Tiverton Civic Society

Mayor’s Events

Janet Rendle who is both the Mayor of Tiverton and our President would like to draw your attention to the following events:

1. Silver Sunday in the Mayoralty Room Sunday 7th October from 3-5 pm. This is for Senior Citizens, it includes tea, and the cost is £3.50 per head. All welcome, but numbers are limited, so if you wish to attend please ring Janet at 254914 as soon as possible.
2. The Mayor’s Charity Dinner and Auction on Saturday, 3rd November in the Tiverton Hotel. (7 for 7.30 pm). This includes a three course dinner and the guest speaker will be the incoming Bishop of Crediton, Right Rev Jackie Searle.                             This dinner is in aid of the Mayor’s charities involved with local community organisations and the cost is £29.50 per head, with a reduction for tables with groups of ten. Contact Janet at 254914 if you wish to attend, or Tiverton Town Council at 253404.

Autumn Talks at the Tiverton Museum

Tiverton Museum is running a short season of talks, details of which are attached. All talks  are £5 per ticket (£4 for museum members) available from Tiverton Museum (available now). The talks will take place at Tiverton Town Hall, 7:30pm on the dates shown in the posters.
It is anticipated that the railway talks will sell out so it is recommended  that tickets are obtained early.

autumntalksrunbytivertonmuseum

Conservation Officer for Tiverton

Greg Venn has been appointed as the Conservation Officer for Tiverton, replacing Catherine Marlow (See below).

Heritage Open Days 2018 6th-9th and 13th -16th September

The Civic Society’s Free of Charge Guided Walks will be as follows:

Friday 7^th September

Westexe Walk and Waldron’s Almshouse Chapel

Start outside the Town Hall, Fore Street. Start Time: 2.30pm

Saturday 8^th September

Old Tiverton Central Walk

Start outside the Town Hall, Fore Street. Start Time: 2.30pm

St. Peter Street, Church, Hit and Miss Alley, Silver Street (V.R. Postbox), top of Barrington Street, New Hall Alley to Henry Newte’s Great House. Bampton Street and Fore Street.

Friday 14^th September

Tiverton East

Start outside the Town Hall, Fore Street. Start Time: 2.30pm

Including Tudor (visit the Almshouse Chapel) and a look at Elizabethan, Old Blundells School, 1604.

Buildings in Devon and Buildings in the Tiverton area open without charge include St Peter’s Church, Ayshford Chapel and Spiceland’s Quaker Meeting House. Full details of opening times are available online. There is also a programme of free guided tours in Exeter and surrounding settlements.

Knightshayes Heritage Open Day and 150th Anniversary

Heritage Open Day, Saturday 8^th September  10.00am – 5.00pm 

Knightshayes will once again be offering free entry to all visitors as part of Heritage Open Day on Saturday 8^th September 2018.

Gardens will be open from 10.00am to 5.00pm and House from 11.00am, with last entry at 4.30pm.

We will be offering free Introductory talks of both House and Gardens all day, details of timing and location will be available on the day.

Additionally visitors of all ages will be able to enjoy our amazing maze quest for free.   Challenging themselves to solve our mazes, games and puzzles which include a labyrinth and some immersive rope mazes.

 Can you help Knightshayes to celebrate 150 years?

Knightshayes are celebrating the 150^th year anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the house.  They will be hosting a series of events in celebration next spring and summer 2019 but need the community to help kick things off this September with a special project ‘Mapping Knightshayes Connections’

On Saturday 8^th September (Heritage Open Day) the team will be holding a special event as part of Heritage Open Day, where they hope to collect anecdotes, stories, pictures and hear about memories anyone might have, whether its their own or passed down by a family member – the team would like to begin gathering local people’s recollections.  A picture says a thousand works, so any images or relevant artefacts would also be very welcome.  We would love to be able to hear about our local community’s memories of Knightshayes, the property, Heathcoat Amory family and connections with the wider community.  We will have a Recollection Room set up within the House, some photographs and stories we already have will be on show and we welcome all and everyone to reflect, recollect and add to our community project.HOD 18 POSTER

Fiona Miller, Visitor Experience Officer, NT Knightshayes

Finds Day at the Mid Devon Museum

Details are now available for this event, which runs from 10:00-3:00 on Saturday 1^st September Finds Day.

WEA Autumn Courses

The Autumn courses leaflet has now been published.

Tiverton Town Leat and Coggan’s Well

The Town Leat is flowing again! Congratulations to those who campaigned successfully for its restoration.

 

Floral Display to Mark our Society’s 50th Anniversary.

The sign and display can now be seen next to the roundabout at the junction of Station Road and Great Western Way. Many thanks to Andrea Rowe and Mid Devon District Council for arranging for this.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

All organisations were required to comply with the new GDPR regulations by May 25th 2018, and we have made every effort to do so. We have written a new Privacy Statement which can be read here: Tiverton Civic Society Privacy Statement

We have also contacted all members to request their permission to continue to use the contact details they have provided, including postal and e mail addresses as well as telephone numbers.

Civic Voice’s Response to the Draft Revised (NPPF) National Planning Policy Framework Consultation.

This response has now been submitted by Civic Voice, our parent organisation.

Rood Screens

The illustrated online publication recommended by Martin Horrell during his excellent presentation on April 10th is ‘Mediaeval Rood Screens with Special Reference to Devon’ by Michael Aufrere Williams.

Devon Voice – The Spring Newsletter of the Devon Branch of CPRE.

The Spring 2018 Newsletter includes an article by Nick Groom, who spoke to us in June, and one by Mike Scott on housing developments in Mid Devon.

Catherine Marlow – Tiverton’s Conservation Officer

Catherine Marlow was appointed as Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas for Historic England and left Mid Devon District Council on January 25th. We congratulate her on her new post, but will miss her. She has been an excellent Conservation Officer for the past eighteen years and she has achieved much – even though her recommendations have often been overruled by the Planning Committee!

Jonno Keates

Jonno Keates, who spoke at our September meeting, has been awarded the Order of the Star of Italy . This is a prestigious honour awarded by the Italian President to foreign nationals ‘who have contributed to the preservation of and promotion of the Italian language, volunteering, charitable and philanthropic activities, participation in community life of our communities abroad, the scientific and technological research, the pastoral missions, commercial enterprises, the promotion of Italian food and wine and service to our country men.’
He was presented with the Order at the Embassy by the Ambassador. His citation is personally signed by the President.

Tiverton Eastern Extension Area B

The MDDC Cabinet discussed detailed proposals for Area B at their meeting at Phoenix House at 2.15 pm on Thursday, 26th October .

At the meeting it was resolved:

Letter re Cabinet report 8.11.17 gives full details.

Our Comment. ‘The only practical alternative access from the Tiverton – Halberton road would be through the north-west corner of Hartnoll Farm, close to the Hartnoll Business Centre, and then across Manley Lane into Area B. Such an access road could, as a ‘ransom strip’, not only be very costly, potentially reducing funding available for the second stage of the A361 junction, but it would also be outside the Allocated Area for development in the emerging Local Plan 2013 – 2033, within the parish of Halberton, and on Grade 1 Agricultural Land. Worse still, it would constitute an ‘own goal’ for the Planning Department because it would provide infrastructure which would encourage piecemeal, unregulated, residential development, which they state they are trying to avoid, at that part of Hartnoll Farm for which Waddeton Park have already taken out an option’.

Access to Area B through Area A must remain the only option!‘

Unveiling of Plaque to Private Thomas Sage VC on October 4th

Members of the Sage family are shown in the photograph, taken at the unveiling ceremony. A video of the ceremony is available.

Conservation Areas

Historic England have mounted a campaign to celebrate 50 years of Conservation Areas in England. They have highlighted six examples of ‘amazing conservation areas’, including  the Tiverton  Conservation Area, after a submission by this Society! Nevertheless this area remains classified as ‘Heritage at Risk’.

See the latest Historic England findings about ‘Heritage at Risk’.

Call For Greater Protection for Historic Buildings

The Architects Journal have written a thoughtful article about the wanton destruction of a rare 17th century ceiling in Bristol, calling for greater protection for features in unlisted buildings.

Tiverton EUE New A361 Junction Phase 1

Griffiths, the civil engineering and construction company responsible for constructing the left in/left out junction, have issued an information leaflet, and many local residents will have received a copy. See also the company’s You Tube video.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Devon.

The CPRE Devon Spring Newsletter, which includes items about proposed developments at M5 Junction 27 (Sampford Peverell) and Junction 28 (Cullompton), is now available.

Civic Voice Anniversary

Civic Voice celebrated its seventh anniversary on April 17th 2017

A short video, ‘Civic Voice: Shaping the Future for the Better’, discusses the aims, importance and achievements of the organisation.

Campaign to Protect Rural England

CPRE Devon have produced a very interesting short film.

CPRE have also released a short video outlining their achievements in 2016: ‘Standing up for the Countryside’

Housing White Paper

We fully support Civic Voice’s views about the need for more housing, the importance of speeding up delivery and their cautious support for the Housing White Paper.

Visitors to this Website

In 2017 there were 2174 visitors to this website, and 4380 views, the Listed Buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments Page being easily  the most popular, with a large increase in those viewing the War Memorials section. The most common visitors were from the United Kingdom (89%), USA, Canada and Australia. (There were 3037 views in 2016 and 2313 views in 2015). The largest number of views on a single day was 164 (93 visitors) on February 6th 2018, of which 124 views were of  the ‘Listed Buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments’ Page.

Tiverton Floods in 1960

Following the fine presentation by Ian Hunter and Chris Khan from The Environment Agency on Tuesday, October 25th 2017, they kindly sent an extensive collection of photographs of the dramatic 1960 floods in Tiverton. These will be found here:1960-flooding-in-tiverton-f in a downloadable zip file  Ian and Chris would, on request, be very happy to provide photographs for other locations

Planning Committee on 29th March 2017 – see the Archives Page

Pictures accompanying the article on John Heathcoat in the November 2016 Newsletter – see the Archives Page

Oil Paintings in Tiverton Town Hall – see the Archives Page

Flood Risk – see the Archives Page.

Diesel Emissions – see the Archives Page.

J.D.Salinger in Tiverton – see the Archives Page.