Newton Abbot

I had thought that Newton Abbot was little more than a town which grew up around an important 19th century railway junction, that is to say where the line to Torquay branches away to the east of the line which goes on to Plymouth and beyond. With both Torquay and Plymouth once being important destinations - not to mention Cornwall to the west. But both from our recent visit and from reference 1, I learn that it was rather more than that. In particular, a substantial market and wool trade town, long before the railways arrived in the mid 19th century.

The livestock market survives, although not on the day of our visit, and we were able to park in its environs. Where one also had a substantial multi-storey car park (snapped above) and a shopping centre. The latter a bit open plan and drafty.

Then a substantial High Street, if a little faded. First stop, their branch of NatWest bank, done from the same pattern book as the branch in Epsom, but rather bigger and grander. Second stop, the Orsino Lounge, possibly a former public house. We took coffee for her, tea for him and toasted tea cakes. Not busy but entertaining and their tea cakes were good, much better than average. It is even possible that they were not microwaved from frozen.

The town struck me as a large version of Ely, the cathedral town to the north of Cambridge. Lots of rather countrified people wandering about, all shapes and sizes, lots of fags, vapes and tattoos. Very few foreigners. But old fashioned and interesting on that account, rather in the way of the Isle of Wight.

Then, after the Wellingtonia previously noticed, down East Street to come across a rather sprawling, once grand, department store called Austins, to be found at reference 2. At some point in its history, gobbling up the Globe Hotel, notable for the monolithic porch pillars, snapped above. One wonders how prone to breaking in half they were when you were moving them about? How many did you lose between quarry and porch? In any event, these monoliths seem to be quite common in the churches of the towns and villages around Dartmoor: see, for example, reference 3.

We also had a stray church tower, detailed at reference 4. Near a place important in the progression of William III onto the throne of James II. As detailed in the pedestal snapped above. I wonder whether I would get vertigo standing on such a thing? Three feet of the ground can, at times, seem very high up, particularly as I get older.

From there back to the car park where we snapped the news above. It would be interesting to know more about the sheep clearance days, from which I associated to the chalet clearance months you get in some chalet parks, presumably to discourage long haired or tattooed long-term residents.

Then headed off to Stover Country Park where we bagged another couple of Wellingtonia, also previously noticed. Plenty of more ordinary trees, some of which are snapped above. I also bought what turned out to be a rather dubious flapjack from a caravan parked up next to the car park. Tasted all right, if a bit large and damp, at the time.

Home to spot a small flock of chaffinches messing about at the top of the drive down to our cottage, aka barn/shed conversion. First time I had seen chaffinches for a while.

PS: Google have just pushed the advertisement lines you get in your subsidiary gmail boxes one more step forward. By scattering them about, rather than confining then to one or two lines near the top, they have become more intrusive and more irritating. Presumably, from their point of view, this change results in more paying clicks, intrusion and irritation notwithstanding. Perhaps one day they will offer a no-advertisement offering - for a further consideration, naturally. Not that I would mind paying a bit: advertisments aside, gmail is a good service.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Abbot.

Reference 2: https://www.austins-uk.com/.

Reference 3: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/settling-in.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Leonard%27s_Tower,_Newton_Abbot.

Reference 5: https://www.thelashladyservices.co.uk/. Noticed on gmaps, not far from Austins. Not a discrete service for the older gentleman, rather something to do with ladies' eyelashes.

Group search key: nwa.