Post by Dave on Aug 2, 2010 21:09:49 GMT
What a beautiful place Dartmouth is and no matter which way you look you will find yourself taking yet another picture of some wonderful building or the mouth of the river Dart or the houses up on the hill, or across to Kingswear or maybe just the daily life going on on the river itself.
So I was very saddened to hear the news that a very large fire that at its peak had nearly 100 fire-fighters trying to put it out resulted in some very valuable Tudor buildings being very badly damaged.
I’m in Dartmouth for a short while every Wednesday morning and had wanted to go and take a look for myself at the damage this fire had cause, only due to that road being closed and the one way road just past the old station building (now a café) that leads to the lower ferry being made into a two way street to traffic for the time being, there is no place I could just park the van for ten minutes and walk through to the next street.
So after our five mile walk yesterday from Strete Gate car park to Torcross and back across Slapton sands beach (1st Aug 2010) we decided to drive to Dartmouth to have a meal and also have a walk around and see the fire damaged buildings.
We got to Dartmouth around 7pm and the first thing we noticed was all the mums and dads with their children on the quayside catching crabs. It was a case of sticking the line with bait into the water and getting a bite every time just a few seconds later. Its fun watching the children trying to get the crabs into their buckets and even funnier if the crab does not end up in the bucket, as the kids jump around and get into a bit of a panic not knowing what they should do now the crab is snapping around their ankles Holiday fun at its simplest and best if you ask me and I bet those kids enjoyed every single second and the best news is its free and something the whole family joins in with and that has to be the best thing about it in the end.
We left the Quay and went into Fairfax Place and soon we were standing in front of two buildings very badly damaged, the estate agent Singer and Singer and the Wheelhouse fish and chip shop, I was a bit confused and the pictures I had seen in the newspaper showed buildings that had the timber etc on them that you associate with Tudor buildings and yet the two buildings next to the fire damaged ones were fully in tack and clearly being used.
I took some pictures and we walked off in search of food and I was telling Carol I thought there were more properties damaged than there was and she replied did you not look up the side street. With that we headed back and went up Smith Street and to the corner of Higher Street.
Now it was clear to see just how big this fire was and why the firefighters stood no real chance of ever being able to do a great deal about fighting it and it was these building in Higher Street I had seen the pictures of and it was heartbreaking to see them because as you know I just love old buildings.
As there is a great deal of work being done putting up scaffolding, I will include some pictures I have found taken just after the fire happened. Standing where we were I did see a great looking street I have never seen before and will put a picture up of that street as well.
Just after the fire happened everyone was pointing the finger at the fish and chip shop and there has been much bad feeling caused in Dartmouth,with the owner of the chip shop getting very upset indeed, it was reported at the time that is where the fire started but it seems that was not the case and it started in a void in the walls somewhere and may have been no more than as electrical fault.
Firefighters have ruled out arson as a cause of the fire which damaged estate agent Singer and Singer, the Wheelhouse fish and chip shop, Higher Street Gallery, Smith Street Delicatessen, the Compass Office shop, Port of Call signage shop and Khrua Thai restaurant as well as the15 flats above. Among the buildings destroyed in Fairfax Place were 16th Century Tudor buildings with English Heritage Grade I and Grade II* listed status.
Now a massive wall of scaffolding is gradually going up around the gutted block and that is likely to remain in place for up to two years as the buildings are stabilised and repair work gets under way. The scaffolding has to be self-supporting and generally wider than normal conventional scaffolding works.In addition, the scaffold will support a free spanning retractable roof that will span 25m from Fairfax Place to Higher Street.
A huge crane will then have to be brought in to haul tonnes of debris out of the fire-shattered buildings because it is too dangerous to try to do it from ground level. when it goes into action in about five or six weeks time.
The poor owners of the buildings have been forced to shell out £100,000 from their own pockets as their insurers continue to talk about who pays what. Its claimed its going to cost ten million pounds to repair it all but until they can clear all the debris out and check the fabric of the buildings is not known yet what can be saved and what might need to be knocked down.
Its going to be two years or more before before work will be finished and one can only hope as much as possible can be saved and restored to look like it did before the fire. Some things are lost forever and the estate agent lost documents of the towns properties going back centuries. At least no one was hurt or killed in the fire and just as Totnes rose from the ashes, then fingers crossed, Dartmouth will as well.
Fairfax Place
A zoomed in shot of the second window in from the left on the top floor of the picture above this one
My pictures Higher Street
The first two pictures of the chip shop etc were taken from the road at the bottom of this picture near the shop with the green sign. So you can see who big this fire was.
Pictures of Higher Street just after the fire.
That nice street I found.
The building I love the most in Dartmouth
So I was very saddened to hear the news that a very large fire that at its peak had nearly 100 fire-fighters trying to put it out resulted in some very valuable Tudor buildings being very badly damaged.
I’m in Dartmouth for a short while every Wednesday morning and had wanted to go and take a look for myself at the damage this fire had cause, only due to that road being closed and the one way road just past the old station building (now a café) that leads to the lower ferry being made into a two way street to traffic for the time being, there is no place I could just park the van for ten minutes and walk through to the next street.
So after our five mile walk yesterday from Strete Gate car park to Torcross and back across Slapton sands beach (1st Aug 2010) we decided to drive to Dartmouth to have a meal and also have a walk around and see the fire damaged buildings.
We got to Dartmouth around 7pm and the first thing we noticed was all the mums and dads with their children on the quayside catching crabs. It was a case of sticking the line with bait into the water and getting a bite every time just a few seconds later. Its fun watching the children trying to get the crabs into their buckets and even funnier if the crab does not end up in the bucket, as the kids jump around and get into a bit of a panic not knowing what they should do now the crab is snapping around their ankles Holiday fun at its simplest and best if you ask me and I bet those kids enjoyed every single second and the best news is its free and something the whole family joins in with and that has to be the best thing about it in the end.
We left the Quay and went into Fairfax Place and soon we were standing in front of two buildings very badly damaged, the estate agent Singer and Singer and the Wheelhouse fish and chip shop, I was a bit confused and the pictures I had seen in the newspaper showed buildings that had the timber etc on them that you associate with Tudor buildings and yet the two buildings next to the fire damaged ones were fully in tack and clearly being used.
I took some pictures and we walked off in search of food and I was telling Carol I thought there were more properties damaged than there was and she replied did you not look up the side street. With that we headed back and went up Smith Street and to the corner of Higher Street.
Now it was clear to see just how big this fire was and why the firefighters stood no real chance of ever being able to do a great deal about fighting it and it was these building in Higher Street I had seen the pictures of and it was heartbreaking to see them because as you know I just love old buildings.
As there is a great deal of work being done putting up scaffolding, I will include some pictures I have found taken just after the fire happened. Standing where we were I did see a great looking street I have never seen before and will put a picture up of that street as well.
Just after the fire happened everyone was pointing the finger at the fish and chip shop and there has been much bad feeling caused in Dartmouth,with the owner of the chip shop getting very upset indeed, it was reported at the time that is where the fire started but it seems that was not the case and it started in a void in the walls somewhere and may have been no more than as electrical fault.
Firefighters have ruled out arson as a cause of the fire which damaged estate agent Singer and Singer, the Wheelhouse fish and chip shop, Higher Street Gallery, Smith Street Delicatessen, the Compass Office shop, Port of Call signage shop and Khrua Thai restaurant as well as the15 flats above. Among the buildings destroyed in Fairfax Place were 16th Century Tudor buildings with English Heritage Grade I and Grade II* listed status.
Now a massive wall of scaffolding is gradually going up around the gutted block and that is likely to remain in place for up to two years as the buildings are stabilised and repair work gets under way. The scaffolding has to be self-supporting and generally wider than normal conventional scaffolding works.In addition, the scaffold will support a free spanning retractable roof that will span 25m from Fairfax Place to Higher Street.
A huge crane will then have to be brought in to haul tonnes of debris out of the fire-shattered buildings because it is too dangerous to try to do it from ground level. when it goes into action in about five or six weeks time.
The poor owners of the buildings have been forced to shell out £100,000 from their own pockets as their insurers continue to talk about who pays what. Its claimed its going to cost ten million pounds to repair it all but until they can clear all the debris out and check the fabric of the buildings is not known yet what can be saved and what might need to be knocked down.
Its going to be two years or more before before work will be finished and one can only hope as much as possible can be saved and restored to look like it did before the fire. Some things are lost forever and the estate agent lost documents of the towns properties going back centuries. At least no one was hurt or killed in the fire and just as Totnes rose from the ashes, then fingers crossed, Dartmouth will as well.
Fairfax Place
A zoomed in shot of the second window in from the left on the top floor of the picture above this one
My pictures Higher Street
The first two pictures of the chip shop etc were taken from the road at the bottom of this picture near the shop with the green sign. So you can see who big this fire was.
Pictures of Higher Street just after the fire.
That nice street I found.
The building I love the most in Dartmouth