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

In the North Devon Journal (2017)

Provided by Peter Christie

Extracts from past issues (1867, 1917, 1967, 1992) of the Journal

3.1.1867
The band of the South Molton Rifles welcome in the New Year by marching around the town at 4 a.m. in the morning.
The Devon & Somerset Railway apply to extend their line in to Barnstaple Square.

4.1.1917
Barnstaple town council discuss using the Sports Ground to grow potatoes.
South Molton Rural District Council are to use German PoWs to repair local roads.

5.1.1967
A Sikh marriage is celebrated in Barnstaple and is front page news in the Journal.
Clearance work starts at Clovelly to remove a huge bank of pebbles blocking the harbour.

3.1.1992
An old thatched shelter in Ilfracombe's Bicclescombe Park is hit by arson.
Yelland's sewage incinerator is said not to be meeting new EU controls on the discharge of toxins.

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10.1.1867
A move to open Barnstaple Pannier Market on Sunday evenings could see girls going there who 'would soon lose every vestige of modesty and morality.'
Lynton is convulsed by arguments over a proposed new chapel.

11.1.1917
All Bideford public houses are ordered to close at 10 p.m.
Barnstaple Trades and Labour Council are to put up 6 candidates at the next town council election.

12.1.1967
Halsdon Road Primary School in Torrington re-opens following a devastating fire.
The old Chulmleigh Infant School is to re-open as a poultry processing factory.

9.1.1992
A management buy-out at Whitehall Laboratories in Wrafton safeguards 300 jobs.
The closure of the Yelland oil terminal could see the end of the local pilotage service in the estuary.

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17.1.1867
Mrs Elizabeth Bastow (40) of South Molton dies 'suddenly, through the shock of the death of her husband on the day previously.'
The AGM of the Barnstaple Bridge Trust hears about the 'defalcations of the late Chamberlain.'

18.1.1917
The South Molton War Agricultural Committee discuss how submarine warfare is hitting food supplies.
Half the agricultural labourers in North Devon are to be conscripted.

19.1.1967
A 30' long articulated lorry gets stuck in Barnstaple High Street when trying to turn around.
Plans for a 'banqueting hall' at the Durrant House Hotel in Northam are opposed by planners.

16.1.1992
Appledore residents defeat a second attempt by the county council to paint double yellow lines along the Quay.
Government grants are not to be reinstated to help lower Ilfracombe's unemployment rate.

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24.1.1867
Coal is distributed to the poor in Barnstaple – but not to Nonconformists.
The lake next to the railway station at Instow freezes and many skaters take advantage.

25.1.1917
300 German PoWs are coming to North Devon to work on the land.
A 'War Shrine' is erected in the porch of Fremington church.

26.1.1967
Boys at Barnstaple Secondary School build a hovercraft.
South Molton's first discotheque opens in the Goose & Gander Hotel.

23.1.1992
The Old Slaughterhouse at the bottom of Sticklepath Hill in Barnstaple is to become offices.
Combe Martin Wildlife Park is to install 'animated lifesize dinosaurs' as an attraction.

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31.1.1867
The Lundy Island Sunday School pupils are given a party at the 'Villa' by Miss Heaven.
George Hill of Bideford is gaoled for 1 week for snowballing George Isaac an old man.

1.2.1917
Miss Chichester of Arlington Court ploughs up her pasture land to grow more food.
Two thatched cottages behind the Kingsley Hotel in Northam are destroyed by fire.

2.2.1967
Barnstaple town council order Pannier Market stallholders to stop selling cream from open bowls.
Two Swedish experts begin constructing the furnaces for Torrington's new glass works.

30.1.1992
Plans for a new 'scrambling track' at Combe Martin are rejected.
At Torrington cemetery 27 out of 150 trees are found to be diseased and will be felled.

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7.2.1867
Bideford's town crier Mr.Major asks for an increase in the allowance for feeding prisoners in the town prison.
The Tomouth Estate at Appledore is said to have been sold illegally by its trustees.

8.2.1917
Captain Humphrey Lloyd of 'Kiltrasna', Bideford escapes from a German PoW camp.
Bideford Soup Kitchen opens and 800 quarts are served to the poor.

9.2.1967
The Barum Arcade is sold to a London property company.
Aircraft Marine Products (AMP) are to build a new £½ million factory at Bideford.

6.2.1992
South Molton's pioneering plastic bottle banks are a success.
200 trees are planted by volunteers in the Kenwith Valley Nature Reserve at Bideford.

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14.2.1867
William Jones a farmer of Swimbridge is fined £2.15.6 (£2.77) for 'furious driving'.
A fire destroys the 'library' of the Misses Sloley in South Street, Torrington.

15.2.1917
Lynmouth introduces a scheme to collect money for local PoWs held in Germany.
The Barnstaple Soup Kitchen is opened to help feed the poor.

16.2.1967
A new discotheque is to be opened in Gammon Lane, Barnstaple.
North Devon's coroner Brian Hall-Tomkin becomes the English Small-Bore Rifle Champion.

13.2.1992
A 12' high wall collapses at Torridge Close, Bideford narrowly missing elderly inhabitants.
Thirty cars in Barnstaple have their tyres slashed overnight.

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21.2.1867
A ball is held in Braunton to raise funds for the local band.
Bideford police cells are said to be 'wretched, semi dark and badly ventilated.'

22.2.1917
The Mayor of Barnstaple appeals for funds for the town's Red Cross Hospital.
Pte.Tom Bamford of the Devons dies of his wounds in Salonica, he is 19.

23.2.1967
Two directors of Appledore Shipyard offer £20,000 to buy the Seagate Hotel in the village.
The Fortunes play at the Narracott Grand, Woolacombe.

20.2.1992
Police are looking in to a planning application at Alverdiscott granted by Torridge district council.
Inch's Cider in Winkleigh are installing a new £250,000 fruit press.

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28.2.1867
Two more 'Mutual Improvement Societies' are started in Bideford.
The Vanderbyl steamer brings a cargo of Lundy granite for use by the Barnstaple Improvement Commissioners.

1.3.1917
The Journal is reduced in size due to paper shortages.
A 'war shrine' is erected in the doorway of 19 Vicarage Street, Barnstaple.

2.3.1967
Three gardens at Appledore disappear after mountainous waves smash a 25' gap in a sea wall.
Four wartime mines are exposed at Westward Ho! following the storms.

27.2.1992
Results of a 3 day public inquiry into the future of Combe Martin are published.
Lundy is to remove rhododendrons threatening to engulf the eastern side of the island.

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7.3.1867
William Long of Westleigh dies aged 102¾.
The Journal attacks the Ilfracombe Chronicle for plagiarising its reports.

8.3.1917
The Mayor of Bideford is petitioned over the 'growing seriousness of the food question' and is asked to provide more allotments.
In Braunton photographs of local servicemen are collected for a 'Roll of Honour'.

9.3.1967
Chelfham Mill School for 'maladjusted boys' opens.
Attempts to ban 'street photographers' at Clovelly fail.

5.3.1992
Half the units in the new Barnstaple Green Lane development are let.
Appledore Shipbuilders are shedding 90 jobs which represents one-fifth of the workforce.

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14.3.1867
'Bungey' Saunders 'the lowest specimen of humanity' in Bideford is gaoled for 1 month for drunkenness.
George Braginton, ex-Mayor of Torrington, is declared bankrupt.

15.3.1917
In Barnstaple twenty women are passed as fit for employment in munitions works.
A Combe Martin Working Group sends 2400 sandbags to the Front.

16.3.1967
The Stanley Woolaway sand and gravel carrier sinks off Mortehoe.
Mary Purse, known as 'Nursy Pursy', retires after 60 years work as a nurse in Barnstaple.

12.3.1992
A parliamentary election is held but 22% of North Devonians say they are undecided.
6000 children participate in the North Devon's Children's Book Festival starring Ted Hughes.

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21.3.1867
J.R.Chanter lectures on 'Historic Barnstaple' to the town's Literary & Scientific Institute.
Stone dressers for the Lundy Granite Co. move to Fremington to reduce damage to stone in transit.

22.3.1917
A motor plough is used at Pickwell, Braunton and is said to be very good.
Private D.Blackmore of Combe Martin is awarded the DCM.

23.3.1967
Fremington Methodists are to build an 'ultra modern' new church.
A new village hall costing £11,750 is completed at Dolton.

19.3.1992
60 firemen fight a fire at Torrington's Dairy Crest milk factory.
A 5 bedroom house in Croyde is on sale for £99,950.

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28.3.1867
A letter writer suggests bakeries close on Good Friday allowing employees to go 'into the fields and kick football.'
An effigy is burnt at Derby in Barnstaple to shame a local adulterer.

29.3.1917
13 employees of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (1/5th of the workforce) are in the Forces.
Official notification of the closure of the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway is posted.

30.3.1967
Aircraft from RAF Chivenor bomb the stranded Torrey Canyon oil tanker in an effort to burn its cargo.
Nearly 50 wartime mines are removed from Westward Ho! beach after a sweep by Royal Engineers.

26.3.1992
South West Water put forward a plan for a new sewage treatment plant on Northam Burrows.
A rumoured closure of Ilfracombe's Tyrell Hospital is 'totally unfounded' say health chiefs.

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4.4.1867
Alfred Greening late proprietor of Bideford's Queen Street Academy dies aged 39.
The Barnstaple Burial Board are to extend the cemetery as it is filling fast.

5.4.1917
Herbert Hancock beadle and town crier of Barnstaple for many years dies aged 79.
In Lynton a 'lady gardener' is employed locally – 'quite a new departure for Lynton.'

6.4.1967
Plans to bring in London 'overspill' population to Barnstaple could raise the population to 50,000 by 1981.
North Devon beaches are saved from polluting oil from the Torrey Canyon oil tanker by a 'freak wind'.

2.4.1992
Woolaway & Sons, builders of Barnstaple, go into liquidation.
Two hundred youths 'riot' in Ilfracombe, seventeen are arrested.

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11.4.1867
Edward Ley 'a celebrated bruiser' of Combe Martin appears in court for fighting – 'such “amusements” were of frequent occurrence' in the village.
New trustees are appointed in Bideford to run almshouses in Meddon Street.

12.4.1917
'Broncho [sic] Bill's Wild West Exhibition' visits North Devon.
A letter denounces the desecration of Sunday by people growing food.

13.4.1967
Houses in Gaydon Street, Barnstaple are demolished as part of the town's slum clearance scheme.
Jack Carter becomes Mayor of South Molton for the sixth time.

9.4.1992
A £9 million investment programme begins at Conti Products in South Molton.
100 drums containing potentially dangerous chemicals are found in a cave at Combe Martin.

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18.4.1867
Loveday Bennett dies in South Molton aged 78 – she supported herself by selling poems she had written.
Barnstaple's Dispensary publishes figures for those cured and those not during the year.

19.4.1917
200 allotments in Bideford are growing potatoes to help stave off food shortages.
Two volumes of sketches of Lynton in 1847 are presented to the local council.

20.4.1967
Susannah Young from Clovelly is invited to sing on Simon Dee's TV show.
The new abattoir at Torrington is damaged by a large fire.

16.4.1992
Barnstaple High Street is at danger of becoming 'cheap jack highway' as street traders proliferate.
Nick Harvey defeats Tony Speller in the General Election by around 800 votes.

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25.4.1867
The Hartland Reading Room is opened, it costs 1d a week to be a member.
Furland farmhouse in Littleham is destroyed by fire.

26.4.1917
Barnstaple Salvation Army Corps sets up a Women's Band as so many bandsmen have joined the Forces.
The deaths of six local men on various fronts are noted this week.

27.4.1967
Rosemary Badcock is chosen as the new Torrington Carnival Queen.
Barnstaple town council are to hold a referendum on whether to accept London 'overspill'.

23.4.1992
The Salvation Army sets up its first 'textile bank' in Bideford.
A plan is agreed to tackle sewage spilling onto Torrington Commons.

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2.5.1867
Charlotte Kelly 'a wretched looking creature' is gaoled for 2 weeks in Barnstaple as a drunken prostitute.
The luxury Ilfracombe Hotel is completed.

3.5.1917
A statue of 'Faith, Hope and Charity' is erected outside Lynton Town Hall.
The deaths of eighteen local men in the war are recorded this week.

4.5.1967
Party politics are introduced into council elections at Bideford when 2 Liberals stand as candidates.
Julie Wade is chosen as Barnstaple's May Queen.

30.4.1992
Half the staff of Clarks Shoes factory in Barnstaple are made redundant.
Hartland's noisy cockerel Corky is ordered to be moved away from neighbours by a judge.

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9.5.1867
Wombwell's Menagerie attends Torrington May Fair.
Robert Dummett of Braunton, master of the Mangosteen, loses his Captain's certificate through drunkenness.

10.5.1917
The Barnstaple Theatre Royal shows a film featuring 'Parisian Vampires in their dance.'
Barnstaple Rural District Council declare 'War on Sparrows' who are eating food crops.

11.5.1967
Bideford Grammar School pupils open a National Savings Bank on school premises.
Angela Ward crowns Angela Shortridge as Torrington May Queen.

7.5.1992
Boots consider moving into the empty Woolworths shop in Barnstaple High Street after the latter move to Green Lanes.
1500 'potwallopers' turn up at Northam Burrows to throw stones back on to the pebble ridge.

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16.5.1867
Bideford police lose their top hats, their replacements being 'made of hard felt and bound round with glazed leather.'
The wife of Thomas Lee of the 'Gun Station' on Lundy Island has a daughter.

17.5.1917
'Commons' a Northam war hospital records its first death after treating 600 patients.
C.S.M. W.Lile from Littleham is awarded the Military Medal.

18.5.1967
Three men are arrested for holding up Instow Post Office at knife point.
Moxham's Cottages in Silver Street, Barnstaple are demolished as 'slums'.

14.5.1992
Shapland & Petter of Barnstaple win a £2.4 million order for doors in the new MI5 HQ in London.
4 Ilfracombe councillors walk out of a meeting to choose a new Mayor in protest over the choice.

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23.5.1867
3 year old Lydia Howard the 'Baby Actress' appears at Barnstaple Music Hall.
A new drainage channel is cut from Pimpley to the pebble ridge on Northam Burrows.

24.5.1917
Cookery demonstrations at Barnstaple show how to make food go further.
At Ilfracombe people are taken to court for sketching the coastline and breaking wartime security laws.

25.5.1967
A night club called The Kingston is opened at Combe Martin.
A new Appledore-built trawler is to be exhibited at the World Fishing Exhibition in London.

21.5.1992
A new memorial to the local part played in training for D-Day is unveiled at Woolacombe.
The old South Molton Cottage Hospital is refurbished as a home for the elderly.

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30.5.1867
The Ilfracombe Telegraph Office moves from the Clock Tower in High Street to the new Ilfracombe Hotel.
During a fire at the Appledore Post Office a thief steals £50.

31.5.1917
Eighteen local men are recorded as dying in the war this week.
A Royal Proclamation calling for economy in the use of bread is read out in front of Barnstaple Guildhall.

1.6.1967
Marion Loosemore is crowned as Carnival Queen at High Bickington.
Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band appear at the Queen's Hall, Barnstaple.

28.5.1992
Nine rare monkeys are stolen from the Combe Martin Wildlife Park.
A Hereford cow from Langtree becomes Champion for the 3rd year running at the Devon County Show.
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6.6.1867
William Vaughan glove manufacturer of Torrington marks his marriage with a feast for his workers.
The Winkleigh Friendly Society meet to celebrate Oak Apple Day – the village's 'Amateur Band' attend.

7.6.1917
The Ebonies Minstrel Troupe play at the King's Arms, Combe Martin.
Lt.W.Miller, only son of W.Miller of the Derby lace factory in Barnstaple is killed in action aged 20.

8.6.1967
Plans for a new £½ million inner relief road through Barnstaple are announced.
Ilfracombe, Torrington and South Molton maternity units are about to be closed.

4.6.1992
The Appledore based Renaissance Maritime Trust is to build a sailing ship to train disadvantaged youths.
Squatters occupy some beach huts at Westward Ho!

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13.6.1867
Fremington church is re-opened after a complete refurbishment.
James Braund of Bucks Mills falls over a cliff at Lundy whilst collecting bird's eggs and dies.

14.6.1917
A demonstration of fruit bottling is held in Barnstaple to help the 'Food Economy Campaign'.
Hartland is to plough up 1000 acres of grassland to grow corn.

15.6.1967
British Rail announce the end of domestic coal deliveries to North Devon.
Ilfracombe council propose spending £100,000 on a 'face lift' for the sea front.

11.6.1992
Plans to demolish Victoria Pavilion and replace it with a new entertainment complex are announced.
A 5 bedroom house in Rumsam, Barnstaple is on sale at £69,950.

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20.6.1867
Seventy children of the Barnstaple Wesleyan Ragged School go on a 'treat'.
W.Smith exhibits 'Phantasmagorial Scenes' of Palestine at Atherington.

21.6.1917
The Appledore Gas Co. is put up for sale along with its two gasometers.
A Belgian refugee girl falls over Capstone Cliff in Ilfracombe and dies.

22.6.1967
Captain Paul Davis brings the semi-derelict Kathleen & May back to Appledore.
The Concords, a Torrington singing group, travel to Germany for a concert tour.

18.6.1992
A wave of vandalism hits cars in Barnstaple's multi storey car park.
A new wine bar planned for the Old Post Office in Braunton is rejected.

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27.6.1867
A 'temperance band' supplies music when the Appledore Rechabites have a picnic on Northam Burrows.
A new road linking Ilfracombe and Combe Martin is described as 'perhaps the most picturesque road in North Devon.'

28.6.1917
No.50 Irsha Street, Appledore is sold for £160.
A teenage thief in Barnstaple is allowed to join the Navy rather than being sent to prison.

29.6.1967
At South Molton a 'trust the motorist to pay' car park loses £700 in a year.
Letty Potter retires after running Challacombe Post Office for 57 years.

25.6.1992
Ilfracombe's British Gas showroom is to close as it is 'commercially ineffective'.
Myxomatosis reduces Lundy's rabbit population by two thirds.

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4.7.1867
A meeting at Hartland decides to establish a village cattle market.
The Bideford Fire Brigade hold their annual dinner and play football at Northam Burrows.

5.7.1917
Tourism is 'in the doldrums' at Lynton.
Cpl.John Bennett of Torrington and Sergt.Edward Jones of Ilfracombe are both awarded the Military Medal.

6.7.1967
Winkleigh airfield is to be considered as a site for a 'New Town'.
Bideford is warned that an arch on its Long Bridge 'could go tomorrow'.

2.7.1992
A 17 year old girl is murdered at Ilfracombe.
The new Riverbank car park at Bideford is officially opened.

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11.7.1867
Barnstaple town council debate a new by-law 'to suppress prostitution'.
The foundation stone of a new Bible Christian chapel at Bishops Tawton is laid. The local vicar is said to be using 'ritualistic practices'.

12.7.1917
A Lynmouth barmaid is fined £1 for breaking wartime rules and serving a wounded soldier with alcohol.
Bideford town council are to set up a maternity and child welfare centre.

13.7.1967
South Molton council agree to open the town's bowling green on a Sunday.
Procol Harum who were to appear at Barnstaple's Queen's Hall cancel at the last moment.

9.7.1992
Traders and residents at Westward Ho! ask for it to become an 'alcohol free zone' to tackle rising drunkenness.
A shopping mall running from High to Bridge Street in Bideford is given planning approval.

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18.7.1867
Thomas Ash of the Red Lion, Chulmleigh is fined £1.9.6 for 'housing disorderly people in his house.'
Susan Dyke 'a lady of the pave' of Litchdon Street, Barnstaple is fined 5/- for drunkenness.

19.7.1917
James Butt a Braunton Conscientious Objector is gaoled for 6 months for refusing to put on an Army uniform.
Mazzard crops are 'spoiling for want of pickers' in a North Devon denuded of men.

20.7.1967
J.Hinks & Son of Appledore are to build a replica of the seventeenth century ship the Nonsuch.
60 girls dressed in clothes made by themselves stage a fashion show at South Molton Secondary School.

16.7.1992
Arthur Chandler, Ilfracombe's vicar for 31 years, dies aged 86.
A 'drop in centre' for AIDS sufferers is opened in Barnstaple.

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25.7.1867
Nineteen donkeys are stolen from farms in Hartland.
John Oram smashes up Cobbaton Wesleyan chapel believing people should go to churches and not chapels.

26.7.1917
The Barnstaple branch of the Worker's Union has 500 members.
20 soldiers with a sprayer are sent to North Devon to combat an outbreak of potato disease.

27.7.1967
A 7' shark is caught by two Barnstaple men in the Torridge estuary.
The Pretty Things appear at the Queen's Hall in Barnstaple.

23.7.1992
A new playground is opened in Chulmleigh at Davy Park.
Pupils of Bideford's Stella Maris school stage a sponsored beach clean at Bucks Mills.

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1.8.1867
W.F.Rock, Barnstaple's greatest benefactor, publishes a poem entitled 'Westward Ho!'
A ventriloquist at Lynton is denounced as a fraud.

2.8.1917
The 3 engines of the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway are driven across Bideford Bridge on their way to France.
Newport church magazine lists 360 local servicemen street-by-street – of whom 54 are already dead or wounded.

3.8.1967
The film Fanny Hill is allowed to be shown in South Molton.
Rain pours down on Combe Martin Carnival and everyone present is drenched.

30.7.1992
A 'rave' planned at Knowstone Moor is expected to attract 4000.
Torridge councillors call for a 'North-South Link Road' to Plymouth.

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8.8.1867
The Barnstaple and Bideford Naturalists Club visit Croyde to view the local geology.
A wrestling match is held at South Molton for a prize of £10.

9.8.1917
Five local servicemen die at Basra in Mesopotamia.
Barnstaple War Supply Depot produce 160 pairs of crutches in 4 months.

10.8.1967
A Hunter jet aircraft crashes after just missing Fremington.
Bridge and Union Streets in Bideford are to have 'slum houses' demolished.

7.8.1992
Two Lynton hoteliers both claim Shelley the poet spent his honeymoon in their building.
An oil drilling licence for the area around Lundy is on offer.

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15.8.1867
South Molton town council offer 1 guinea to the first crew to arrive at any fire in the town.
William Davey a Barnstaple baker supplies bread to the town's prison at 17/- per hundredweight.

16.8.1917
Bideford council are to set up a Food Control Committee for the town.
The deaths of eighteen local men in the war are noted this week.

17.8.1967
Patricia Drew beats 15 other girls to become the Barnstaple Carnival Queen.
The 'worst deluge since the Lynmouth flood' hits North Devon and many houses and roads are badly affected.
13.8.1992
A couple are given permission to construct an underground house near Braunton.
A £12 million refurbishment plan for RAF Chivenor is approved.

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22.8.1867
Bratton Fleming Fair sees a performing pony exhibited in front of the Stag's Head inn.
A poem on 'ritualism' at Lynton church services is published by the Journal.

23.8.1917
At Braunton two women cyclists are employed to deliver meat.
Spiritualists lecture on 'The World at War' in North Devon.

24.8.1967
Ilfracombe's Publicity Committee investigate numerous complaints about the resort's hotels.
A 'Flower Power Beat Sensation' concert at the Queen's Hall features The Gods.

20.8.1992
A giant 12 lb lobster is caught in Bideford Bay.
A proposed amusement arcade in Barnstaple is called a 'dangerous addiction' by a councillor.

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29.8.1867
St.Peter's church, Barnstaple is said to be 'in a state of advanced decay' in 'almost every part'.
The Torrington Gentlemen's Book Club annual dinner is held at the Globe Hotel

30.8.1917
At South Molton the Unicorn Hotel is sold for £1500.
Young married couples are leaving Littleham as there are no houses for them.

31.8.1967
Lynton magistrate's court is to be closed and all business transferred to Barnstaple.
Jason's Club in Gammon Lane, Barnstaple hold a 'Freak Out' weekend.

27.8.1992
Half of the workforce of the De Vere firm which makes photographic equipment in Barnstaple are laid off.
A new £1 million building is to be erected on the site of Elliott's Garage in Bideford.

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5.9.1867
A 'brutal' wrestling match is held at the Butcher's Arms in Barnstaple.
A 15 cwt. sunfish measuring 8' from fin to fin is caught at Ilfracombe.

6.9.1917
Five tourists are arrested at Combe Martin for taking photographs thus breaking wartime security laws.
Lundy Island is purchased by A.Christie of Tapeley Park, Instow.

7.9.1967
Ilfracome b & b landladies denounce a 'price cutting war' in the resort.
Donkey droppings are a hazard for tourists walking down Clovelly High Street.

3.9.1992
The River Torridge overflows Bideford Quay during the town's Carnival.
Lavington school reopens after a complete refurbishment.

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12.9.1867
Alfred Tennyson the poet laureate tours North Devon.
The closure of a Bideford shipyard will 'add to the financial crisis which has for some time existed in this neighbourhood.'

13.9.1917
The price of sugar and bread is fixed in North Devon.
The Torrington War Agriculture Committee discuss the lack of blacksmiths as so many have been conscripted.

14.9.1967
Barnstaple Fair opens on its new Seven Brethren site for the first time.
The Bideford Regatta Pancake Race is won by Nona Short.

10.9.1992
A fire at Padfields furniture warehouse on Pilton Causeway is suspected arson.
A faith healer visits Braunton – though results are mixed.

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19.9.1867
An East Buckland farmer who pays his labourers 4/- (20p) a week says 'this was considered first class wages in that part of the country'.
The Lundy Granite Company supply the new Bristol Docks with stone.

20.9.1917
L/Cpls.W.Davis and E.Colwill of Bideford are awarded the Russian Order of St.George.
Barnstaple children collect horse chestnuts to help the war effort.

21.9.1967
Half of Barnstaple's telephone kiosks are burgled and left unusable.
Northam Burrows sandhills are seeded with grass seeds and fertiliser via a 'jet' applicator.

17.9.1992
The middle section of the Polystyrene Box factory in Bideford is destroyed by fire.
28 teams compete in a sand-castle building competition at Woolacombe.

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26.9.1867
Houses in Bideford are to be numbered – starting in Bridge Street.
Holy Trinity church, Barnstaple is said to be so badly built that it needs demolition.

27.9.1917
Police round up men at Barnstaple Fair and find three deserters.
51 employees of Brannam's Pottery in Barnstaple have enlisted – and been partly replaced by women and boys.

28.9.1967
Ronald Forward becomes the new head of Barnstaple Bluecoat School.
Taddiport Bridge at Torrington is closed in order to carry out reinforcement work.

24.9.1992
Appledore Shipyard goes on to a 3 day week owing to a shortage of orders.
A new Sainsburys store at Roundswell, Barnstaple is given the go ahead.

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3.10.1867
The Journal publishes a letter bemoaning the uselessness of the two Appledore policemen.
Barnstaple Post Office handles 7701 letters a week whilst Bideford sees 5375 and Ilfracombe 3604.

4.10.1917
A Belgian refugee dies and is buried at Barnstaple after a service at the Catholic church.
An open-air meeting of the Worker's Union in Torrington Square attracts a large audience.

5.10.1967
Reed & Smith paper manufacturers are to lease a new factory at South Molton.
There are 166 people on the waiting list for council accommodation in Ilfracombe.

1.10.1992
An appeal is launched to build a clubhouse at the North Devon Athletics Track, Braunton.
Lundy's population falls to 11 as 6 of the island's workers are laid off.

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10.10.1867
Master Vernon an apprentice to Mr.Tucker, printer of South Molton, drops a case of type and crushes two of his toes.
The Bideford Farmer's Club is presented with a painting by J.Lyell of Hallsannery.

11.10.1917
The Bible Christian chapel in Silver Street, Bideford is to become a glove factory.
A Roll of Honour containing 95 names of men in the Forces is erected in Lynton church – 8 are dead.

12.10.1967
Two police officers spot a UFO over Hatherleigh.
Barnstaple and Bideford councillors take a trip on a new Army hovercraft.

8.10.1992
A light plane crashes at Sheepwash and the pilot is killed.
The beach path at Bucks Mill is closed due to a cliff fall.

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17.10.1867
George and John Cox shipbuilders of Bideford are declared bankrupt.
A report on the poor sewerage and water supply of Northam is published.

18.10.1917
A meeting is held in Barnstaple to establish a branch of the 'Comrades of the Great War & Old Contemptibles'.
A letter forecasts an 'industrial sex war' between men and women following the war.

19.10.1967
Robert Plant (later of Led Zeppelin) and his Band of Joy appear at Barnstaple's Queen's Hall.
The 'breathalyser' is used by police for the first time in North Devon.

15.10.1992
St.Peter's churchyard in Barnstaple is hit by a wave of vandalism.
A 'sea of waste' washes into Ilfracombe Harbour.

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24.10.1867
William Scamp is gaoled for 2 months for stabbing James Peake at Lee following an argument over lime.
Jasper Garden a rich landowner of Barnstaple evades his 'minder' and commits suicide.

25.10.1917
A 'doggerel ballad' about the beating up of the Kaiser at Ilfracombe in 1870 is reprinted.
The Barnstaple district is suggested for oil exploration given finds noted in the past.

26.10.1967
The Derby lace factory in Barnstaple expands with 30 new jobs.
The erection of Huntshaw TV mast begins.

22.10.1992
Lantern Radio, based in Bideford, begins broadcasting.
Clifford Quick, late Mayor of Torrington, leaves his MBE to the town in his will.

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31.10.1867
Frances Hunt is charged with keeping a 'house of ill fame' in Maiden Street, Barnstaple.
A poem on the 'Harvest Thanksgiving' at Bratton Fleming is published.

1.11.1917
Farmer's wives are said to be profiteering from food sales in Barnstaple Market.
A war memorial cross is unveiled in Bideford churchyard after 400 people subscribe to its cost.

2.11.1967
The Barnstaple Odeon is sold and is to become The Classic.
Firemen pump millions of gallons of water away from the Kenwith Valley in Bideford to prevent flooding.

29.10.1992
The Fox & Goose at Parracombe remains closed after the landlord disappears.
Barclays Bank announce the closure of branches in Fremington and Woolacombe.

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7.11.1867
The Prince of Wales sends a gold medal to the Royal West of England Golf Club at Westward Ho! as a prize.
A 'new street called Milton Terrace' is completed in Bideford.

8.11.1917
'Irishborough' at Swimbridge with 162 acres is sold for £3300.
Cottages number 6,7 and 8 in the churchyard at South Molton are sold for £101.

9.11.1967
Torrington Square is plastered with toilet paper by vandals.
A new boarding block called Scott House is opened at Grenville College, Bideford.

5.11.1992
A property agency shop in Barnstaple is fire bombed.
Every Wednesday locals collect mounds of seaweed from Lee Bay, Ilfracombe.

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14.11.1867
John Symons watchman of the Derby lace factory in Barnstaple is fined 5/- after 'carousing at the funeral of his father'.
Riots break out in Barnstaple and the local Yeomanry cavalry patrol the streets.

15.11.1917
A visitor is fined £1 for taking photographs at Trentishoe – which is against wartime rules.
Lynton War Supply Depot sends 480 pairs of crutches to a London hospital.

16.11.1967
The Queen's Hotel on the corner of Boutport and Well Street in Barnstaple closes.
The Ministry of Defence refuses plans to stage civilian flights from RAF Chivenor.

12.11.1992
Barnstaple market traders rebel over a 5% increase in rents.
Ilfracombe policeman Dave Gumm retires after 30 years in the force.

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21.11.1867
Edward Marriot who claims to be a 'captain in the Fenian Army' is charged with drunkenness at Barnstaple.
Sailors shipwrecked on Lundy are said to have been badly treated by the inhabitants.

22.11.1917
A girl Guides troop is set up at Torrington with 5 officers and 39 girls.
Fremington School War Savings Association has 134 members.

23.11.1967
Dunsland House near Holsworthy is gutted by fire.
Bideford town council deny any responsibility for any future 'failure' of the Long Bridge.

19.11.1992
A Bideford hotelier is arrested after attacking a traffic warden.
Peninsular Proteins of Torrington are fined £600 for polluting the River Torridge.

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28.11.1867
Forty working men in Barnstaple subscribe 1/- each to start the town's Co-op Society.
Appledore is said to need new, clean wells to replace its contaminated water.

29.11.1917
Women land workers are presented with 'stripes' for a year's work at Combe Martin.
The deaths of 31 local servicemen are recorded this week – Ernest Alford of Barnstaple was just 16.

30.11.1967
Clarks shoe factory in Barnstaple takes on 60 more staff.
Land subsidence renders Eggesford railway signal box virtually unusable.

26.11.1992
The milk factory at Torrington closes with the loss of 134 jobs.
The eighteenth century organ in St.Peter's church, Barnstaple is restored at a cost of £92,000.

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5.12.1867
News of riots in Barnstaple is transmitted by 'submarine telegraph' to the USA the day after they happen.
The St.George of Bideford belonging to the Rolle Canal Co. is wrecked on the coast of Labrador.

6.12.1917
A large area of the Rolle estates in North Devon is sold at auction.
Sergeant William Gilbert from Barnstaple is awarded the DCM.

7.12.1967
Outside TV aerials are banned from the new Dartington Fields housing estate in Torrington.
Alfred Blackwell curator of the North Devon Athenaeum for 18 years, and the Journal's book reviewer, dies.

3.12.1992
Shebbear College is to merge with Edgehill College in Bideford.
An oak tree is planted in Holsworthy town square to replace a 'Great Tree' removed a century before.

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12.12.1867
E.E.Stoneman is elected Chief of the Torrington Volunteer Fire Brigade.
The 'Governor' of Lundy Island agrees not to give sanctuary to any more debtors.

13.12.1917
At Ilfracombe a Naval man divorces his wife – and wins £100 in damages from her seducer.
The Barnstaple 'Comrades of the Great War' ask the local MP to stop Conscientious Objectors from getting jobs after the war.

14.12.1967
Following a town referendum Barnstaple council vote not to accept London 'overspill' population.
South Molton council throws out a plan for a pedestrian crossing in the Square.

10.12.1992
A new sewage plant designed to look like a farm building is planned for Lynton's Valley of Rocks.
Kaos night club on the Strand in Barnstaple opens.

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19.12.1867
Christopher, Elizabeth and Matilda Cheriton, three of the 'North Devon Savages' are charged with assault at Chulmleigh court.
The Chittlehampton Mutual Improvement Society holds its first lecture.

20.12.1917
Riccards Down, Abbotsham is sold for £600.
Sapper W.Gage who dies of his wounds in Ilfracombe is given a military funeral.

21.12.1967
Leslie Wakley is voted the North Devon Technical College 'Rag Queen'.
Ken Dendle becomes headmaster of Bideford's Church Junior School.

17.12.1992
An action group is set up to stop Shebbear College closing.
Conservatives on Torridge district council split into two rival groups due to 'personality clashes'.

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26.12.1867
A Christmas dinner of beef and plum pudding is given to the inmates of Barnstaple prison.
James Cooke puts an advert in the Journal asking to be chosen as the new house surgeon to Barnstaple Infirmary.

27.12.1917
The Journal is printed on green paper owing to shortages of white newsprint.
T.Prideaux of the Barnstaple Trade and Labour Council is co-opted onto Barnstaple town council.

29.12.1967
A new 50 house estate is to be built at Bickington.
The newly introduced 'breathalyser' sees local pub takings down to their lowest Christmas total ever.

31.12.1992
The Torridge is no longer a 'septic and dead river' following a clean-up campaign.
Bideford beat Barnstaple 16-6 in a Boxing Day rugby match.