My second wander through Topsham’s hidden past and present, visiting a few pubs, some secret gardens, and exploring the notorious history of White Street. New insights too into the transportation of female convicts who were shipped from Topsham to Tasmania.
It’s nearly Halloween in Topsham, and there are a few spirits which may be haunting the houses we inhabit and the shops we frequent in the town. Not to mention a possible railway ghost…Join me to muse on ghostly and ghastly happenings in Topsham!
Here are the further stories of the children behind the antique christening mugs which I have in my collection….from the farms of Filton to the factories of leafy Edgbaston for one lad, and a tale of brothers and brewing for another. Plus how I solved a family mystery behind a named mug of my own. Please enjoy these Christening Mug stories and revelations with me!
From the start of the lockdown in March 2020, until the end of July, I walked a two mile circuit around Topsham almost every morning, very early. The images and reflections on this post my personal experience of this, doing homage to the great beauty of the area, and as keepsakes from what we will surely look back on as a very strange time. I hope you will enjoy this excursion through dawn scenery and the curiosities of lockdown Topsham.
Topsham loves to celebrate – from Charter Day to Christmas Carols at the oldest pub in town. My exploration of our local festivities includes the scandal of a clergyman involved in illegal Tar Barrel Rolling, and a newly revived Wassail ceremony, complete with a robin and a shotgun. There’s also a favourite Topsham recipe that you won’t find anywhere else!
Come with me upriver from Topsham, finding our way along the narrowest path in the town, and discover stories of the River Exe and other tales too of rats, recreation, lime kilns, a tumble into the mud and the mysterious Ting Tong. Not forgetting the elegant Retreat House which marks the end of my walk before the tide cuts me off!
This is the third exploration of Hidden Topsham, which covers two saints, several cats, a house of disrepute, a link between guano and a Topsham terrace, and a lost pier on the river. I can promise you an interesting amble through the town, with a few surprises along the way.!
This is part one a look at ‘Hidden Topsham’, and it’s a series of invitations for you to explore certain nooks and crannies of the town. One of the delights I’ve experienced from living in Topsham is the continual discovery of features and stories which are hidden from normal view. Follow me around the town to meet up with an old fishing trawler, the shade of Thomas Hardy, a listed telegraph pole, and the strange story of a secret sect. Topsham is a town of unexpected twists and turns, as I’ll reveal!
After this post, I will be having a break from Cherry’s Cache for a few weeks. I expect to resume in early May, and will post here when there’s an exact date fixed. If you are subscribed to the email notifications you’ll automatically be alerted when a new post goes up. And in the meantime, …
Cherry’s Cache has been running since March 2020. In that time, I’ve written 107 posts – 108 including this one! That’s a total of around 233,000 words, or the equivalent of at least two novels. Maybe three. I said at the beginning that this would be an ‘All and Everything’ blog and indeed it is. …
Cherry's Cache 