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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2008 0:24:03 GMT
Picked these up a while back from that antiques place - with a cafe - on the quay at Exeter. They've always got a wonderful range of old cards. Note the open views from Lincombe Drive, laid out as a pleasure drive by the Victorians and now largely overgrown and forgotten. Also the valley of the rocks at Watcombe, once something of a tourist attraction, now also overgrown and known to relatively few.    |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 21, 2008 17:51:08 GMT
Great postcards Barton, I do so love to see bygones pictures, yes sadly the Lincombes are very over grown, such a shame that things just end up not having any upkeep done on them.
The outer harbour picture is a good one, firstly you can see the pub that was on the end of the Princess Pier before it sadly burnt to the ground.
The habour looks so empty compared with today with its very expensive yachts all moored in it now.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2008 10:03:56 GMT
I walked along Lincombe Drive at the time of the Rock Walk business and wondered whether some of that treatment wouldn't have gone to waste around there. It really is an odd and lonely place which, without the vegetation, would have fantastic views. It's now so forgotten - how many people ever go there? - that I guess it'll be like that for the foreseeable future. Its location just doesn't fit to anywhere else so there's probably no commercial case for improvement. Mind you, I'd stroll that way on the way to Plainmoor for the odd latte at Dave's Lincombe View Diner (with all profits going towards his new boat in the marina).
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 27, 2008 19:08:13 GMT
Your last postcard Barton shows Rockwalk and what many will remember as an old toilet block. The building was built as a toll house in 1862. There were plans put in a 18 months ago to turn the building into a restaurant, maybe the plans were scraped in the end. Below a photo of the toll house and an article copyright of the HE. dated Thursday, July 31, 2008.  A DELAPIDATED block of former toilets on Torquay seafront is to be transformed into a new wining and dining venue. Despite concerns about the impact on the Grade II listed building at the foot of Rock Walk, planners gave the go ahead for the conversion of the old Toll House into a new cafe bar and restaurant. Businessman Paul Harvey said they hoped to make a start on site as soon as possible, but hit out at what he described as 'archaic' planning rules which he said were stifling business in the Bay. Mr Harvey, 55, from Torquay, bought the lease of the building near the Palm Court Hotel from Torbay Council six years ago. He ran Devon Dew, a water bottling company, there until 2003. Now he is in the process of buying the freehold. He says he is keen to start demolishing the toilet buildings which were added to the Toll House as soon as possible, ready for work on the £500,000 project which he says will turn it into a 'first class landscape building', including an 'ultra modern' glass extension with upstairs open terrace to take advantage of the location and the view. It could be open next April and Mr Harvey said he was keen to have 'top quality' operators running it. “We won't be cutting any corners,” he said. “Whatever we do it will be top quality.” Torbay planners gave their go ahead for the development against their officers' recommendation for refusal. Cllr Ruth Pentney said that as the toll house was a listed building it should be protected. But other members said that it looked bad to have a derelict building on a main tourist route. Officers said the use of the roof as a terrace was 'unacceptable'. “It would result in a form of development that would overwhelm the listed building and seriously damage its architectural character and integrity,” they warned. They said using part of Rock Walk as outdoor space might be more acceptable, but this would take some time to negotiate. Mr Harvey said he wanted to thank councillors for their support. “The committee were brilliant. Their attitude was what Torbay needs. Cllr Chris Lewis helped us from start to finish. “The officers are so restricted by the planning guidelines they have to follow, the rules are archaic. This is holding back development. “They also wouldn't make it clear to us what we had to do get permissions. We tried to do everything they wanted and they still recommended refusal,” he said. Mr Harvey said they would be 'cutting no corners' in the conversion and would be looking for an operator. “It will be a modern building wrapped around the Toll House. It will create 3,500 sq feet on two floors. We will also be asking for permission to use part of Rock Walk for outdoor seating.” He said he hoped the development would be a catalyst for improvements to the Palm Court Hotel, and also for the three cafe premises next door in Abbey Crescent— Sea Bank, Boardwalk and Bar Cava — which he also owns. He said they were talking to the owners of the Palm Court Hotel about bringing forward plans for the whole area, but said the council's insistence that the Palm Court remain as a hotel was holding things up. “I think the Palm Court has got to be three or four bedroom up market residential units,” he said. “If it is done properly it will work, even in the current economic climate.” He said the development's big strength was its 'fantastic' location and views. Cllr Lewis said he did not think it would damage the building. “It's not a pretty building and hopefully we can get a good quality development and operation here.” The former Toll House was built in 1840 on the new seafront road and closed as a toll house in 1862. Then it became the home of the head gardener of the Royal Terrace Gardens until it was converted into a council-run block of toilets and a shop. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2008 0:49:58 GMT
Dave, you've got me going here. First up an 1875 view (from Mike Holgate's Images of England book):  This one is sometime after 1893 (from Torquay: a century of change by Alan Heather and David Mason):  Next, picking up on Dave's theme of a few weeks ago, here's a Barton Junior School picture of the mid 1960s. We were all "outed" when it appeared in a Herald Express Bygones a few years back. Indeed the husband of one of the people pictured introduced himself to me in the away section at Port Vale shortly afterwards. I've not lived in Torquay for years - and may never do so again - but you can't escape your home town, can you?  Nor, of course, can you escape your home town football club. Here's me, on my trusty scooter in our garden, pictured with two Torquay United footballers. There'll be a few of you who will know their identities immediately. I hope no embarrassment is caused to those pictured who were much-loved neighbours of my parents.  |
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merse
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Post by merse on Dec 28, 2008 9:19:36 GMT
Here's me, on my trusty scooter in our garden, pictured with two Torquay United footballers.  Geoff and Madge Cox with eldest son Maurice of course. Truly nice, friendly people! I note your school pic has a girl to boy ratio of 3:1 - bet you had a good netball team!  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 28, 2008 9:30:03 GMT
Barton the question is, who ruined the lovely cottage, by building the toilet blocks onto it? the second question is when was the bank that is showing in the first picture removed?It must be the Italian Gardens now and the balloon site, would be great to find a picture looking toward the bank from the sea side.
Having only seen you at the age you are now, I can state you have not changed one bit from the picture of you with your scooter, only that you now wear long trousers. ;D
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Post by the92ndfish on Dec 28, 2008 14:50:51 GMT
Dave about that toilet block on Rock Walk, the restaurant plans are very near to starting, I think possibly in spring next year, I read it in the herald not so long ago.
Funny thing about that Barton school picture that barton downs posted is I have one of myself over 30 years later in almost exactly the same place on the front field, amazing how some things never change.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2008 20:33:02 GMT
Maurice was born in 1959 so you can date the picture on that basis. Ours was only a short cul-de-sac but, many years later, another United player - Mark Smith (himself a son of a United player) - lived along the way. Last I heard, Mark was a senior teacher at Paignton Community College. To say we lived a stone's throw from Barton Downs wouldn't be as apt as describing it as a rock blast away from Lummaton Quarry. In those days there'd be a siren warning, you'd duck indoors and wait for the flying debris. Sometimes in the Herald you still read of a character called David Kimberley who has fought many a crusade over the years including, back in the late 1960s/early 1970s, a campaign to take the quarry company to the High Court. Always an eccentric soul, he used to drive his family around in a big blue Japanese bus. As for the school picture, this was the "top set". I think most of the boys - including Ian Sanderson (one appearance for TUFC) - were in the other group. Can't remember much about netball but we did play stoolball, a bat and ball game popular in Sussex (see . I believe this was introduced to the school by a teacher called "Pop" Sanders who, I imagine, taught there until the 1970s. I wonder if the game survived at Barton after his retirement? One of the pictured - Dave Critchlow - was in those Torre Trojans teams of the early 1970s. Another - one of the males I hasten to add - was last encountered in an inebriated state at Gresty Road in 1978. And, in the year group behind, there was a certain Jimmy Parker who has been at the Herald Express man and boy. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2008 22:09:32 GMT
Dave, try the Francis Frith website: www.francisfrith.comIt doesn't seem you can copy full-size pictures - I could only manage this "thumbnail":  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 28, 2008 22:22:22 GMT
Thanks Barton, had a look, there must a photo we can find. I know we talked about it today at the game, I just would really like to see how big and how far that bank went.
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Post by melloyello on Dec 28, 2008 22:37:18 GMT
I walked along Lincombe Drive at the time of the Rock Walk business and wondered whether some of that treatment wouldn't have gone to waste around there. It really is an odd and lonely place which, without the vegetation, would have fantastic views. It's now so forgotten - how many people ever go there? - that I guess it'll be like that for the foreseeable future. Its location just doesn't fit to anywhere else so there's probably no commercial case for improvement. Mind you, I'd stroll that way on the way to Plainmoor for the odd latte at Dave's Lincombe View Diner (with all profits going towards his new boat in the marina). I go there most days!  I live in Haldon Road, Hubby and I cut down the steps outside our home and onto Lincombe drive of an evening and walk all the way around.. Like you say, its a quiet even eerie place, but we love walking there because of that. We see glimpses of the bay as we walk, I can imagine the view was once spectacular. Even the view from the various benches dotted along has overgrown entirely. I'm torn really, the place is overgrown and neglected which obstructs the views, but because of that its so quiet there, whether you stay on the road or walk through the woods you hardly see a soul, maybe just the odd dog walker, I love that fact, no cars and no noise. You can hear the sea pounding on the rocks, the owls hooting, watch the squirrels and the other night we watched a badger as he ran along the roadside. Its like this all year....if it was a 'touristy' place I dont think I'd like to walk there on summer evenings. I did read a council notice a few months back stuck on a lamp-post saying that the woods were going to be cleared somewhat, I dont know to what extent though. In a few places I think its already been done and we have a clearer view down onto Ilsham park. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 28, 2008 22:48:12 GMT
It is indeed an eerie place Bev and I remember many years ago driving a milk float along there at 3am in the morning, it was not a place I liked to be at that time of day on my own.
I would hope that our council do not over do any clearing of the woods, we have seen too often around the Bay, that they often go just to far, with such work. The locals need places like this to remain the way they are, by that I mean just a place that we know and can go too. Before I get shot down here, the Bay has its places best suited to holiday makers, we locals need places to escape them.
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Post by melloyello on Dec 28, 2008 22:56:26 GMT
It is indeed an eerie place Bev and I remember many years ago driving a milk float along there at 3am in the morning, it was not a place I liked to be at that time of day on my own. I would hope that our council do not over do any clearing of the woods, we have seen too often around the Bay, that they often go just to far, with such work. The locals need places like this to remain the way they are, by that I mean just a place that we know and can go too. Before I get shot down here, the Bay has its places best suited to holiday makers, we locals need places to escape them. Thats very true Dave, this is our local walk, I dont want car parks, ice-cream vans, playgrounds etc spoiling it. But there is a happy medium to be struck between neglecting it entirely and making it a grockle atrraction. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 28, 2008 23:03:55 GMT
Yes and in trying to get a happy medium, there lies the big problem. I have yet to see and clearing work done in any local parks etc in Torbay, that was not done just over the top. Forgetting Rock Walk for a second or two, just look at the damage caused to the trees near the fountains on the Princess Gardens.
Who the hell cut them like that? if he is some tree expert, he should really be looking for a new job. The answer is to cut what would be needed to open up some better views, clear some of the brambles etc, but not too much that our wildlife lose to much natural habitat. Simple really, just better wait to get a new council and mayor before we start the work.
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I live in Haldon Road, Hubby and I cut down the steps outside our home and onto Lincombe drive of an evening and walk all the way around.. Like you say, its a quiet even eerie place, but we love walking there because of that. 