Dartmouth and Kingswear Steam Laundry
(Reg Little's reminiscences)

This was established sometime in the latter part of the 1800s. It was in operation during the period that "The Britannia" and "The Hindustan" were training ships for the Royal Navy -carrying out the training of officers, prior to the building of the Naval College.

In the early 1900s there was a notice on the wall stating "Contractors to the Royal Yacht, Victoria & Albert, HMS Britannia and the Royal Naval College only".

At the entrance to the Laundry, up to the time it was demolished, there was a large lion and unicorn coat of arms saying "By Appointment".

The Laundry was owned by a Mr Mitchelmore, and was managed by the Bell family, my brother's wife Rosamond's grandparents. They lived in a house between No.1 Waterhead Cottages and The Laundry. The also had the two bedrooms of No.1. The power for the laundry at that time came from a steam engine, which had a high brick chimney. The water supply came from a stream, down from "Oversteps" to the cemetery. This had originally been the leat to the water mill. A large square reservoir was dredged out halfway up Waterhead brake with overshoots and overflows to control the water level. Incidentally, the same pool below the cemetery also supplied the water for the railway station via a pipe along the creek and water tower, which stood below where the banjo is now -alongside the railway cattle pens. This also supplied the railway engines near the turntable. All the machinery in the laundry was driven by overhead shafts and pulleys, which ran the washing machines, calendars and spin dryers. During my childhood I remember the brick chimney being demolished and replaced with a tubular steel chimney during the college holidays.

Every morning at about lam, some 25 ladies young and old (Laundry Maids) came across the ferry, past the carriage cleaners at work who had started at 4.30am and much banter would ensue. The girls would sometimes sing as they went along the road. When they arrived at the Laundry, everything was ready for them to commence work as the Quant brothers -Harry and Jack - had caught the first ferry and been at work for an hour and a half already. The girls would work till 6pm and even later if it was a very busy time. At this time we could almost tell which day of the week it was by the colour of the creek -Mondays very soapy, Tuesdays a little clearer, Wednesdays blue rinse until it was clear by the end of the week.

Cyril Bell, the son of the family who had managed the Laundry in the early 1900s, drove the lorry, which collected all the dirty laundry. It contained baskets and bags. He visited the navel establishments at Plymouth and, during the war, the hotels in Paignton and Torquay, which had been taken over for officers' flight training. If he had any spare time he used to work in the Laundry.

During the war there was also laundry done for the American Navy, and the water supply began to be inadequate. One weekend, the Americans sent a bulldozer to Kingswear to deepen the reservoir. This was not much appreciated by the dip chicks and other waterfowl that lived there, especially when the bulldozer got stuck and another and a crane had to be provided to extricate it (information from John Issac).

The Royal Navy always used brown sugar. Cyril Bell used to collect the sacks on his rounds and returned them to the laundry. (Jamaica paid their taxes in rum and sugar in lieu of cash, we understood). Cyril and the Quant brothers used to shake out the sacks and share out the considerable amount of sugar which was left in them. Sugar was tightly rationed in the war. One day they were engaged in shaking the sacks and Mr Michelmore came in. They had to tell him what was in progress. Mr Mitchelmore said he wanted to be "in" on it. John Isaac was sent out to the garage to get a sack which was known to have been polluted by rats. They waited until Mr Mitchelmore came and shook it out in front of him. When he saw the rat droppings he was horrified. Cyril and the Quants said "Its quite alright, its easy to pick the droppings out". They were delighted when he lost interest in sugar sharing!

Just before D Day, a batch of duffel coats was sent to the laundry for washing. John Isaac who was involved told me that some of them were blood stained. These coats remained in the Laundry for several years unclaimed as the ship they came from had been sent on other duties. In 1946 or thereabouts some of these duffel coats began to leak out into the village. They were all wool and would have been very expensive to buy. In the 1947 blizzard, some of the coats found their way to the Teacher Training College in Salisbury where my fiancee, Sheila, now my wife, was studying. They were died in various colours and were greatly appreciated in that very bad winter. Indeed, they are still remembered at the annual college reunions!

Up until the mid 1940s, above the Mill-leat, were well-tended allotments which nearly reached the road above, by Castella. Opposite the cemetery, at the top end, was a dump where cars and other scrap was deposited.

Until the 1974 boundary changes, all Waterhead was in the Parish of Brixham -including Waterhead House (Mrs Clifford) and Longfield (Mr Wilton). The boundary of Kingswear followed the stream through the creek and up through Wilton's field. I well remember Bill Todd telling me how they used to beat the bounds. He was the chairman of Kingswear Parish Council at one time and was a member of an old Kingswear family.

During the early 1970s, the Laundry, after losing the Admiralty contract, and Naval cutbacks, ceased to be viable, even though they tried for a while to get hotel contracts. It was closed down, later to become a housing estate. Luckily most of the employees were nearing retirement.

Notes compiled by Reg & Sheila Little 2003

Mr Roberts' Saw Mills
(Reg Little's reminiscences!)

Mr Roberts' Sawmills was just inside the gate to the Higher Hoodown Lane - opposite the cemetery on the left-hand side. It consisted of an oil engine, which used to go "putt putt putf' and a belt drive to a circular saw, which may have been some 5 feet in circumference. The timber being cut into planks was from quite large trees; they were put onto a moving platform running on little rollers, which moved towards the saw blade. The trees in the wood were then grown as a crop, and when they neared the end of their lifecycles were used, not left to rot. There were piles of sawdust allover the place. These were collected by butchers and other shopkeepers in the days of spit and sawdust (!) and the sawdust sometimes flowed out into the road. I can remember in the war, then I was in the rescue party, Brian Bovey's father got us to dig a tunnel under the sawdust, shoring it with bits of planking. Mr Roberts was also in the Civil Defence. The Saw Mill ended its life in the 1960s when it was run by Brian Goss of Dartmouth, an old school mate of mine, and ex member of the Military Police. He used to sell logs round the district and lost the top of some fingers as the result of his work at the Sawmills.

When we moved to Creekside, he gave us a present -a sign carved in chestnut wood saying "Creekside".

Notes compiled by Reg & Sheila Little 2003

Businesses in Kingswear between 30's and 50's

Kingswear Laundry: Employed about 5 men and 45 girls. The men were mainly from the Quant family from Dartmouth. They did all the Admiralty laundry from the Naval college, and from the Naval Barracks in the Plymouth area. Also they did hotel laundry from Dartmouth & the Torbay area, and private houses in the locality.

George Weeks: Engineering and boat engine repairs. He worked in the big tin hut at the end of the creek.

Garage: Couch and Stoneman -petrol was sold, cars repaired, wireless accumulators were recharged.

Garage: Lionel Fairweather owned the central garage.

Tailoress:

Miss Lawrence, Summerland Terrace,

Hawkes Stores: Groceries, Greengrocers.

Kingswear Dairy: Miss Hudson, Roseland. Caseys delivered milk to all parts of Kingswear and up to Noss.

Fish and Chip Shop: Next to dairy (Holmes and Kings)

CO-OP: Everything from bread to oil, including a cat sleeping among the bread in the window.

Butchers: Barrow, Butland, Scobie, ending with Maurice Langworthy.

Powleslands: Greengrocers and milk.

Wotton Shoe Repairs

De Lisle Soady: Haberdashery

Sunday Paper Shop: Sam Northcott to Bill Kelland

Hunt: Cobbler and clothes when ordered

Miss Taylor: The Square, Sweets, Cigarettes.

Stanleicks: Bakery and bread round, and refreshments.

Cooks: (Was Thrussell's previously) Grocer (where Kingswear Bears now stand)

Heal's: Cigarettes, sweets, lucky dips and hair cutting.

Post Office: Telephone exchange, stamps, P.Os, pensions etc also Savings Bank.

Bulley: Milk delivered round the village in a horse and cart by Mr Steer.

Blacksmiths: Jack Matthews repaired farm implements and all metal work. Made horseshoes and shoed the local horses. Made hoops for children; I still have the last one he made for me. (In the "Old Smithy" opposite the Methodist Chapel)

Sam Hawke: Kept a horse in the stable in Brixham Road, which was used to shunt coal wagons along the jetty. The coal was destined for Newton Abbot power station and Torquay gas works. The horse was kept in Wilful Murder Field when off duty.

Mr Job: The railway signalman had a small holding and kept a few cows in Wilful Murder Field.

Ferry (General Estates): Workshops below the Banjo adjacent to the cattle pens. Ran two car-floats (horse ferries), 3 Hauley tugs, two passenger ferries. In about 1936 one morning one of the floats was rammed and sunk by an Admiralty vessel that came down the river. There was no loss of life. .

River Dart Steam Boat Co: Ran 4 paddle steamers and three diesel vessels between Totnes and Kingswear. Also a ferry service from Dittisham to Dartmouth.

Billy Peters: Lived in the Mill House in Kingswear and had it converted to its present form. He ran pleasure boats from Torquay and back" landing at Dittisham pier for cream teas. His boats were the Torbay Belle and the White Lady. Both were taken over by the navy during the war.

Noss Works: Built nearly all the lightships all the way round the British Isles. During the war they built Corvettes, Boom defence vessels and Tugs for the Admiralty Before the war a boat called the research was being built which was totally non magnetic metals, Teak and all non ferrous metals were used. She was a beautiful ship but never finished.

Builder: Jas Tribble, did pile driving house building, quayside walls and the pier at Dittisham, work at steamer quay, Totnes.

Builder: Jack Tribble carried out building work and repairs in the village and did a great deal of work at Coleton Fishacre. Bert Ballard and Bill Todd told me how they walked out there every day. Jack Tribble had a motor bike and sidecar. During the war he worked for the D.C.R.E (Director Core Royal Engineers -responsible for any building work) building gun-sites, pill boxes etc. He then had an Army vehicle. His workshop was in the Old Warehouse where the new fiats now stand opposite the Marina Car Park. In the basement was a lime pit used for making mortar. In the workshop above was a large fly wheel with a handle. It was about 4 ft in circumference, driving a circular saw with 2'6" blade, which was used to cut planks and coffin boards, etc.

Hotels:
The Royal Dart Hotel, kept by Mrs Flisher.
The Riversea Hotel kept by Mr King.
The Ship Inn, Mr Ireland.
The Steam Packet, Mr Endicott.

Boarding or Guest Houses: The Keep and La Scala.

St Thomas of Canterbury Church: The Vicar was the Revd F Keyworth there were about 20 in the choir, at least 3 services every Sunday, plus a Sunday School.

Wesleyan Chapel: Had two services each Sunday plus a Sunday School, and the school room was used for evening meetings in the week.

KINGSWEAR -a busy. vibrant. industrious villaQe!

The steam ferry "Mew" This had 2 crews of 4 men, a skipper, 2 deck-hands and a stoker-engineer.

Kingswear Great Western Railway Station The station master Mr Bovey was resplendent in his uniform with a rose in his button hole. There were three ticket collectors, a booking clerk and there was a station staff of about 12 men and boys. There were three signal men, two of whom were Mr Job and Mr Selway. There were crane-drivers and shunters on the coal jetty. About 14 carriage cleaners started work at about 4am. The crossing keeper Mr Ashton and his wife lived in a railway house at Britannia Halt and operated the crossing. Mr Penwarden was the chief clerk and Mr Phillips was the goods superintendent, with about 2 Thorneycroft lorries and 2 vans. These collected goods luggage etc when requested. Fish used to travel to Billingsgate daily on the trains.

The Torbav Express; The dining car was cleaned and serviced here and filled with gas.

Charlie Peperell was a well known member of the staff. He looked after the embankment jetty and "coaled" The Mew (the old Ferry), and was usually as black as the material he handled and spent much of his spare time drinking Cider.

Reg Little January 2002

St. Thomas of Canterbury. Kingswear

The vicar of Kingswear was the Reverend F. H. Keyworth, who was well loved in the village, and known by everybody, including the Free French and H.M. forces. He was an excellent musician, played the organ and wrote words and tunes to several hymns, which sadly are no longer used, one being for St. Thomas' festal day. There was a church choir of about sixteen boys and eight men. The organist and choirmaster was Norman Weekes, who was a fitter at the shipyard. There was a communion service every Sunday at 8.00am. I was one of the servers, with my brothers, Ted Burrows, Norman Short, Steve Passmore and Desmond Kelland. At 11.00am was Mattins and at 6.30pm, Evensong. Once a month, there was a communion after the 11.00am service and on church festival days. Sunday school was at 1 O.OOam and 2.30pm. At times, the number of children on role was over fourty; the number was expanded with evacuees. Sheila helped Miss Wordsworth and Iris Reid who set up the Kingswear Childrens' Club to occupy the children during the week.

Local girls were married in the church to members of H.M. forces and two girls married Free French sailors. Thomas Wilton and Bill Harris were the cnurch wardens, Charlie Heal was the sexton; he kept the shop where the Post Office is now. He cut hair and sold sweets and cigarettes and was the village postman. Also involved in the church were Dr. Hope-Gill, of Kingswear House, Colonel Hine-Hacock of Collins' Quay, and Mr Wordsworth, descendant of the poet's and Bishop Wordsworth's family.

Reverend Keyworth was frequently in conversation with the Free French sailors, and told their Padre, he could use the church. Each Ascension Day, all the children from Kingswear Primary School used to process down to the church to take part in the special service. Until the mid-seventies when Sheila gave up Sunday school teaching, there were still 30 plus children on role, many of whom came from outlying country districts; there was also a Young Mums club, associated with the Sunday school and church, who used to meet socially once a month in the Trust room, and organised outings and concerts etc. Sunday school outings were held on the hill above Hoodown Farm, at Nethway House and at the landmark. Scouts were also involved with tents etc. During my father's and Mr Roscoe's time as wardens, they started the harvest supper. My mother, Mrs Roscoe and the Mothers' Union members helped with the meal.

Kingswear Wesleyan Chapel

The chapel has become three dwellings; it was closed in the seventies. The Pastor came from Dartmouth and at least two services were held, plus Sunday school. There was an evening meeting for children during the week; this was also attended by the church children. There often a magic lantern show about missionary work in Africa. One family, the Wills were running a hospital in Africa for leprosy. Prominent chapel members were Mr Powlesland, the dairyman, who was a lay reader, John Roberts, The Wills family, Mr Eckhart of Jubilee terrace and the Tucker family of Kircum Park. The headmistress of Kingswear School, Miss Hayward was also a member and very involved.