The Paignton Picture and Story Thread

To learn about Paignton we need to find out some of its history.

Here is what is written on wilki plus some important dates in Paigntons history along with a more in depth story about the Paington Pudding that until this morning I knew nothing about

History
Paignton is mentioned in the Domesday Book of AD 1086. Formerly written Peynton and Paington, the name is derived from Paega's town, the original Celtic settlement. Paignton was given the status of a borough having a market and fair in 1294

Paignton was a small fishing village until the 19th century, when in 1837 the Paington Harbour Act led to the construction of a new harbour and the modern spelling, Paignton, first appeared. The historic part of Paignton is centred around Church Street, Winner Street and Palace Avenue which contain fine examples of Victorian architecture.

Kirkham House is a late medieval stone house which is open to the public at certain times of year.]The Coverdale Tower adjacent to Paignton Parish Church is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published an English translation of the Bible in 1536. Coverdale was Bishop of Exeter between 1551 and 1553 and is reputed to have lived in the tower although this is doubted by modern historians[

The railway line to Paignton was built by the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway, and opened to passengers on 2 August 1859, providing Torquay and Paignton with a link to London.

The Paignton Pudding, first made in the 13th century, is the origin of the nickname pudden eaters for the people of Paignton. The puddings were made infrequently and were of great size. When thousands turned up hoping to obtain a piece of a huge pudding that had been baked to celebrate the arrival of the railway chaos occurred and the event became notorious. A Paignton Pudding was baked in 1968 to celebrate the town's charter, and another baked in 2006 to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Oldway Mansion is a large house and gardens constructed in the 1870s for Isaac Merritt Singer, who had amassed a considerable fortune by dint of his improvements to the sewing machine. The building is occupied by Torbay Council. Other Singer legacies in Paignton include the Palace Hotel and the Inn On The Green, which were built as homes for Singer's sons Washington and Mortimer.

Torquay Tramways were extended into Paignton in 1911 but the network was closed in 1934

As Paignton's population grew, it merged with the coastal villages of Goodrington and Preston. The town was governed by an urban district council until 1968, when the creation of Torbay Council led to a single body covering Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. The unitary authority formed in 1998 now handles all local government for Torbay, which has a directly elected mayor and 36 councillors. They are elected every four years. The Mayor chooses nine councillors to form the Cabinet. The Chairman of Torbay Council wears the chain of office.he first elected mayor was Nick Bye, elected in 2005. In 2011 Gordon Oliver became the second.Most of Paignton is in the Torbay constituency, with Adrian Sanders the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP. Some areas in the southern and western parts of the town are in the Totnes constituency represented by Sarah Wollaston. In the 2009 European elections, the United Kingdom Independence Party topped the poll in Torbay with 34.4% of the vote.
Economy


Paignton's economy relies extensively on tourism and the town is marketed as a location for family holidays. The main seafront area is dominated by Paignton Pier,[10] a 780-foot (240 m) long structure opened in 1879. It was designed by George Soudon Bridgman, the local architect who also designed the original Oldway Mansion. The Festival Theatre, opened in 1967, was once a seafront theatre capable of staging large summer shows. In 1999 it was converted into a multiscreen cinema. Regatta Week during early August is the peak holiday season. During this period there is a funfair on Paignton Green, along with a large fireworks display. Later in August is Children's Week, which includes a wide range of events and competitions. Paignton has a variety of holiday accommodation, complemented by numerous pubs, nightclubs and restaurants.

Tourist attractions include Paignton Zoo and the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, which operates steam trains from Paignton to Kingswear, from where a ferry can be taken across the River Dart to Dartmouth. The line was closed by British Rail during the cutbacks of the Beeching era in the 1960s, and is operated today as a heritage railway line.

Suttons Seeds, a supplier of seeds, bulbs and horticultural products, is based in Paignton.


Important dates in history

1166
The Kirkham family owned the ‘sub-manor’ of Blagdon for several Centuries. By the 16th Century their ownership of land had extended to Paignton as well.
1549
The Palace of the Bishops of Exeter, owned by the Church since the Norman Conquest, was surrendered to the Crown during the Reformation. The Bishop’s Tower still stands and is popularly known as Coverdale Tower in the mistaken belief that the bible was translated there by onetime Bishop of Exeter - Miles Coverdale.
1800
A naval hospital was built at Goodrington Park to care for casualties of the Napoleonic Wars.
1859
To commemorate the completion of the railway to Paignton, a giant pudding weighing over a ton was baked and a dinner held on Paignton Green. A crowd of 18,000 people gathered and fights broke out as people tried to obtain a piece of ‘The Paignton Pudding‘.
1874
‘The Wigwam’ was built at Oldway for Isaac Merritt Singer (of sewing machine fame). By 1907 the mansion had been transformed by Isaac's son, Paris, who made major structural alterations and incorporated French and Italian designs into the building. Oldway Mansion was bought by Paignton UDC in 1946 and now houses offices of Torbay Council and is also a popular marriage venue.
1879
The world premier of Gilbert & Sullivan's ‘Pirates of Penzance’ was held at the Royal Bijou Theatre to an audience of just 70 people!
1914
The Paignton Picture House opened in Torbay Road. It was later known as Torbay Cinema and vaunted as the oldest cinema in Western Europe when it closed in 1999.
1923
Herbert Whitley – the founder of Paignton Zoo – opened his own Zoological Gardens at Primley. During the Second World War ‘evacuees’ arrived from Chessington Zoo!
1967
Entertainment previously presented at the ‘tent’ on Paignton Green was transferred to the newly-built Festival Theatre (converted into the Apollo Cinema in 1999).
1972
Brunel’s Paignton-Kingswear line, having been closed by British Rail, was taken over by steam enthusiasts. It is now operated by the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.


The Paignton Pudding


For centuries Paigntonians have been known as "Flat-poles" or "Pudden-eaters". Of the two, the former derives from an widely grown local variety of cabbage for which the town was famous for many years. "Pudden-eaters" were so called because of the Pudding which has been part of its history for seven centuries. In token payment for the granting of the charter in the 13th century, "white-pot was prepared which was seven years making, seven years baking and seven years eating". Westcott (in "A view of Devon in 1630) notes that this was being made annually: "Somewhat I must tell you of the huge and costly white-pot... some term a bag-pudding. In former years it was an annual action". Over the succeeding years the custom changed and the annual preparation lapsed; it was made only every 50 years and, instead of being sent to the King, was distributed to the poor of the parish.

The first detailed account of the "Pudding" concerns the one produced in 1819 to celebrate the Annual Fair. Trewman's Exeter Flying Post referred to it as "an ancient custom neglected of late years but now revived". A local bakery produced an enormous "messy pudding, the ingredients included '400 lbs of flour, 170 lbs of suet, 140 lbs of raisins and 20 dozen eggs'". The boiling of this monster took four days, or 64 hours in the Crown & Anchor Inn's brewing copper. It was afterwards paraded through the town on a wagon drawn by eight oxen to the Green where it was was distributed to the poor of the parish before a crowd of 8,000.

As noted above, the next one to be baked was the one produced in celebration of the opening of the railway in August 1859. It was a mammoth 1½ tons in weight, cost £45 to make and was made by Evans, the baker, in the shape of a pyramid with a base measuring 13ft 6in. and a top layer 5 feet around. John Robinson, a printer of broadsheets and tracts, set up his press on Paignton Green and printed a penny souvenir fully recording both the recipe and the sequence of the day's events. What really happened, however, was very different from those anticipated by Mr. Robinson. His version gives an uneventful account of the affair but the facts, not recorded in the newspapers of the day either, tell a very different story:


The day of the opening dawned and invited to the event were the poor of Paignton, Marldon and Stoke Gabriel together with the navvies and their families who had worked on the extension of the line. Besides the Pudding there was 1,900 lbs each of meat and bread and unlimited quantities of the local product, Devonshire cider. The procession left Primley at noon; prominent were the three wagons each drawn by three horses carrying the food and the great pudding on a wagon drawn by eight horses. After its safe arrival on Paignton Green the invited guests sat down inside the rope barrier while the rest of Paignton and neighbourhood pressed around on the outside. The meal proceeded peacefully until the pudding was drawn into position ready for cutting up; the people on the outside began to clamour for shares and, breaking down the fence, started forward to help themselves. The committee, worried by this turn of events, surrounded their charge and called on the five policemen present to assist them. The invited guests, feeling that they were being deprived of their rights, moved into the fray and in a moment committee, police, pudding and public were in one seething mass on the ground. By the time order was restored not a morsel of that delicious pudding remained... It was said that there were over 18,000 people on the Green that day. The postmaster reported that greasy parcels were being sent off for the next few weeks.

Later revivals have passed off with little riotous behaviour and the size of the Pudding more modest. In 1895 one was made under the direction of Mrs. Fred Palk of Victoria Street. It was sold in portions for charity at a fete held at the Redcliffe Towers (now Redcliffe Hotel) after being paraded through Paignton on a large dray, "the horse being lent by Mr Albert Foster". An attempt to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1819 event failed. The Pudding of 1930 was produced by Messrs. Evans & Sons to the original recipe and was the central feature of the Carnival festivities. The last Pudding to be made was in 1968 when 1,542 portions, in special souvenir basins, were sold for charity (Paignton Hospital League of Friends) at a Charter Fair which took place on the original site (Church Street and Palace Avenue).

I reckon most people move away for education or employment opportunities. Torquay and Torbay has some stunning scenery and of course the football club, and on a nice day I don't think there's anywhere better. But what do you do between October and April when the weather's shite and the days short? For me, it's not just Torquay, but every small town or city. I felt the same feelings of claustrophobia when I lived in Manchester. London is the only place I've lived where I've never felt like that (which isn't to say that living here doesn't have downsides of its own).

But the pictures do prove one thing, anywhere has its good bits if you're willing to walk around a bit and wait for a spell of good weather.

A nice shot of the Place Avenue Theatre and the park that was once a cabbage field.

I found this very interesting article you might like to read.



Before the railway was built the town was comparatively unknown, the central area comprised of Winner and Well Streets, when the sea came in as far as the other side of the railway and the locals had to rely on their water from a well in Well Street..

But in 1885 - come the influence of learned men like George Soudon Bridgman, Walter George Couldrey, Onesimus Smart Bartlet and William Lambshead. All that was going to change, they dearly wanted to put Paignton on the map with the coming of the new railway. Soon a brand new reservoir was built to serve Paignton and a new electricity generator too.

But a new look was required too, the area around Winner street was rundown and unsuitable for the future they envisaged. They looked for an area in which they could build their new pipe-dream and it had to be within easy reach of the railway station to attract visitors who were already visiting Torquay. But where?, there was no ready land available, the area reclaimed from the sea was still considered unsuitable and would not fit in with their vision, not suitable at all. And the area which is now Palace Avenue was a cabbage field, supplying a good yield and living to local growers of the famous Paignton ‘flatpole’ cabbage to be shipped from Paignton Harbour abroad.

But all that was going to change, maybe the word got around that the intrepid

entrepreneurs were prepared to give a good price, maybe much more than the income on cabbages, we don’t know but to their delight The area came up for auction on the 20th October 1885 and their need to develop the town was so great that they would keep on bidding until they won, which of course they did for the sum of £4250 and the result is what we now know as Palace Avenue with its delightful park in the centre.

A new theatre was in the offing to produce entertainment for the well to do visitors, a place where they could saunter to take in the new shops and ambience of the area, so different from what had been. And there was the need for a new church too and William Lambshead was a prominent influence in this direction in presenting a scheme which included erecting a new school-chapel. The Wesleyan trustees purchased a large plot at a cost of £325 - in those days of hardship, when there was no national assistance as such, the church helped many and of course attendance and devotion was much more significant than today.

They already had a well founded church in Polsham but the idea was to close that one and build a new church in the prominence of Paignton’s new centre piece.

Much discussion was made between the church trustees to ‘consent to dispose’ of the present chapel site in Polsham Road and given the exiting plans rendered by Mr. Couldrey - that the former site should be dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt in Palace Avenue was an innovative solution and indeed would reduce greatly the bill for materials.

But given the influence generated by the four entrepreneurs - that Mr Bridgman was the man who designed the original Oldway Mansion for Isaac Singer and the other three had also gained honours in their fields, the project went ahead, there was no looking back.

Competent builders Christopher and Robert Drew were assigned to do the work. marking precisely each stone and artefact and what we see today is the end product in all its glory. And Palace Avenue too as it now stands, a tribute to those men of vision in the past.

If you look at somewhere like Paignton you'll see that its' history is quite different to, say, Newton Abbot.

Newton Abbot's growth was relatively organic: an important market town that was to take advantage of the coming of the railway and nearby mineral deposits.

By contrast much of Paignton's growth and importance is much more recent: earmarked by the Victorians as somewhere pleasant to live and visit. Consequently Paignton needed people from the latter half of the nineteenth century: business people to run the hotels, attractions and shops; reasonably wealthy people to buy the new houses and villas; all manner of people to do the work.

This meant that people had to move to Paignton to make it flourish. That, of course, would have been true for Newton Abbot but probably not as much as this largely "new town" between Brixham and Torquay.

I guess these people came from all over: a large proportion from rural Devon but many others from the length and breadth of Britain. And I suspect that, even if you consider yourself a "true" Paigntonian, you may struggle to trace your roots in the town back by too many generations. That's the same for many seaside places and towns such as Bournemouth - nothing there in 1810; sprawling by 1910 - are even more extreme examples. Oddly, this can also be said for nineteenth century industrial towns - like Barrow and Middlesbrough - which sucked in multitudes of people as they grew.

We Torquinians can occasionally be pretty acerbic about Paignton. The truth is that the two places are similar yet quite different. Torquay flourished earlier - some say the town's real heyday was the 1860s (rather than the 1960s) and the clientele were the wealthy. Paignton came later and was generally geared at those of more modest wealth. I guess there's little clues as to this around both places.

The mind boggles