Post by Dave on Nov 20, 2012 18:31:38 GMT
While this poster has nothing to do with Torquay United, as it is a wonderful old football poster from 1897, I thought it should belong in the history room.
As I walked into Bideford Tools this morning to return a drill we had repaired for them, I noticed a fixtures poster on the window for the Bideford rugby club. I said to the man behind the counter in a joking way, “ why a rugby fixture poster in the window and not one from the town football club” He replied “they never bring one down here, but we do have this on the wall” He pointed up to an old football poster from 1987 that had been framed.
I said to him I was surprised the football club had not come in and made an offer for it and he replied the town football club was not formed until 1946 and why this poster is so special, was that there is nothing written down anywhere that suggests football was played in the town way back then.
He also told me the pitch was in Northam and someone who has seen the poster, claims to have a picture of the ground with a steam train going past it. This surprised me until he told me there was once a railway line that ran from Bideford Quay to Westward Ho.! I knew there was a line once from Bideford to Barnstaple, but never knew there was another line on the town side of the river.
When I first read the poster the first thing I noticed was the price to watch the game, just the one price for all at 3d ( one and a half new pence) The second was this line.
Excursion breaks will run to the ground from Mill Street
Mill Street in in the centre of Bideford and a wonderful image them came into my head of football fans climbing up on some cart pulled by a horse and taken to the ground at Northam. When I learned about the railway line, I had wondered why fans simply did not go by train, but I have discovered the line was opened only as far as Northam by 1901.
A bit about the railway line
The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway was an unusual and short-lived railway built entirely on this peninsula with no direct connection to the rest of the British railway network. The locomotives were fitted with skirts to protect pedestrians as at one point the line ran along the quay at Bideford. The line had eleven halts which largely served visitors wishing to enjoy the bracing air along the coast or the fine beaches around Westward Ho!. The railway, although authorised in 1896 was opened only as far as Northam by 1901 and finally opened to Appledore in 1908.
The railway fell into financial difficulties until in the First World War the War Department requisitioned all of its equipment for use in France. Bideford's 13th century Long Bridge was temporarily converted into a railway bridge to carry the locomotives and rolling stock onto the main line railway near Bideford Station
In 1905 the Bideford to Westward Ho! or Northam fare was 3d for 1st Class Single, 4d return and a 3rd Class Single was 2d, 3d return. Dogs cost 3d each and bicycles 6d or 1s if not accompanied. Parcels were 1d up to 7 lb (3.2 kg), 3d up to 14 lb (6.4 kg) and 4d up to 28 lb (13 kg). A Third Class from Bideford to Appledore cost
. Market Day tickets for Tuesdays and Saturdays were only 6d and an augmented train service ran. Bathing Returns could be purchased and books of tickets for ten journeys cost 3s 4d. Company Regulations covered every conceivable type of carriage, such as 1s for a bitch or a litter of puppies in a hamper or 2s 6d for a harp in or out of a case.Return tickets admitted the holder to the Great Nassau Baths at Westward Ho! for only 4d. Tickets were made of paper, with a combination of the names of the boarding and alighting points printed in a double column on either side of the value.
1905 a train on the quay at Bideford
As I walked into Bideford Tools this morning to return a drill we had repaired for them, I noticed a fixtures poster on the window for the Bideford rugby club. I said to the man behind the counter in a joking way, “ why a rugby fixture poster in the window and not one from the town football club” He replied “they never bring one down here, but we do have this on the wall” He pointed up to an old football poster from 1987 that had been framed.
I said to him I was surprised the football club had not come in and made an offer for it and he replied the town football club was not formed until 1946 and why this poster is so special, was that there is nothing written down anywhere that suggests football was played in the town way back then.
He also told me the pitch was in Northam and someone who has seen the poster, claims to have a picture of the ground with a steam train going past it. This surprised me until he told me there was once a railway line that ran from Bideford Quay to Westward Ho.! I knew there was a line once from Bideford to Barnstaple, but never knew there was another line on the town side of the river.
When I first read the poster the first thing I noticed was the price to watch the game, just the one price for all at 3d ( one and a half new pence) The second was this line.
Excursion breaks will run to the ground from Mill Street
Mill Street in in the centre of Bideford and a wonderful image them came into my head of football fans climbing up on some cart pulled by a horse and taken to the ground at Northam. When I learned about the railway line, I had wondered why fans simply did not go by train, but I have discovered the line was opened only as far as Northam by 1901.
A bit about the railway line
The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway was an unusual and short-lived railway built entirely on this peninsula with no direct connection to the rest of the British railway network. The locomotives were fitted with skirts to protect pedestrians as at one point the line ran along the quay at Bideford. The line had eleven halts which largely served visitors wishing to enjoy the bracing air along the coast or the fine beaches around Westward Ho!. The railway, although authorised in 1896 was opened only as far as Northam by 1901 and finally opened to Appledore in 1908.
The railway fell into financial difficulties until in the First World War the War Department requisitioned all of its equipment for use in France. Bideford's 13th century Long Bridge was temporarily converted into a railway bridge to carry the locomotives and rolling stock onto the main line railway near Bideford Station
In 1905 the Bideford to Westward Ho! or Northam fare was 3d for 1st Class Single, 4d return and a 3rd Class Single was 2d, 3d return. Dogs cost 3d each and bicycles 6d or 1s if not accompanied. Parcels were 1d up to 7 lb (3.2 kg), 3d up to 14 lb (6.4 kg) and 4d up to 28 lb (13 kg). A Third Class from Bideford to Appledore cost
. Market Day tickets for Tuesdays and Saturdays were only 6d and an augmented train service ran. Bathing Returns could be purchased and books of tickets for ten journeys cost 3s 4d. Company Regulations covered every conceivable type of carriage, such as 1s for a bitch or a litter of puppies in a hamper or 2s 6d for a harp in or out of a case.Return tickets admitted the holder to the Great Nassau Baths at Westward Ho! for only 4d. Tickets were made of paper, with a combination of the names of the boarding and alighting points printed in a double column on either side of the value.1905 a train on the quay at Bideford
