford is fined for driving a cart without lights on the Quay. The Appledore Working Men's Reading Room is said to be in a very flourishing state.
3	2	1910	Tories stencil their Parliamentary candidate's name in red all over Bideford's pavements. The arms of a windmill at St.Brannock's, Braunton blow off and 'inconvenience a passing train.'
10	2	1910	D.Lille of Asha, Westward Ho! is made biologist in Captain Scott's new South Polar expedition. B.Chester, Master of the Barnstaple Staghounds breeds a pure white wolf at Fremington.
17	2	1910	Lucy Chapple the 'Queen liar' of Derby in Barnstaple gives evidence in a court case. A new estate is started in Valley Road, Lynton and Belle Vue Avenue is laid out.
24	2	1910	The Appledore-Instow ferry sinks and three people drown. Conservatives boycott Liberal shopkeepers in North Devon after their candidate loses the General Election.
3	3	1910	Bideford town council erect signs of 'red letters on white' asking motorists to drive slowly through the town. The Barnstaple Socialist Society stage a lecture on 'Socialism' in the town.
10	3	1910	Ilfracombe cabmen ask that the no motor taxis are allowed for a year 'to adapt themselves to the new style of conveyance.' 20 Appledore members of the Royal Naval Reserve are presented with long service medals.
17	3	1910	William Whitfield the last Master Shipbuilder of Bideford dies aged 74. At Braunton 28 men stand for the 13 seats on the parish council.
24	3	1910	A roller skating rink is opened at Appledore's Public Hall. Sydney Harper of Barnstaple rediscovers the earliest map of the town which dates from 1584.
31	3	1910	Lynton & Barnstaple Railway lose 1st Class fares 'due to the increased use of motors in the district.' Morte Point is presented to the National Trust by Rosalie Chichester.
7	4	1910	Lynton Post Office is 'like going into a rabbit-hole or a fried fish shop' according to a councillor. The Torrington District Nurse has a breakdown through overwork even though a bicycle is bought to help her on her rounds.
14	4	1910	One acre of market garden land at Combe Martin sells for £200. Braunton parish council give permission for an 'artillery camp' of 600 men to be held on Braunton Burrows.
21	4	1910	Fred Lee a 12 year old is knocked down by a car at Abbotsham Cross. A new skating rink/entertainment hall is opened at the eastern end of Ilfracombe's Promenade shops.
28	4	1910	There are many complaints 'in regard to the filthy language used in Green Lane' Barnstaple. The widening of Bideford's Barnstaple Street costs £1749.
5	5	1910	The foundation stone of a new Baptist manse is laid at Frithelstock. May Day is celebrated at Appledore by children parading the streets with maypoles.
12	5	1910	The ancient butcher's shop at the bottom of Pilton Street is demolished. King George V is proclaimed throughout North Devon.
19	5	1910	Speeding local drivers are denounced - many of whom drive fast 'simply for a lark'. A whirlwind hits Broad Street, South Molton and snaps a flagstaff.
26	5	1910	Nicklin & Sons of Barnstaple are granted a licence for cinematograph shows for a year. The Plough Inn, Fore Street, Torrington is closed.
2	6	1910	Northam council are to borrow £1200 to construct a 'Marine Parade' at Appledore. 165 new houses have been built in Lynton since 1901.
9	6	1910	Two car drivers are fined £2 each for exceeding the 20 mph limit in North Devon. W.Dyer of Braunton's Cycle Works builds a sand-yacht for a tourist staying at Saunton.
16	6	1910	Sir George Newnes - 'Lynton's Noblest Benefactor' - dies. Bideford council are to erect a grandstand on the Quay for the Regatta.
23	6	1910	Skittles is becoming so popular that there is talk of a North Devon League. Combe Martin Boy Scouts are issued with uniforms.
30	6	1910	12 Bible Christians are publicly baptised in the Taw at Barnstaple. Hinks & Son of Appledore launch their first ever catamaran - it is called Jack & Jill
7	7	1910	P.c.Pearse says Barnstaple's Elizabeth Turner is 'the most disgusting woman he had ever heard in his life'. An inquiry is held into the High Bickington parish charities.
14	7	1910	An inspection of Appledore Church School reveals 7 boys with no shoes. A Royal Navy cruiser, 2 destroyers and 3 submarines arrive at Ilfracombe.
21	7	1910	A new tower and bells are dedicated at Beaford at a cost of £1000. Councillor Chope of Bideford suggests new gates for the town's Victoria Park.
28	7	1910	A Chittlehampton man has 4 sons - all named George. Arthur Stocks, a Lundy farmer, is bankrupted by gambling debts.
4	8	1910	Lynton council discuss whether to make electricity available at night as well as during the day. A Bideford cyclist crashes through a plate glass window at the bottom of Gunstone.
11	8	1910	Barnstaple Labour Exchange opens in the Market Hall. R.Downing of Horwood is made chief designer of Dennis Bros'. fire engines.
18	8	1910	John Ward is accused at Ilfracombe of trying to marry his dead brother's wife. Miss Chichester lays the foundation stone of a new church at Woolacombe.
25	8	1910	An arsonist leaves behind fingerprints at a fire in Tuly Street, Barnstaple which police hope to use to capture him. A motor charabanc crashes in to the Torridge Inn in Meddon Street, Bideford.
1	9	1910	A photographer climbs scaffolding surrounding St.Peter's church steeple in Barnstaple to take 'bird's eye' shots. Torrington Boy Scouts are founded.
8	9	1910	The Motor Union offer 10 free 'speeding' signs to Barnstaple Rural District Council. A new organ is installed at Hartland's parish church.
15	9	1910	The new Roman Catholic Convent and church at Lynton is opened. The manager of Barnstaple's Theatre Royal is given a cinematograph licence.
22	9	1910	At Torrington signposts are erected 'for the benefit of motorists'. The number of tramps in Bideford workhouse falls as 'soft' stones they have to break are changed to granite.
29	9	1910	A Mr.Grant is contracted to build a fish pass at Beam Weir, Wear Giffard. It is reported that 'as many as thirty cars visit Lynton daily.'
6	10	1910	The Barnstaple Picturedrome opens - the first cinema in North Devon. A car runs backwards at Clovelly and its female passenger is injured.
13	10	1910	Charles Bastow loses a finger working for the N.Devon Clay Co and gets 40p per week compensation. Stories that a Spanish Armada vessel was wrecked on Lundy are strenuously denied.
20	10	1910	The Barnstaple Picturedrome shows a film of the 1910 Derby. Northam council discuss the building of a new Marine Parade at Appledore.
27	10	1910	A 'strikingly handsome bust' of Hugh Squier is unveiled at South Molton. Live acts supplement the short films at Barnstaple's 2 new cinemas.
3	11	1910	An 'iron church' is opened at Meddon - before this the services were held in the West Country Inn. Chulmleigh Carnival has a parade of decorated bicycles and prams.
10	11	1910	Numbers 22-24 Union Street, Barnstaple are sold for £124 the three. A patrol of Lynton Boy Scouts are mounted on Exmoor ponies - the first mounted unit in Britain.
17	11	1910	Meetings are held in Ilfracombe's Gaiety Hall in favour of votes for women. Captain Cecil Chugg of Braunton is involved in a dispute over gravel digging in the estuary.
24	11	1910	Bideford Music Hall is granted a cinematograph license. William Vaughan & Son glovemakers of Torrington go bankrupt.
1	12	1910	The History of Barnstaple for Boys and Girls is published by S.Harper. Miss Grace Inkson of Barnstaple publishes a book of fairy stories called The Magic Ring
8	12	1910	A letter published in the Journal says only the Liberals will defend us from Socialism. 'Appledore rowdies' are cautioned to stop disrupting a meeting in support of the Liberal Parliamentary candidate in Northam.
15	12	1910	No.83 High Street, Barnstaple is sold for £850. A fire in Endicott's confectionary shop in South Molton's South Street is caught in time.
22	12	1910	A huge storm hits North Devon, the Westward Ho! pebble ridge is lowered 4 feet and shifted backwards 8-10 yards. At Ilfracombe there is a tidal wave and Combe Martin Parade is wrecked.
29	12	1910	Thomas Colwill the engineer at Vincent & Duncan's collar factory in Bideford dies aged 64. The Mayor of Barnstaple gives a free tea to 1000 poor children in the Market.
5	1	1911	Electric light is installed at the Barbrook Wesleyan chapel in Lynton. Pensions are paid to elderly Workhouse inmates for the first time.
12	1	1911	The Torrington Castle bowling green is relaid at a cost of £35. 'A capital ground has been secured' for the newly reformed Barnstaple Rugby Football Club.
19	1	1911	A huge cliff fall on Lundy demolishes the only approach to Pilot's Quay. 54 South Street, South Molton is sold for £216.
26	1	1911	The government order a limit on the number of pebbles being removed from the ridge at Westward Ho! Not a single birth has been registered at Abbotsham for a year.
2	2	1911	Appledore Boy Scouts are 'entering into their work with a zest that is encouraging.' Lynton town council order A.Rose to close 'Rat's Castle' in Queen Street.
9	2	1911	Barnstaple Soup Kitchen opens and serves 750 quarts to the poor. In Bideford the Old Ship Tavern, Three Tuns, Princess Royal and King of Prussia pubs are closed.
16	2	1911	A new Lodge of Freemasons opens at Holsworthy. At Torrington TB patients take the 'open air cure' on the Commons.
23	2	1911	The Ilfracombe Women's Social & Political Union hold a meeting to get votes for women. The 22 North Devon midwives are said to be 'on the whole satisfactory.'
2	3	1911	Police oppose a new licence for the Bath Hotel, Westward Ho! as the resort is 'declining'. Cutcliffe 'a young coloured boxer' of Barnstaple is knocked out in a local bout.
9	3	1911	Northam council can find no locals to support amalgamating with Bideford. The Cincetorix steamer of Antwerp is wrecked at St.Catherine's Tor, Hartland.
16	3	1911	Mortehoe teachers deny making children sit in their wet clothes after rain. Fremington Quay is lit by the Non-Explosive Gas Company.
23	3	1911	£99 is collected for the Combe Martin Parish Nurse Fund. Barnstaple Conservative Club hears a lecture on the 'dangers' of Germany.
30	3	1911	A new Lloyd's Bank opens at the corner of Northfield Road, Ilfracombe. A Bideford member of the Salvation Army charges Mortimer Lewis as father of her illegitimate child.
6	4	1911	Braunton council buy a recreation ground for £575 to mark the coronation of George V. Miss Ball, an Ilfracombe suffragette, has her goods seized after refusing to pay her taxes.
13	4	1911	Torrington football club win their first ever championship - the whole town celebrates. Islanders dig on Lundy to find treasure but only find human bones.
20	4	1911	A shunting horse at Bideford station is killed by a train. Johnston's 'portable Britannia Theatre' is wrecked by a storm at Barley Grove, Torrington.
27	4	1911	Liberal Parliamentary candidate Sir G.Baring is stoned by youths at Appledore. A new Territorial Army hall is built of reinforced concrete at South Molton.
4	5	1911	Ceilings in the Imperial Hotel, Barnstaple collapse after a gas explosion. The Anchor Inn, Hartland is sold for £590.
11	5	1911	Councillor Fulford, Mayor of Bideford, denounces a 'wild charge' of police at a local election meeting. The Appledore collar factory catches fire and female workers escape via ladders.
18	5	1911	New lighter helmets are issued to the Barnstaple police force. Bideford Methodists hold a bazaar to raise funds for a new chapel at the top of High Street.
25	5	1911	Barnstaple town council order 2500 Coronation Mugs from C.H.Brannam at 2 1/2d each. W.Tatem buys 8 new bells for Appledore church as a memorial to his father and son.
1	6	1911	R.Dymond of Barnstaple starts a 'Motor Service to Bude' at 5/6 return fare. Mains water is supplied to Instow.
8	6	1911	A 'Japanese Fair' is held at Ilfracombe by the local Catholic church. A pavilion at Torrington bowling green is set on fire by a lightning strike.
15	6	1911	18 Higher Gunstone, Bideford is sold for £171. Earl Fortescue is charged with the alleged removal of a footbridge at Watersmeet, Lynton.
22	6	1911	John Braund is fined 2/6 for being drunk in charge of a donkey at Bideford. An open air meeting of the Anti-Socialist Union is held at Braunton.
29	6	1911	A 'Coronation archway' collapses in the Square, Barnstaple - a woman is killed. The Pure Chemical Carbon Company opens a new factory at East-the-Water, Bideford.
6	7	1911	South Molton Agricultural Show hires an airplane as its major attraction. A Boy Scout troop is formed at Braunton.
13	7	1911	A ship unloads coal for Lee Abbey at Lee Bay. A warning sign is erected for motorists at the blackspot of Cross Tree Corner, Braunton.
20	7	1911	The Imperial Hotel, Barnstaple opens a tea room which has 'genuine Chippendale' chairs. Bideford council discuss converting 2 of the butcher's shops in the Market into a 'central fire station'.
27	7	1911	A Langtree father is gaoled for neglecting his 15 children. The Reverend H.Heaven owner of Lundy retires to Torrington.
3	8	1911	A temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun is recorded in South Molton. Beera Farm, Chulmleigh is sold for £1025.
10	8	1911	Diptheria breaks out at Monkleigh School. Ilfracombe has 30,000 visitors over the Bank Holiday.
17	8	1911	General Booth of the Salvation Army visits Bideford, Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. Tourists from South Wales in Bideford are denounced as rowdy and badly behaved.
24	8	1911	An aeroplane hired for a fete at Combe Martin fails to achieve take-off. Cinematograph films of local stag and otter hunts are shown in Lynton Town Hall.
31	8	1911	Barnstaple ironmongers H.Williams & Co light their shop with 'air gas apparatus'. A motor cyclist is fined 10/- for riding through Landkey at 18 mph.
7	9	1911	Polio breaks out at Hartland and Woolsery. A young Barnstaple architect takes 2 years to build a model airplane 56" by 10" in size.
14	9	1911	A man dressed as a 'Suffragette' causes hilarity at Braunton Military Carnival. Three of the first ever 'aerial postcards' are delivered to Barnstaple addresses.
21	9	1911	Miss Mabel Congdon crashes her bicycle into a pony cart at Raleigh Hill, Northam. Captain Dark retires after 40 years of delivering mail to Lundy.
28	9	1911	Demand to attend the Barnstaple Picturedrome is so great that 200 people are denied entry. Catherine Parnell, sister of the Irish leader C.S.Parnell, drowns at the Tunnels, Ilfracombe
5	10	1911	Moses Smith 'a coloured man' living in Barnstaple is allowed to keep his right to vote. Plans to turn Torrington Workhouse into 'an establishment for epileptics, imbeciles and idiots' are opposed.
12	10	1911	Lynmouth residents are accused of regularly dumping rubbish into the East Lyn river. Arthur Reed, a 13 year old Braunton boy, dies of polio.
19	10	1911	Prideaux & Sons of Barnstaple build 'a very smart two seated torpedo motor body' for a local client. The telegraph cable to Lundy is snapped.
26	10	1911	The new Liberal Club is opened in Ilfracombe High Street at a cost of £1900. A dead monkfish is washed ashore at Croyde.
2	11	1911	Sam Andrews is gaoled for 9 months for stealing 18p from the offertory box in Parracombe. Henry Westcott is elected spoof 'Mayor' of North Molton.
9	11	1911	The Mayor of South Molton suggests building a golf course at Great Hele farm. The Barnstaple Cabinet Company complete a large order for an Argentinean millionaire.
16	11	1911	Lundy runs short of food following 3 weeks of storms. A South Molton councillor accuses his fellow councillors of being 'jellyfish' and having no backbone.
23	11	1911	A National Service League branch is formed in Barnstaple to help defend Britain in time of war. South Molton Carnival is organised by the local Friendly Societies.
30	11	1911	Westward Ho! residents complain that nothing has been done to strengthen the pebble ridge following a major storm. The Bideford Motor Works is selling a 5 seat Ford car for £170.
7	12	1911	A branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Society is formed in Barnstaple. Torrington Boy Scouts stage a show to raise funds for a drum and fife band.
14	12	1911	A Monkleigh inquest hears how a young child died in utter squalor. The Barnstaple Picturedrome is showing 'a great detective drama'.
21	12	1911	Torrington is worried that 'epileptics, imbeciles and idiots' will be exercised on the Commons. A cottage in South Street, Braunton sells for £255.
28	12	1911	A 'Mock Mayor' is elected in South Molton as a spoof on the real one. A 50' long whale washes ashore at Saunton - and locals decorate it with graffiti.
28	12	1911	A school inspector says Filleigh School 'has been much hindered by sickness.' The Mayor of Barnstaple, Dr.J.Harper gives a meal to 1000 poor children in the Pannier Market.
4	1	1912	An 'air gas plant' is installed at 'Commons', Northam to light the building. Aggie Cann (nee Crang) and her 5 children who emigrated to Queensland from Barnstaple are murdered.
11	1	1912	The sea wall at Ilfracombe is lengthened at a cost of £2000. A dead whale washed up at Saunton is buried on the beach in quicklime.
18	1	1912	Fred Short of Torrington wins the first King's Scout badge awarded in North Devon. The Barnstaple Cabmen Annual Dinner hears that 'motors were never going to kill the cab industry.'
25	1	1912	W.Twigg's tallow factory at Sticklepath in Barnstaple is denounced as a health hazard. A social is held in Appledore by the Women's Suffrage movement.
1	2	1912	The Appledore Reading Room expands into a coal cellar under its existing rooms. Elizabeth Pavey of Barnstaple is charged for the 13th time with using obscene language.
8	2	1912	Mary Gill of Stoke Rivers wins £25 from John Gammon for breach of promise. Miss Pierre 'the lady Ju-jitsu champion' shows Barnstaple women how to 'defend herself from hooligan attacks.'
15	2	1912	Bideford Library is presented with 18 heads of animals shot by a Westward Ho! resident. No.20 Bear Street, Barnstaple is sold for £690.
22	2	1912	Barnstaple town council is to demolish the 'Red Cow' pub at the corner of Castle and Holland Street. Electric lighting is inaugurated at Braunton when Mrs.W.Incledon-Webber throws a switch.
29	2	1912	Horace Hutchinson,a famous golfer, warns of the breaching of the Westward Ho! pebble ridge. Yeo Mill and the New Inn at West Anstey burn down.
7	3	1912	Virtually all of Northam Burrows is under water and Capstone Hill Walk at Ilfracombe is washed away following a storm. Most shops in High and Joy Street, Barnstaple have their windows scratched with a diamond.
14	3	1912	Ten ex-soldiers are sworn in as Special Constables in South Molton during a coal strike. Mrs.Howard's bakery in Braunton is badly damaged by fire.
21	3	1912	A public meeting in Barnstaple is called to set up a golf club. The Bideford & Bristol Steamship Co. wins the Lundy mail contract for their vessel the Devonia.
28	3	1912	Women teachers will not be allowed to retain their jobs in Barnstaple once they marry. R.L.Knight takes over the Barnstaple photographic business of Major, Darker & Lorraine.
4	4	1912	A female fraudster in Bideford uses various aliases including 'Sister Wiggle'. A telephone links Clovelly coastguard station and a new watch house in the grounds of Clovelly Court.
11	4	1912	A Barnstaple suicide is blamed on 'blood and thunder' films shown in the town's 'Picture Palace'. A new pottery works is established in South Street, Braunton.
18	4	1912	4000 people line the funeral route of Northam policeman John Rice who had been in the parish for 10 years. Four people with local links to Ilfracombe and Appledore drown on the Titanic.
25	4	1912	Bideford town council is to replace a warning bell with telephone links to local firemen. The old Plough Inn in Torrington is to be replaced with a Drill Hall.
2	5	1912	G.Sprague of Barnstaple publishes 2 broadsheet poems to raise funds for the Titanic survivors' fund. 245 North Devon Boy Scouts parade at Appledore.
9	5	1912	John Cridge's decomposing body is found in a cupboard in Bridge Buildings, Bideford after he commits suicide. Takings for the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore railway in 1911 are £2408, expenses come in at £2947.
16	5	1912	150 Boy Scouts take part in a 'Pageant' at Torrington. Sydney Harper buys John Gay's chair and returns it to Barnstaple.
23	5	1912	A massive granite direction pedestal is erected in Barnstaple Square. Ilfracombe Peace Society deplore the military use of airships 'as engines of destruction'.
30	5	1912	Green Lane, Barnstaple is said 'to be a sort of colony on its own' so difficult is it to police. The new Appledore lifeboat the Robert & Catherine is launched from Bideford Quay.
6	6	1912	Prideaux & Son of Barnstaple build a 14 seat motor charabanc - the first ever seen in the town. Monsieur Salmet flies in to North Devon and lands at Sticklepath, Barnstaple.
13	6	1912	Monsieur Salmet an aviator flies to Westward Ho! and is photographed on Northam Burrows. A 'smuggling drama' is being filmed at Ilfracombe.
20	6	1912	A man in 'full Red Indian war dress' is filmed at Morte Point. A petition circulates in Bideford against the 'discordant noises' of a Salvation Army band in High Street.
27	6	1912	The motor and carriage works of Prideaux & Son in Bear Street, Barnstaple is gutted by fire. The foundation stone of the High Street Methodist chapel is laid in Bideford.
4	7	1912	430 Territorials of the Field Artillery camp on Braunton Burrows. The Reverend John Pigot, vicar of Fremington, dies after 55 years in the parish.
11	7	1912	The mazzard orchards in North Devon are badly damaged by heavy rain. Barnstaple's prospective Liberal Parliamentary candidate resigns because his government gaols 4 Suffragettes.
18	7	1912	Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, stays in South Molton. Bathing tents and an attendant are provided at Sillery Sands, Lynton.
25	7	1912	The Albert Hall and a skating rink in Ilfracombe are sold to the town's vicar for £350. A woman hit by a bicycle at Woolacombe is awarded £350 in damages.
1	8	1912	Ernest Evans builds his own car and whilst driving it hits a shop in Caen Street, Braunton. The Lyn Rock Natural Mineral Water Syndicate Ltd. In Lynton is wound up.
8	8	1912	A 'sea serpent' in Barnstaple Bay is dismissed as 'simply a school of porpoises'. A public meeting is held at Braunton's Cross Tree about Women's Suffrage.
15	8	1912	At Hartland Fattacott farmhouse loses its chimney to a lightning strike. The Ilfracombe Typewriting Office in Avenue Road is offering tuition.
22	8	1912	The Anti-Socialist Union holds an open-air meeting in Braunton. Two women take part in a Bideford bowling match for the first time ever.
29	8	1912	In Barnstaple only 23 of 117 new born children have been vaccinated. Chittlehampton Square is presented to the district council by Lord Clinton.
5	9	1912	The Appledore Historic Pageant is held in Staddon Field. A cob cottage occupied by Mr.Tucker at Lake collapses.
12	9	1912	Miss Susan Prust forewoman for 60 years of Barnstaple's Derby lace factory dies aged 82. Rudyard Kipling visits Brannam's Pottery in Barnstaple and buys several items.
19	9	1912	I ton of ice daily is being produced at the new Barnstaple Ice Factory. Northam council is taking steps to prevent the removal of stones from the pebble ridge.
26	9	1912	North Devonians complain of 'night noises' from motor cars. Barnstaple's 'Picturedrome' cinema re-opens with a new motor generator.
3	10	1912	12 year old Boy Scout Monty Hocking saves a 4 year old girl from the Torridge at Appledore. W.F.Holland produces the first pieces of Art Pottery at the new Braunton pottery works.
10	10	1912	The Picturedrome cinema in Barnstaple is topped by a huge electrically lit red, green and white crown at night. Barnstaple Creche, after 40 years of work, has a 'discouraging aspect.'
17	10	1912	Maurice Bennett of Torrington 'a worthless drunken man' is gaoled for 1 month for child neglect. The Annery estate at Bideford is sold for £14,000.
24	10	1912	A public meeting in Barnstaple hears about the 'White Slave Traffic.' An Ilfracombe charabanc takes a party to London and back - it takes 4 days.
31	10	1912	A measles epidemic closes all the Torrington schools. A site is obtained for a new recreation and Reading Room in High Bickington.
7	11	1912	The inaugural meeting of the North Devon Motorcycle Club attracts 30 members. A bronze axehead is found at Binworthy, Shebbear.
14	11	1912	The film 'The Masked Smugglers' which was filmed at Ilfracombe is shown at Barnstaple. The Umberleigh-Chittlehampton mail cart is replaced by a motor van.
21	11	1912	Ilfracombe town crier Robert Martin is in court for being 'neither drunk nor sober, but mixed muddly.' Frank Lerwill of Combe Martin obtains his pilot's licence.
28	11	1912	Thomas Somerfield, Barnstaple Station Master for 16 years, is presented with a painting of the station on his retirement. Lynton's hydroelectricity supply fails after water pipes burst.
5	12	1912	Torrington Mixed Hockey Club meet for practice. William Hulland is 'elected' as the 'mock mayor' of South Molton.
12	12	1912	Combe Martin football club is suspended for bad behaviour when playing a Bideford church team. The Journal calls for more men to join the Territorials.
19	12	1912	Thomas Shambrook of Fremington is fined for being drunk; he says 'some beer had gone to his legs'. Edwin Tidball of Knowstone is gored to death by a bull.
26	12	1912	Robert Maye manager of Lloyds Bank in Bideford is charged with embezzlement. Torrington council allows dances in the Town Hall to continue until 2 a.m.
4	1	1951	Plans are announced to make Barnstaple a 'Garden City'. Bideford town council ask householders not to give Christmas tips to local dustmen.
11	1	1951	Brigadier C.Peto MP for North Devon calls for Britain to be ready for war with Russia. A local estate agent reports that half of all house sales in North Devon are to people from the Midlands.
7	1	1960	Barnstaple Football Club cannot afford its 13 players' wages which total £55 per week. Burrington's new village hall is opened at a cost of £8000.
14	1	1960	Bideford town council fight moves by Devon County Council to take over the town's water supply. 180 attend the 30th annual Lynton & Lynmouth children's party.
21	1	1960	One of the faces of Northam's church clock is blown off by strong winds. South Molton town council try to make the town more attractive to caravaners.
28	1	1960	Barnstaple police introduce a new radar speed meter. Torrington girls are being trained to hand crochet baby clothes ahead of a new factory arriving.
4	2	1960	North Devon clergy are given a pay rise - to £675 a year. The Clinton Almshouses at Torrington are described as 'dark, damp and dingy'.
11	2	1960	Combe Martin seafront is described as 'a disgrace to the village.' North Devon Golf Club at Westward Ho! agree to the shooting of foxes on their course.
18	2	1960	A.Harman, owner of Lundy, presents plans to make the island a self-supporting community. British Rail announce they have no plans to stop goods trains to Ilfracombe.
25	2	1960	A parish poll in Bridgerule sees 177 vote to stay in Devon against 10 who want to join Cornwall. An Ilfracombe bubble-car driver is fined £5 for driving without due care.
3	3	1960	Bideford's vicar warns that 'godlessness is rampant in the little white town.' The Landkey Men's Club is to be converted into a village hall.
10	3	1960	The landlord of the Blackmorr Gate Hotel gets a licence to allow customers to watch TV in the bar on Sundays. Councillors call for controls on parking in Torrington which has become 'indiscriminate'.
17	3	1960	Three soldiers drown in amphibious tank trials at Westward Ho! Catches of herrings at Ilfracombe are said to be the 'best for years'.
24	3	1960	Messrs. Jantzen, swimsuit makers of Barnstaple, announce they are to hire another 100 workers. Instow residents fear their beach will disappear if gravel digging in the estuary continues.
31	3	1960	Barnstaple Grammar School pupils festoon the town with placards about their Rag Day - and 'dress' Queen Anne's statue. Chulmleigh farmers consider 'bunging up Picadilly' with tractors in protest at food price cuts.
7	4	1960	Westward Ho! is experiencing a boom as 4 new shops open in the resort. Elmscott Post Office at Hartland closes.
13	4	1960	The Fortescue family have to sell 20 farms to meet death duties. Bideford town council can find no-one to make a new town crier's uniform.
21	4	1960	The Lundy supply vessel the Gannet has to be rescued by the Appledore lifeboat. Three houses at Pilton 'all in good condition' are for sale at £625 the three.
28	4	1960	A row of 12 new shops is to be erected in Queen Street, Barnstaple at a cost of £100,000. 100 Saunton residents are 'extras' in the film 'Rockets in the Dunes' filmed in the village.
5	5	1960	South Molton residents vote 6 to 1 to allow cinemas to open on Sundays. Braunton 'skittlers' complain that the Journal gives too much coverage to football.
12	5	1960	The entire Torrington Civil defence unit resigns following arguments with the Exeter HQ. North Devon Archaeology Society resumes excavations at Blackmore Gate.
19	5	1960	The Lynton cliff railway is derailed but none of the 20 passengers are injured. Plans by the Royal North Devon Golf Club to build houses in Golf Links Road at Westward Ho! are rejected.
26	5	1960	1168 British Legion members march through South Molton. A Berrynarbor man objects to a campsite near him saying he has already seen 'nudist' campers there.
2	6	1960	The War Office is to increase the use of Instow beach by Army vehicles from 60 to 840 per month. Bideford is to allow water-skiing in the harbour.
9	6	1960	Barnstaple Shoveha'penny League claim their game is more popular than TV. Ilfracombe refuse tip is 'smelling to high heaven.'
16	6	1960	Knowstone Moor near Witheridge is destroyed by fire. Bob Masters of Yarnscombe wins £5000 in a 'Sunday Pictorial' true war story competition.
23	6	1960	The m.v.Ron Woolaway sinks a week after being commissioned to 'suck' sand from the Bristol Channel. Fremington women are damaging their stiletto shoes on poorly maintained local roads.
30	6	1960	Brook House in Croyde burns down. Barnstaple Grammar School girls are to be allowed to wear pleated rather than straight skirts.
7	7	1960	A drunken reveller climbs to the top of the fountain in Torrington Square breaking off 2 stone finials. Terry Lightfoot and his New Orleans Jazzmen appear at the Queen's Hall, Barnstaple.
14	7	1960	James Dennis & Co. win permission to build houses in Braunton's Caen Field. A TV programme 'Life at Eighty' is filmed in Ilfracombe's Victoria Pavilion.
21	7	1960	A Canadian railwayman inherits a baronetcy after Sir William Williams of Heanton dies. The closure of the school at St.Giles in the Wood is being considered.
28	7	1960	Conservatives act to stop Exmoor being planted with trees. The chairman of Holsworthy NFU is fined £20 for defrauding the Ministry of Agriculture.
4	8	1960	South Molton residents vote to build a swimming pool at a cost of £13,000. Sutcombe church is badly damaged by fire.
11	8	1960	Yelland power station's 2 chimneys are raised by 44' to cut down pollution. A new 600 cc Norton motorcycle is on sale at Bideford for £288.
18	8	1960	4 North Devonians are chosen for the Rome Olympic Games - Bruce Tulloh, Brian Kent-Smith, Alexander Lindsay and Bertie Hill. A £500,000 plan to protect the Westward Ho! pebble ridge is announced by Northam town council.
25	8	1960	Herbert Waldron of Torrington becomes the National Champion Town Crier for the third time. Ilfracombe could get more tourists if it changed its name a councillor suggests.
1	9	1960	Large areas of Barnstaple and Landkey are flooded by heavy rain. Two Dutch barns and their contents are destroyed by fire at Cross Farm, Braunton.
8	9	1960	150 strikers at the Appledore shipyard of P.K.Harris ignore a union call to return to work. Westdown holds its first carnival for 14 years and the large number of entries astounds everyone.
15	9	1960	Tourists in Combe Martin complain about the number of 'dirty postcards' on sale in the resort. Mortehoe parish council rule there are 2 'e's' in their village's name.
22	9	1960	Bideford shopkeepers reject ideas of a 5 day week for local shops. Barnstaple Carnival is said to be 'the biggest, best and brightest' since the war.
29	9	1960	Mrs.Mary King of Combe Martin claims to have travelled in a Martian spaceship which landed in the village. Barnstaple Free Church Council restate their opposition to Sunday football games.
6	10	1960	Plans to build a North Devon Crematorium at a cost of £45,000 are finalised. South Molton Swimming Pool Committee investigate solar energy as a way of heating their pool.
13	10	1960	Braunton teenagers ask to use an old air raid shelter as a youth club. Instow Primary School is finally supplied with electricity.
20	10	1960	Film star Anna Neagle attends a charity ball in Chulmleigh. A gas explosion tears through the Bicclescombe Hospital nurses' home in Ilfracombe.
27	10	1960	A 15 year old Bideford girl is hit by lightning during a storm. A Torrington butcher dies after being accidentally electrocuted in his shop.
3	11	1960	A proposed camping site at Mortehoe is rejected by the parish council. 16 DUKWs based in Fremington travel to Exeter to help in the floods there.
10	11	1960	North Devon Library Service buy copies of Lady Chatterley's Lover but only for loan to adults. Fireworks are thrown amongst the Torrington Silver Band whilst they play for a bonfire party.
17	11	1960	Ilfracombe Rotary Club raise £1500 to save St.Nicholas' Chapel on Lantern Hill. Woolacombe parish council is to remove wartime iron spikes on the beach.
24	11	1960	Ilfracombe hoteliers call for a heliport in the resort to overcome road and rail hold-ups. The Holsworthy Carnival Queen appears with a hot water bottle as it is so cold during the parade.
1	12	1960	Bromley's cafÃ© in Bideford's High Street is to become a new Co-op food store. A Lynton bootmaker applies for permission to open the resort's first betting shop.
8	12	1960	Huge floods inundate Taddiport, Bideford, Combe Martin and Braunton. The locally filmed Rockets in the Dunes is premiered at Saunton.
15	12	1960	200 temporary PO staff are taken on in North Devon to handle the Christmas post. Mole Valley Farmers is inaugurated in South Molton under J.James.
22	12	1960	Famous author Negley Farson dies at Croyde aged 70. Peter Brough and 'Archie Andrews' his ventriloquist doll appear at the Regal Cinema in Barnstaple.
29	12	1960	A new Torridge bridge at Bideford is 'a very distant proposal.' Swimbridge church spire is hit by lightning.
19	1	1961	Bideford 'flying saucers' turn out to be Chinese fire balloons. A hovercraft link between Ilfracombe and South Wales is being developed.
26	1	1961	Combe Martin council is to spend £5500 on development land next to their car park. Bideford Art School may become a 'Youth Centre'.
2	2	1961	The Yelland power station blacks out after a lightning strike. Ilfracombe Conservatives raise just 37p in annual subscriptions.
9	2	1961	100 houses are to built at Shoreland Road, Barnstaple Messrs.Jones' drapery shop in Ilfracombe High Street is wrecked by a runaway car from Oxford Grove.
16	2	1961	Vera Jarvis wins the Westdown Shrove Tuesday pancake race. An 18 year old labourer goes 'berserk' in the Barnstaple Rock Club.
23	2	1961	Landkey parish council are to spend £30 on improvements to their parish hall. Westleigh Methodist chapel is reopened after 7 years of fundraising.
2	3	1961	The Boni Family of Ilfracombe are to open a new £8000 ice cream parlour/coffee bar in the High Street. Foot and mouth breaks out at Chulmleigh.
9	3	1961	Ilfracombe Sea Cadet Peter Rothwell wins an RSPCA medal for rescuing a sheep. Foot and mouth spreads from Chulmleigh to Burrington.
16	3	1961	The body of a 14 year old boy is found when Jennett's reservoir in Bideford is drained. Plans for a wall behind the Westward Ho! pebble ridge are 'too expensive.'
23	3	1961	Sticklepath railway bridge is strengthened with pre-stressed concrete girders. A new 100 space car park is suggested at Wilder Road, Ilfracombe.
30	3	1961	All 4 cattle markets in North Devon are closed due to foot and mouth., Bideford's Old Town cemetery becomes a play area.
6	4	1961	A planned one way traffic system for Hartland meets a lot of local opposition. The caravan park at Lynton's Valley of the Rocks is to close.
13	4	1961	A recruitment campaign by Barnstaple St.John Ambulance gets not a single response. A Taddiport based midwife is struck off for stealing drugs.
20	4	1961	The referee at a Barnstaple-Bideford football match is stoned by the crowd. Twelve people search for the ghostly 'Black Dog of Torrington.'
27	4	1961	2 new housing estates are announced for Frankmarsh and Sunset Heights in Barnstaple. Posters for a CND meeting in Barnstaple are torn down by opponents.
4	5	1961	Ten men are arrested in Barnstaple for assaulting the police. The Ministry of Transport takes over Barnstaple Long Bridge.
11	5	1961	Burton's Supermarket, the first in North Devon, opens in Barnstaple High Street. Butlins decide not to open a holiday camp in North Devon.
18	5	1961	Commercial vehicles are banned from Torrington's Sidney House car park. Frithelstock village school is reopened as the village hall.
25	5	1961	A new £100,000 shop and office block is to open in Barnstaple's Queen Street. The area's first Chinese restaurant opens at the Blackmoor Gate Hotel.
1	6	1961	Meshaw residents are angry at the closure of the village well. A council estate of 40 houses at Fremington is given the go-ahead.
8	6	1961	A chimpanzee is found wandering at Westdown - no-one claims it. Fremington is to get a new cemetery at a cost of £6000.
15	6	1961	Plans to widen Barnstaple Long Bridge are widely opposed. Moves to attract more factories to Bideford are hit by a local labour shortage.
22	6	1961	A 40' section of wall collapses at Prideaux' garage in Barnstaple Square. South Molton opens its new £32,000 cattle market.
29	6	1961	Free car parking at Barnstaple's North Walk is to end - 6d will now be charged. Bideford examines plans to move its cattle market to the Pill.
6	7	1961	Women on Forches estate, Barnstaple campaign against a rent rise of 12p per week. The Mormon church asks to use Ilfracombe swimming pool for mass baptisms.
13	7	1961	Petersmarland clay miners go on strike. The Bideford Secondary School headmaster bans his pupils from wearing 'vivid shirts.'
20	7	1961	The foundation stone of the Clinton Primary School at Merton is laid. Chris Barber and his jazz band play at Queen's Hall in Barnstaple.
27	7	1961	Rebuilding Fremington Army camp is to take 5 years. Holsworthy council are to sell 14 building plots at Doble Square, an old P.o.W camp.
3	8	1961	The Strand car park in Barnstaple is to become a bus station. Experimental 'No Parking' signs in Hartland's main streets are 'scaring' shoppers.
10	8	1961	Bishopstawton is to get a new 63 house estate. Refuse dumping in Muddlebridge Pond, Fremington is to continue despite protests.
17	8	1961	16 Barnstaple men's hairdressers stop offering shaving to their customers. 'Gangsterism' in Ilfracombe is denounced by local magistrates.
24	8	1961	An application for 4 helicopter sites at Lynton is submitted. Three wrecked aircraft in the Taw estuary are damaging fishermen's nets.
31	8	1961	Braunton is 'rocked' when a German land mine blows up on Saunton Sands. Ilfracombe guest houses are warned to tell the truth about their accommodation.
7	9	1961	The ketch Irene leaves North Devon for the last time. Deckchairs at Lynton are 'slashed' by knife wielding vandals.
14	9	1961	An effigy of the county education chief is burned at Hartland in protest over school closures. US President John Kennedy sends greetings at the opening of Barnstaple Fair.
21	9	1961	14 North Devon schools are closed by striking teachers. Lundy owner Albion Harman fires 'warning' bullets near a Cornish fishing vessel.
28	9	1961	£1/2 million is to be spent on extending electricity to rural areas in North Devon. Bus shelters on Bideford Quay are to be roofed over.
5	10	1961	Three people die in a fire at Bridgeland Street, Bideford. Filleigh will die if it doesn't get more houses a local councillor claims.
12	10	1961	A £60,000 reconstruction scheme for Woolacombe's Narracott Hotel is announced. Chulmleigh Carnival is disrupted by a spoof 'ban the bomb' protestor.
19	10	1961	Barnstaple WI call for 'self defence' classes at local girls' schools. A roundabout is to be built in Barnstaple Square.
26	10	1961	North Devon's population is decreasing rapidly according to the census. A proposed dam in Bideford's Kenwith Valley could lead to 'ghastly consequences' warns a local councillor.
2	11	1961	Barnstaple council are to ban all town centre parking. Lynton council veto a planned miniature electric railway at Hollerday Hill.
9	11	1961	S.Leffman Ltd. are to open a new 'foundation garment' factory at Ilfracombe. A 4 bedroom stone cottage at Brendon is for sale at £2000.
16	11	1961	Plans for a 6 storey hotel and casino are announced for Putsborough. North Devon Civil Defence is 1000 under strength.
23	11	1961	North Devon Jazz Club splits over 'musical differences'. Torrington Chamber of Commerce claim the town council is ignoring them.
30	11	1961	A building plot at Caen Field, Braunton sells for £2450. Local Tory and Liberal parties come out in favour of Britain joining the Common Market.
7	12	1961	The old retort house at the Barnstaple Gas Works is demolished. Abbotsham is to get up to 100 new houses.
14	12	1961	Western Counties Building Society buy Perkins fruit shop on Bideford Quay to redevelop a new HQ there. A 200 person shelter at Ilfracombe Town Football Club is destroyed in a storm.
21	12	1961	Bingo sessions are to be run in Barnstaple's Queen Hall. Bideford is to spend £2500 a year for 5 years on 'slum clearance'.
28	12	1961	People using water from the Stoke Rivers village pump find fish in it. A T-Bone steak at Bideford's Tantons Hotel costs 39p.
29	12	1961	The possibility of a new harbour at Clovelly is being explored by the local MP. Chivenor based helicopters fly Xmas dinner turkeys to a storm marooned Lundy.
4	1	1962	The North Devon Technical College is to close its Pilton extension. The River Taw at Barnstaple freezes over.
11	1	1962	Rents of South Molton council houses are increased to £1.32 a week. Ilfracombe councillor Charles Disney is fined for speeding.
18	1	1962	Storms leave a 150' breach in the Westward Ho! pebble ridge. Clovelly parish council cannot find the deeds to the section of the local park they own.
25	1	1962	Bude lock gates are brought to Bideford for repair. A coffin is taken from Ilfracombe Pier to be buried at sea.
1	2	1962	The North Devon Squadron of the Air Training Corps celebrates its 21st anniversary. 1000 people attend the Barnstaple Christian Unity meeting in Queens Hall.
8	2	1962	The Aetherius Society meet at Holdstone Down where they believe Jesus landed in a flying saucer in 1958. Ilfracombe is investigating a cable car link between Capstone and Hillsborough.
15	2	1962	Bideford football club take a record gate of £101. Percival Symons is killed in an accident 90' down a shaft at the Petersmarland clay works.
22	2	1962	A 200 house estate is planned for Shoreland Road, Barnstaple. The National Trust launch an appeal for £5000 to buy Heddon Valley at Parracombe.
1	3	1962	Plans are announced to close nine North Devon hospitals. The Bailey bridge over the Westward Ho! pebble ridge is dismantled by the Territorial Army.
8	3	1962	No more houses are to be allowed on the river side of the Fremington-Instow road. Bideford town council is to phase out free parking in the town.
15	3	1962	A Barnstaple councillor suggests demolishing the Pannier Market and replacing it with 'higher value' properties. The thatched roof of Heddon chapel near Filleigh is ripped off in a gale.
22	3	1962	The owner of Cobscombe Farm, Black Dog near Witheridge builds an H bomb shelter. Plans to convert a shop at Hele, Ilfarcombe into an 'amusement centre and skittles alley' are rejected.
29	3	1962	Hermitage Primary School, Ilfracombe is to be closed. A new police station costing £12,000 is opened at Chulmleigh.
5	4	1962	The future of the Barnstaple-Taunton rail link is under threat. Plans are announced for 60 large houses along the main road between Bideford and Westleigh.
12	4	1962	A Civil Defence exercise on Appledore Quay on a Sunday is stopped by protests from local clergy. The Palace Cinema, Bideford is to close down due to competition from TV.
19	4	1962	Bideford council is to charge 1/- for 4 hours parking on the Pill. The North Devon Surf Life Saving Club is set up at Woolacombe.
26	4	1962	Compulsory purchase orders are served on householders in Willet Street, Bideford prior to demolition. A 70 year old Lynton woman dies of starvation.
3	5	1962	A live anti-tank mine is found on Instow beach. North Devon Liberalism is described as 'a type of German measles that is spreading throughout the county like ten pin bowling and bingo.'
10	5	1962	James Gammon the last blacksmith in Georgeham dies. A start is made on building South Molton's new £12,000 swimming pool.
17	5	1962	A mobile crane topples over onto 2 ships in Appledore's Richmond Dock. A new water reservoir is to be constructed at Buckleigh, Westward Ho!
24	5	1962	Two new tennis courts in Hatherleigh are closed on Sundays due to church protests. The New Inn, Swimbridge is renamed to honour Parson Jack Russell.
31	5	1962	A Bideford farmer William Pedrick is accidentally killed by a stray bullet. A cloakroom on Ilfracombe Pier is to be converted to an amusement arcade.
7	6	1962	North Devon Farmers Ltd. open a cattle cake mill at Braunton Road, Barnstaple. Barnstaple clergy condemn the North Devon Technical College Rag Magazine as 'really offensive'.
14	6	1962	Instow's Bruce Tulloh wins both the 3 and 6 mile races in the British Games. The Barnstaple Mayor is 'kidnapped' by students of North Devon Technical College and 'raffled' for £5 on Rag Day.
21	6	1962	200 people help 'Beat the Bounds' at South Molton. A protest march is held in Barnstaple by the North Devon Youth Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
28	6	1962	A South Molton youth 'tug of war' team is disqualified at a local sports contest for being 'too heavy'. A youth hostel is opened at Lynton.
5	7	1962	A parking ban in Barnstaple's 6 main streets sees shopkeepers talking of a 'ghost town'. Ilfracombe town councillors ban water ski-ing in their harbour.
12	7	1962	A two storey car/coach park is planned for St.Brannock's Road in Ilfracombe. A new shopping arcade is to be built opposite the Fremington war memorial by Wallace Day.
19	7	1962	Chulmleigh Secondary School swimming pool is opened. The clockwork mechanism controlling the Lundy lighthouse breaks down.
26	7	1962	The Hillside estate in Ilfracombe is described as a 'slum area' by a local councillor. A Bideford councillor tries to ban CND and the 'Anti Common Market League' from using the town hall.
3	8	1962	The headmaster of Ilfracombe Grammar School bans girls from wearing 'laddered nylons'. A 'jive' marathon at Northam is banned on medical grounds.
10	8	1962	Odan Hill School, Romansleigh burns down. Whitelands Engineering of Bideford make the parts needed to receive the first transatlantic TV pictures via the Telstar satellite.
17	8	1962	The Ministry of Health gives the go-ahead for a new hospital at Raleigh Park, Barnstaple. The Bideford Gentleman's Club in the old Palladium Cinema is sold to a Torrington glovemaking firm.
23	8	1962	Bideford shipbuilders M.Blackmore & Sons go into receivership. 'Rock & Twist Dances' at Kingsley Hall, Westward Ho! are stopped following fighting.
30	8	1962	Torrington town crier Bert Waldron wins the national championship for the third year running. A 6 bedroom end of terrace house in Ilfracombe is for sale at £2100.
6	9	1962	It is alleged that jealousy between 3 Bideford women town councillors is holding up council work. Rory Blackwell and the Blackjacks - 'Stars of TV, Films & Records' play at Barnstaple's Queens Hall.
13	9	1962	Braunton parish council claim a right of way across the road leading to Saunton beach. Dance halls in Bideford are patrolled by police to prevent fighting.
20	9	1962	A dodgems ride at Barnstaple Fair doubles in price to 1/6. Inmates of a prison farm at East Worlington swap prison clothing for tobacco with locals.
27	9	1962	One way traffic is to be retained in Bideford High Street - but going up instead of down. Ilfracombe Rotary Club spend £1500 on renovating St.Nicholas Chapel on Lantern Hill.
4	10	1962	The Everyman Theatre Co. restart professional repertory at the Queen's Hall in Barnstaple. Lynton council are to curb 'sand pirates' from stealing from their beach.
11	10	1962	A new Woolworths shop 3 times the size of its predecessor opens in Barnstaple High Street. A 17 year old Barnstaple bank clerk steals £1000 and elopes to Scotland.
18	10	1962	Work begins on building a new block of shops in Caen Street, Braunton. John Betjeman becomes patron of a £10,000 appeal to restore Barnstaple parish church.
25	10	1962	Bideford residents complain about noise from jazz and 'twist' bands at the Ring O'Bells Hotel in Honestone Street. Two Barnstaple men who steal 3760 6d pieces from a local club are arrested when they try to bank them in town.
1	11	1962	Barnstaple Freemasons are to leave their Lodge in Queen Anne Walk. Half the houses in Sheepwash are said to be damp.
8	11	1962	November 5 rockets cause fires in Loxhore and Appledore costing £650 in damages. A ten-pin bowling alley is suggested for the Alexandra Theatre, Ilfracombe.
15	11	1962	800 Barnstaple women petition the town council to do away with 'penny in the slot' toilets. The George Hotel, South Molton is sold to a local syndicate for £15,000.
22	11	1962	The RN fleet auxiliary Green Ranger is wrecked at Hartland. Ilfracombe is to spend £5770 on providing a boating pond in Bicclescombe Park.
29	11	1962	Regular power cuts in Chulmleigh are ruining Sunday dinners according to local housewives. A 'coloured publicity film' of Ilfracombe is touring cinemas in Britain.
6	12	1962	A council meeting over a road diversion at Combas Lane, Croyde ends in chaos. A Civil Defence meeting at Hartland attracts no young people at all.
13	12	1962	South Molton is likely to be the first town in North Devon to add fluoride to its water supply. The Braunton Burrows lighthouse is to be moved to Instow.
20	12	1962	Barnstaple's first Chinese restaurant opens in the High Street. The film 'Davy Crockett' is showing at the Savoy, South Molton.
28	12	1962	S.Williams, principal of North Devon Technical College, retires and is carried shoulder high by his students at a farewell dance. 50 men are laid off at the Appledore shipbuilding yard of P.K.Harris.
3	1	1985	A detached 3 bedroomed 'character residence' in Lynton is for sale at £39,500. John Born retires after 64 years working for Barnstaple solicitors Pitts-Tucker.
10	1	1985	Ilfracombe Pier is condemned as unsafe and is said to have a maximum life of just 5 years. 1000 young trees are planted by conservation volunteers in the Kenwith Valley at Bideford.
17	1	1985	The Taw Vale Beagles hunt at Chulmleigh is targeted by 3 minibuses of protestors. Ilfracombe is chosen as the new 'nerve centre' for the North Devon police force.
24	1	1985	A Bideford teacher with a slipped disc continues to teach students who gather round her sick bed. The rail line at Fremington Quay is ripped up and removed.
31	1	1985	The Bond family of Bideford give up the licence of the Ship-on-Launch pub after 71 years. Plans to build a marina, a fishing quay, a cable car and establish a new ferry to Bristol are announced for Ilfracombe.
7	2	1985	Plans are announced to build a weather radar station on Exmoor. Some 7227 people are registered as unemployed in North Devon.
14	2	1985	A 650 ton concrete caisson made at Appledore's Richmond Dock is placed in the River Torridge as the base for the Torridge Bridge. Torrington clergy decide not to hold a Remembrance Day service in the church.
21	2	1985	Torrington's 'Black Madonna' is allowed to stay in the town's church. Emma Nicholson is chosen as the prospective Tory candidate for Torridge.
28	2	1985	Demolition work begins at Dornat's factory in Tuly Street, Barnstaple - the site for a new library. The closed Savoy Cinema in South Molton re-opens as an architectural antiques shop.
7	3	1985	Plans to build a 'Crystal Palace' in Barnstaple's Green Lane are threatened by a new out-of-town development. Appledore children petition to keep dogs off the Anchor Park play area.
14	3	1985	Torrington Golf Club accounts show it to be £15000 in the red. A cob-built cottage at Hatherleigh collapses whilst its owner is out.
21	3	1985	A prefabricated wooden chalet is lowered into place by crane at Bucks Mills. A 'sponsored plough' by Bradworthy YFC raises £100 for an eye scanner.
28	3	1985	The chairman of Bideford Football Club resigns after his vice-chairman throws beer over him. Crow Point at Braunton is seriously endangered by erosion.
4	4	1985	A massive landslip at Bickington leaves houses at danger of disappearing. Ilfracombe's town clerk collapses at a meeting when told her salary is being cut by 25%.
11	4	1985	The contractors providing heavy earth moving vehicles for the Bideford by-pass go bankrupt. The 'new look shopping street' at Lynmouth is officially opened.
18	4	1985	The theft of all the number '6' hymn numbers from Woolacombe church is blamed on Satanists. Work begins to replace storm damaged trees in the Heddon Valley.
25	4	1985	The Tyrolean Beer Garden at Westward Ho! has its licence withheld for underage drinking. Conservationists fight to save the old stone built abattoir opposite Shaplands in Barnstaple.
2	5	1985	Hatherleigh parish council announce plans to redesign the village square. Oranges are used by South West Water to map currents in Bideford Bay.
9	5	1985	The Braund family society unveil a plaque to their forefathers at Bucks Mills. A new company announce plans to start greyhound racing in Bideford's Sports Ground.
16	5	1985	Plans are announced to redevelop the old wharves in Bideford East-the-Water. The 34 bedroom Beacon Castle Hotel at Ilfracombe burns down.
23	5	1985	Eight protestors are arrested at a demonstration against a nuclear waste ship launched at Appledore. Dave Clemence coxswain of the Ilfracombe lifeboat is awarded a medal for saving a ketch and its crew.
30	5	1985	Littleham residents campaign to stop their village becoming a Bideford 'dormitory'. A new Abbeyfield home for the elderly is opened in South Molton.
6	6	1985	South Molton council decides to ban parking in the Square. A parish poll in Knowstone on the future of their village hall sees a turnout of 85%.
13	6	1985	100 gypsies camp on land at Whiddon Valley and at Clark's factory in Barnstaple. Plans are announced to demolish the old school in Higher Gunstone, Bideford.
20	6	1985	Appledore traders complain that new road signs divert visitors to Westward Ho! and away from them. South Molton charities send large quantities of aid to help starving people in Eritrea, East Africa.
27	6	1985	A new explosives factory at Knowstone is the subject of a planning inquiry. The CEGB are to bury 700 tons of asbestos in sealed chambers on the site of the Yelland power station.
4	7	1985	North Devon Scouts protest at an Ilfracombe show called 'Scouting for Boys'. Northam town council demand that the public coastal path between Bideford and Appledore is re-instated.
11	7	1985	Holsworthy is 'dying' through lack of new building according to its councillor Wilfred Trace. The skeleton of a Napoleonic French P.o.W. is found in Clovelly Road, Bideford.
18	7	1985	500 men begin a 3 month voluntary lay-off at Appledore Shipbuilders because of a lack of orders. Bishops Nympton farmer George Osment sets off on a round-the-world motorbike ride.
25	7	1985	The Landmark Trust is to replace its Lundy service boat the Polar Bear. Users of Barnstaple's Cattle Market pledge to fight any moves to close it down.
1	8	1985	A Bideford girl, Zoe Slade, becomes Carnival Princess of Barnstaple. A Birmingham firm plans to run Saturday markets in South Molton's Market Hall.
8	8	1985	The Torridge Riparian Owners complain of illegal netting of salmon by poachers. A cherry tree is planted in Barnstaple's Rock Park to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
15	8	1985	The 14th Barnstaple Round Table Raft Race in the R.Taw attracts 400 entrants. The actor Sir John Mills opens Filleigh Fete.
22	8	1985	Barnstaple is hit by a massive wave of shoplifting. Combe Martin rejects a plan to build 45 Spanish-style villas in the village.
29	8	1985	Shapland & Petter oppose plans to 'list' their buildings as this will stop their planned expansion. A group of Chinese scientists are to visit the wind turbine at Ilfracombe.
5	9	1985	The Radio 1 Roadshow hosted by Steve Wright is staged on Northam Burrows. Plans to run a civilian air service between Chivenor, Exeter and London are announced.
12	9	1985	Ilfracombe councillor Charles Disney disrupts a meeting of the NDDC Planning Committee. The centenary of the Law Memorial Homes at Bishops Tawton is celebrated.
19	9	1985	The Torrington Town Lands Charity sells 2 acres of land at Prideaux Meadow for £106,000. A white donkey is born at Bicclescombe Park, Ilfracombe.
26	9	1985	A glass ball used to record sunlight hours is stolen from Capstone Hill, Ilfracombe. 14 unemployed North Devonians are to work on Lundy for 6 months restoring walls.
3	10	1985	19 strips of the Braunton Great Field are sold at auction. South Molton town council refuse permission for donkeys to graze on the town's recreation ground.
10	10	1985	Princess Anne visits the Broomhayes school for autistic children at Northam. Plans for a £200,000 conference and concert. Hall in Lynton are rejected.
17	10	1985	Striking teachers at Barnstaple's Park and Pilton Schools are joined by their pupils. Bill Cumming of the Appledore Inn in Bideford presents a new town crier's bell to the town council.
24	10	1985	Plans by Prudential Assurance to redevelop Gammon Lane in Barnstaple are given the go-ahead. The BBC film 'Unfinished Business', a mystery with Tom Bell, in Westward Ho!
31	10	1985	Locals demand a swimming pool instead of squash courts at Holsworthy's new sports hall. Bishops Nympton is to get its pub back after 16 'dry' years.
7	11	1985	Ten North Devon Meat lorries at Torrington are smashed up by 'animal rights' activists. Wishbone Ash play the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple.
14	11	1985	NDDC is attacked for painting 'the worst possible picture' of Ilfracombe and its future. Work starts on turning the derelict Barnstaple-Bideford rail line into the Tarka Trail.
21	11	1985	The stand at the Bideford Football Club is declared to be dangerous. The Kendall surgical stocking factory in Braunton takes on 40 new staff.
28	11	1985	The m.v.Oldenburg is purchased as the new Lundy service vessel. A group of unemployed tackle dereliction in Ilfracombe's Fore Street under a government scheme.
5	12	1985	William Kent, the last of North Devon's World War One 'Old Contemptibles' dies aged 93. Appledore British Legion demands that the village war memorial is renovated.
12	12	1985	5000 Torridge residents are to be charged 10p a week for their milk deliveries. NDDC are to lease out the old town railway station as a restaurant.
19	12	1985	Barnstaple curate, the Rev.Geoffrey Squire, suggests the town hold an annual 'Festival Week'. A 2 bedroom modern terraced house in Brauinton is on the market at £29,950.
24	12	1985	Braunton School is chosen as the site for an all-weather athletics track. The government announce the route of the Link Road to by-pass both Barnstaple and Bideford.
3	1	1986	Halley's Disco at the old Strand Cinema in Bideford has 600 attend the first night. 80 locals at Bishopsnympton sign a petition in favour of a village pub.
9	1	1986	Two magistrates receive parking tickets whilst hearing a case at Barnstaple. Claude Squire, Mayor of South Molton, goes on a New Year's Day swim at Croyde for charity.
16	1	1986	A plan to turn Bideford Quay into a 'Medieval Waterfront' attraction is unveiled. Bob Domleo of Umberleigh becomes chairman of Devon NFU.
23	1	1986	It is suggested that the new North Devon Link Road is called The Golden Coastway. The West Country Inn at Hartland is attacked by an arsonist.
30	1	1986	The North Devon Journal-Herald switches from machine typesetting to computer production. 8000 people sign a petition to keep the maternity wards at the NDDH.
6	2	1986	A huge fire destroys the upholstery business of Clifford Coates in Bideford. St.Peter's church in Barnstaple is desecrated by vandals using it as a toilet.
13	2	1986	A bomb alert sees 200 customers leave the Three Tuns in Barnstaple's High Street. The 'true' figure for unemployment in Ilfracombe is put at 35%.
20	2	1986	A horse dies of anthrax on a Newton Tracey farm. The New Inn at Goodleigh is for sale at £130,000.
27	2	1986	Temperatures of -20oC are recorded at Simonsbath on Exmoor. Hatherleigh is attempting to get a Mayor - after 1000 years without one.
6	3	1986	Bideford Pannier Market is saved from a huge fire in a neighbouring furniture store. Plans to build a new library in Barnstaple Cattle Market are announced.
13	3	1986	Torridge faces a barrage of complaints over modern style lights erected in Bideford town hall - they are removed. The Reverend Jeremy Bell sets up South Molton Recycle.
20	3	1986	Bideford Rugby Club is said to be bankrupt. A petition is launched to save Hatherleigh's Bridge Inn from being demolished for road improvements.
27	3	1986	The old Town Station in Barnstaple is offered for letting as a wine bar, An arsonist attacks the North Devon Health Authority office in Litchdon Street, Barnstaple.
3	4	1986	Chart-toppers 'The Real Thing' appear at the Tyrol Nite Spot in Westward Ho! A picture of the Exmoor Beast printed by the Journal is denounced as a hoax.
10	4	1986	A fire destroys the huge dining room at the Westward Ho! Holiday Centre. New 'Skipper' trains are introduced on the Barnstaple-Exeter line.
17	4	1986	Madeley's Homecare at Pottington is ordered to stop opening on Sundays. A meet of the Dulverton West Foxhounds on Braunton Burrows ignites a huge row.
24	4	1986	Vandals attack the organ in Pilton Church. Bideford Conservative Club vote to admit women as members - after a century of refusal.
1	5	1986	The Bideford Building Society is to amalgamate with the West of England Society. The 'comedian' Jethro appears at Bees Nightclub in Barnstaple.
8	5	1986	The Torrington Carnival ends in 'disaster' as it travels up New Street and is 'invaded' by cars. A 3 year clean-up plan backed by the Civic Trust starts in Ilfracombe.
15	5	1986	The planned Green Lane development in Barnstaple is said to be over subscribed by shops 3 years before it is due to open. Richmond Dock in Appledore is sold to Vallard Ltd. - a window making firm.
22	5	1986	500 Appledore Shipyard employees stay home in protest as 'political' plans to close the yard. Fred Nethercott (85) retires after 35 years as Chulmleigh's parish clerk.
29	5	1986	2000 runners compete in a Sports Aid race on Saunton Beach. Five people 'Beat the Bounds' of Bishopsnympton during Revel Week.
5	6	1986	The drivers of 44 new Red Bus minibuses go on strike. Villagers in Monkleigh begin a nationwide petition to demand a referendum on nuclear energy.
12	6	1986	An Indian family's shop is fire bombed in Bideford - the perpetrators are dubbed 'sick'. Work starts on building Barnstaple's new library.
19	6	1986	A light plane crashes at Eaglescott airfield, Burrington - the pilot dies. The world's largest computerised electronic organ is built by Wyvern Organs in Bideford.
26	6	1986	Trago Mills is looking to open a new store on the site of the Yelland power station. Torridge district council vote to allow greyhound racing at Bideford's Sports Ground.
3	7	1986	Appledore lifeboat helmsman John Pavitt is awarded a gallantry medal for saving a windsurfer. 110 jobs for a year are created on Torridgeside by the Manpower Services Commission.
10	7	1986	North Devon Meat at Torrington is taken over by Hillsdown Holdings. Philip Broomhead of Ilfracombe becomes principal dancer of the Royal Ballet aged 22.
17	7	1986	Tesco begin advertising 250 jobs for their new Whiddon Valley store. The Greenpeace ship Beluga visits Bideford to test the water in the Torridge.
24	7	1986	A 'fiery UFO' is spotted over Combe Martin on 5 occasions. Braunton Methodist churchy is converted into an art gallery.
31	7	1986	An Ilfracombe man chains himself to the door of the Barnstaple DHSS office over 'unfair treatment'. Plans are announced to create a marine reserve around Lundy.
7	8	1986	Hartland is offered their church hall for £7500. Bideford's James Paterson, North Devon's 'best known and best liked' artist, dies aged 70.
14	8	1986	Rain prevents Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips from taking part in the Molland Horse Trials. The Green Lane shop of Barnstaple furnishers Padfields is hit by an arsonist.
21	8	1986	A volunteer task group travel to Lundy to clear invasive rhododendron bushes. Plans are announced to build 100 holiday units, a golf course and a swimming pool at the Yelland power station site.
28	8	1986	Bert Waldron of Torrington, eight times champion town crier of Britain, dies aged 84. Ilfracombe's Carnival is hit by torrential rain but is still said to be 'bright and cheerful'.
4	9	1986	Plans to develop shops on the site of the Barnstaple Junction station goods yard are given the go-ahead. South Molton band 'Gebo' release their first single on Pinnacle Records.
11	9	1986	Castle Quay flats in Barnstaple are opened by Sir George Young. The Witheridge Carnival comes to a halt when the float carrying the Queen breaks down.
18	9	1986	North Devon Conservatives buy a computer to help fight the next election. Torrington Football Club beat Bristol City Reserves 1-0.
25	9	1986	The Journal becomes a tabloid after 162 years as a broadsheet. Bideford publican Ray Lacey plans to open a Playboy-style Bunny Club in his High Street pub.
2	10	1986	Archaeologists discover eighteenth century shoes in a dig at Barnstaple's Joy Street. Bideford names its riverside walk after its French twin Landivisiau.
9	10	1986	The developers behind Barnstaple's Green Lanes scheme are told 'to get on with it or get out.' Torrington and Bideford youths fight with bottles and pool cues on Bideford Pill.
16	10	1986	It is revealed that AIDS victims have been treated in North Devon. A new kiln is installed at Brannam's Pottery in Barnstaple.
23	10	1986	Barnstaple traders protest against plans for a 'high class amusement centre' in the High Street. A Woolacombe night club owner warns that a council curfew will see the resort become a 'ghost town.'
30	10	1986	James Evans of South Molton becomes North Devon's first qualified ambulance woman. Lynton beat RAF Chivenor 8-0 in a North Devon League match.
6	11	1986	A Barnstaple grandmother wins £50,000 in a bingo game at the town's Astor Hall. John Martyn appears at Halley's Disco in Bideford.
13	11	1986	Ilfracombe's town clerk Rose Coombs is rescued after being locked in the Town Hall's toilets. Bideford Football Club players are asked to take a pay cut to help the club's finances.
20	11	1986	A coffin is carried along Bideford Quay 'mourning' a decision to continue dumping sewage into the Torridge. The 287 jobs at Torrington's milk factory are at risk following tighter milk quotas.
27	11	1986	Barnstaple businessmen call for a 'downstream bridge' to solve the town's traffic problems. Engineers suggest building a tidal barrage across the Taw and Torridge estuary to produce HEP.
4	12	1986	A farmer near Barnstaple attempts to tape the 'screams' of the Exmoor Beast. Barnstaple's Catholic leaders are accused of 'half hearted' attempts to save their old church.
11	12	1986	47 shoplifters are arrested in a week-long crackdown in Barnstaple. Fremington Scouts stop collecting waste paper as the price collapses.
18	12	1986	A new music and drama block costing £750,000 is started at Bideford College. A nineteenth century clay pipe factory is excavated in Barnstaple's Alexandra Road.
23	12	1986	Ilfracombe, Instow, Combe Martin and Lynmouth seawater fails bacteriological tests. North Devon council issue compulsory purchase orders to expedite the building of the Green Lane complex.
31	12	1986	A Buckland Brewer pig farm is ordered to stop flooding the village with slurry. Plans for a new Pentecostal church in South Street, South Molton are rejected.
8	1	1987	Dolton Primary School is officially the most overcrowded in Devon. Greyhound racing is to be staged at the Bideford Sports Ground.
15	1	1987	The River Taw at Barnstaple freezes over. Malicious anonymous letters cause the cancellation of the 1987 Gang Show in Barnstaple.
22	1	1987	It is revealed that two North Devonians are HIV positive. Work begins in Bideford on a 'New World' tapestry panel some 11' x 4' in size.
29	1	1987	Appledore shipyard wins a £7.5 million contract to build a suction dredger. Tesco are about to move out of Barnstaple High Street to their new out-of-town shop.
5	2	1987	100 people try to buy 10 new houses in Somerset Place, Barnstaple. A local labourer high on 'magic mushrooms' and alcohol jumps off Barnstaple Bridge and drowns.
12	2	1987	Thousands of exhibits from Ilfracombe Museum are taken to Exeter for specialist cleaning. Plans to site a new supermarket on South Street car park in Torrington are turned down by the district council.
19	2	1987	A 400 year old skeleton is uncovered at the back of the Rising Sun in Lynmouth. Charles Disney, Mayor of Ilfracombe, resigns after being charged with drink driving.
26	2	1987	Irreplaceable church silver is stolen from St.Michael's, Torrington and St.Peter's, Barnstaple. A wing of the Royal Castle Hotel in Lynton burns down.
5	3	1987	Barnstaple fashion shop Skents in Cross Street is gutted by fire. In Bideford a carpet warehouse in Barnstaple Street is also destroyed by fire.
12	3	1987	North Devon teachers strike over a pay deal that is 'imposed' on them. A comprehensive redevelopment plan for Ilfracombe is said to have 'got off to a good start'.
19	3	1987	A Lancashire man drives to Bideford and shoots his ex-wife dead in the High Street. An experimental wind turbine at Ilfracombe is given a 5 year extension of its planning permission.
26	3	1987	Two young boys discover a cache of stolen jewellery in a field at Appledore. The Grenville Nursing Home in Meddon Street, Bideford celebrates its centenary.
2	4	1987	Angela Rippon visits Barnstaple to open a new youth training centre. A mini hurricane sweeps across North Devon leaving trees felled and roofs ripped off.
9	4	1987	The first ever archaeological excavation in Bideford starts in New Street. Harold Jester retires as head of Lynton Primary School after 26 years.
16	4	1987	Ilfracombe has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe - at 45%. Torridge district council decide not to use the old Bideford Workhouse as a new HQ.
23	4	1987	A reed bed sewage works is installed at West Buckland. A modern 2 bedroom end-of-terrace house in Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple is on sale at £32,500.
30	4	1987	A red telephone box is erected in Landivisiau, Bideford's French twin, as a present from Devon. Swimbridge girl Jill Shapland is picked for the GB Women's Rugby Team.
7	5	1987	The new Torridge Bridge at Bideford is completed at a cost of £13.5 million. Northam town council bid to regain the freehold of Northam Burrows.
14	5	1987	Thousands walk across the new Torridge Bridge to mark its opening. A new Texas Homecare store is to open at Whiddon Valley in Barnstaple.
21	5	1987	A sand barge is prevented from smashing into Barnstaple Bridge by quick thinking police. The last family-run abattoir in North Devon at Chapel Street, Braunton is due to close.
28	5	1987	Prince Edward goes on a 'walkabout' when visiting Torrington. 21 Londoners are arrested following a 'severe disturbance' at the Shore Inn, Westward Ho!
4	6	1987	82 paintings are stolen from the Brendon Painting Society Show in the village hall. Edwina Currie and Michael Heseltine visit North Devon to help Tony Speller hold his Parliamentary seat.
11	6	1987	The captain of the Balmoral steamer rescues a tourist who falls overboard in Ilfracombe harbour. A memorial plaque to the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore railway is unveiled at the site of Appledore station.
18	6	1987	Emma Nicholson is elected the first female MP in Torridge for the Tories but later defects to the Lib-Dems. Michael Turner an Abbotsham farmer gets planning permission to develop his farm as an 'agricultural exhibition centre.'
25	6	1987	The disused Yelland power station site is sold to a 'national dockland development company.' Developers Dytech are ready to invest £20 million in Ilfracombe.
2	7	1987	Beryl Kempe is praised for thwarting a kidnap attempt in Barnstaple's Litchdon Street. Snooker ace Steve Davis visits Bideford to relaunch the 'Pot Black' firm.
9	7	1987	The Yelland power station's giant chimneys are demolished. Torrington residents protest at the smell from the North Devon Meat plant in the town.
16	7	1987	A referendum is called on plans for a Braunton by-pass. The 'Once upon a time' children's theme park is opened at Woolacombe.
23	7	1987	Westward Ho's! 'Top Camp' is sold for housing development. Vandals cause £11,000 worth of damage at S.E.L.Clarke's New Road depot in Bideford.
30	7	1987	Local residents lobby Parliament about noise from low flying jets at Chivenor. A 5 bedroom country house with 21 acres at Umberleigh is for sale at £145,000.
6	8	1987	Clovelly owner John Rous is to charge visitors to the privately owned village. A new plan for 85 houses on an old shipbuilding yard and bus depot at Bideford gets the go-ahead.
13	8	1987	Plans are announced for Westward Ho! to get Britain's largest dry ski run. Lundy is hit by a 300% rise in its crime rate following 3 thefts on the island.
20	8	1987	Noel Edmonds opens the Filleigh fete. The lime kiln at Rosemoor, Torrington is restored by 15 unemployed people.
27	8	1987	Vandals rampage through the newly built Torrington Scout hut. A new extension sees Fremington parish hall hailed as the finest in North Devon.
3	9	1987	Asbestos monitors are set up in the Yelland power station whilst it is demolished. DJ Bruno Brookes visits Westward Ho! with the Radio One Roadshow.
10	9	1987	The first signs of acid rain damage to trees in North Devon are claimed at Chelfham. A cricket festival at Holsworthy leads to complaints about drunkenness and bad language.
17	9	1987	Residents of Sutcombe oppose a new estate even though the parish council vote for it. A 3 bedroomed semi-detached bungalow in High Bickington is for sale at £41,500.
24	9	1987	The 11.5 mile Doone Run attracts 80 athletes. The North Devon coast is announced as one of four possible locations for deep sea shafts for storing nuclear waste.
1	10	1987	Barbrook residents petition to ban staghunters after a stag is cornered in the village. A £1.8 million plan to build flats on Ilfracombe's Candar site is given the go-ahead.
8	10	1987	Plans are unveiled for 2 supermarkets and a garden centre at Bideford's Sports Ground. Work starts on the restoration of an old railway signal box at Instow.
15	10	1987	Dolton residents complain of tap water that varies in colour from brown to black. Princess Anne visits East Buckland to see the group 'Riding for the Disabled'.
22	10	1987	Jean Shortridge of Bideford's St.Mary's School wins a medal for her cooking. A new supermarket is planned on the site of Holsworthy's old railway station.
29	10	1987	A £1.5 million project to build a 'Victorian' hotel and 17-unit shopping mall in Westward Ho! is announced. Bideford town council commission a new war memorial in Victoria Park.
5	11	1987	The CEGB apply to discharge asbestos wash water from the old Yelland power station into the River Taw. A roadside snack bar at Instow is ordered to close by NDDC.
12	11	1987	Ilfracombe's Dilkhusa Grand Hotel is the target of an unsuccessful arsonist. The Reverend Hummerstone of Torrington is reported to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the local British Legion over a Remembrance Day service.
19	11	1987	Susan Pine Coffin begins rearing edible snails at Horns Cross. Barnstaple Musical Comedy Society stage 'Show Boat' to mark their diamond jubilee.
26	11	1987	A new health surgery is opened in High Bickington. NDDC announce that high land prices in Braunton mean they can no longer afford to build council houses there.
3	12	1987	Dozens of bikes are destroyed by a fire at the Cycle Centre in Barnstaple's Barum Arcade. Bideford police recover 182 stolen car badges from a gang of 11 and 12 year olds.
10	12	1987	Dartington Glass at Torrington hit record sales of £15 million. A 3 bedroom detached house at Raleigh, Barnstaple is for sale at £85,950.
17	12	1987	A party of young people abseil down the tower of St.Mary's church, Bideford for charity. Devon county council abandon plans to build a £2.5 million by-pass around Braunton.
24	12	1987	Landcross Methodist chapel closes as its 12 strong congregation cannot afford repairs. Frankie Vaughan plays to packed houses at a Woolacombe hotel.
31	12	1987	Vivian Moon sets up a £100,000 educational charity for North Devon youngsters. Three sand and gravel barges based in Barnstaple make their final voyage.

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Further Items from Peter Christie's 'Looking Back' Column

In the North Devon Journal (2013)

Provided by Peter Christie

Extracts from past issues (1851-1987) of the Journal