Aerial Photo of Tiverton Castle 1947

Tiverton Castle - 1947
Courtesy of Britain From Above

 

Aerial Photo of St Peter's Church 1928

St Peter's Church, Tiverton - 1928
Courtesy of Britain From Above

 

Devon Historic Coastal and Market Towns Survey - Tiverton

Author: Dr Fiona Fleming, Cornwall Archaeological Unit
Published: 2014
Provider: Archaeology Data Service

Sweating Sickness

 

"The Sweating Sickness"
Wellcome Collection Gallery / Public Domain

DevonLive has published a comprehensive article on the mysterious "sweating sickness" that swept through Tiverton in 1644.

In 1644, the Mid Devon town of Tiverton was a bustling settlement thanks to its position as a crucial hub in the blossoming wool trade.

Largely untouched up until that point by the Civil War that was raging across England, the town was flourishing, trade was booming and money was lining the pockets of local businessmen.

But that all changed in the autumn of that year as a terrifying illness swept through the town, subjecting hundreds to a rapid, brutal and inexplicable death.

In all, 443 people died - a significant chunk of the town's population.

Refer to the 1891 book A History of Epidemics in Britain: From A. D. 664 to the Extinction of Plague for further details.

Knightshayes' Rembrandt

BBC - Britain's Lost Masterpieces

In 2018, a portrait at Knightshayes thought to be by Rembrandt was the subject of the BBC programme Britain's Lost Masterpieces. Despite some impressive research and analysis, it was ultimately determined by the world’s leading Rembrandt expert, Ernst van de Weteringto, to be a copy.

A History of the World

Bobbinet lace machine, no. 136

Tiverton Museum has three entries in the BBC's A History of the World series from 2010:

• Bobbinet lace machine, no. 136
• Devon 'Ship' Waggon - spindle sided
• Wool staple mark

Making Munitions and Gas Nets For The Front

BBC - World War One At Home

BBC Sounds hosts an audio presentation from 2014 titled Making Munitions and Gas Nets For The Front which was part of the BBC's World War One at Home series.

The Heathcoat fabric factory in Tiverton recorded its war day by day. The company’s log books are a unique record of a local business at war and are a record of this local business making lace for Americans and for war widows, while making munitions and gas nets for the forces at the Front during World War One. American orders swelled during wartime.

Handwritten entries in two leather bound books record the lives and deaths at Heathcoats. In 1914, the factory was the town’s largest employer. It was also an exporter and had expanded its lace making business across the Atlantic and into Europe.

The company’s cashier recorded the loss of the continental markets, the profits of war work, the efforts to exempt lace-makers from military service and the debates over the work women could and couldn’t do.

The diaries also detail the people of the factory. They include the Heathcoat Amory family (the owners), the employees who went to war, the women who were first to work the machines, and the cashier who was to record the detailed story of a local factory at war.

Heathcoats Fabrics continue to make military fabrics today.

Tiverton Athenaeum

34 Fore Street before demolition in the 60s
Courtesy of Historic England

This building served as a public hall, reading rooms, club, meeting place, school and even theatre. Further views of the property are available:

• Front
• Front (Upper)
• Front (Lower)
• Market Gates
• Market Passage
• Interior Detail
• Ceiling Detail
• Interior Room
• Staircase
  

You can see from the current Streetview below that Clinton Cards is now where Currys is pictured, and remind yourself what this elegant row of buildings was replaced with!

Patchquick

If you search online for Tiverton, you will invariably stumble across the name "Patchquick". This was a company based at Blundell's Road in Tiverton from the early 1900s until liquidation in 1963. Collectable items regularly appear in auctions.

The firm manufactured puncture repair kits, primarily for bicycles and motorcycles. The company was originally a partnership in the name of Woodgates Brothers, but later incorporated into Patchquick's Patent Limited. The Woodgates Brothers are listed in the 1895 Tiverton & District Directory as manufacturers of metal and furniture polish, and in the 1914 Kelly's Directory as India Rubber Merchants.

As you can see from the below letterhead, they had the amazingly early telephone number of 3! I wonder who had 1 and 2?

Patchquicks Letterhead - 1920s

An extract from the 1908 Stanley Show guide explains their unique selling point:

Patchquick Patent Patches.
Woodgates Bros., Tiverton. Stand No. 150.
There are several novelties on this stand in the way of patches for cycle and motor tyres. As regards the ordinary patches, it is claimed they are the only make which are vulcanized on the outer side and left unvulcanized inside, so that when a special solution, which is also sold by the firm, is applied, it practically dissolves the unvulcanized side, which adheres more firmly than the ordinary solutioned patch vulcanized on both sides equally.

Exhibition display case of Patchquick products

The company advertised heavily, attended a lot of exhibitions and shows, and had a good distribution network. The name lives on today in motocross as the Patchquick Trophy. TMX has some history on the trophy:

The Patchquick Tyre Company of Tiverton donated the trophy to the club in the early 1930s, when it cost 100 guineas, and is now worth many thousands of pounds and is the biggest trophy in British Motocross. It was first won in 1934 by Exeter rider Tommy Whitton when it was raced for in the Dartmoor Scramble. In 1955, the great Jeff Smith won it and this event continued until 1957. It then ran as a centre event until 1966 when the club decided to run the first three-leg Patchquick Motocross on a Wednesday evening. On that occasion the winner was Dave Bickers. In 1973, the event was upgraded to national status and was won by Badger Goss. It ran at the beginning of March each year until the year 2000, with such riders as world champions Neil Hudson, Graham Noyce and Dave Thorpe taking the trophy.

You can see a photo of the trophy on the Auto Cycle Union website.

Canberra Bomber Crash

At 6.45pm on 21st November 1961 an English Electric Canberra crashed into the canal at Tiverton. The cold war era aircraft, registration XM266, was part of No. 3 Squadron RAF on a high-low-high training exercise from RAF Geilenkirchen in Germany to RAF Chivenor in North Devon.

During the low part of the exercise at 4,000 feet, they suffered an engine fire and entered a spiral dive. Both the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Roger Moore, and the navigator, Flying Officer Martin Archard, were killed.

An extract from the official Board of Inquiry report:

The aircraft took off for a United Kingdom cross-country flight in the High Low High profile.The pilot climbed to Flight Level 310 and subsequently let down over south-west England under radar surveillance. Contact was lost at 4,000 ft and the aircraft was later reported to have crashed at West Manley. Both the pilot and navigator were killed. Weather conditions at the time were four-eights stratus at 1,000 ft, visibility 3,000 yards with continuous slight rain. Cat 5/Two killed. Provisional Cause Coding - Unknown.

In 2003, during dredging, polluted silt was removed from the canal, along with many fragments from the aircraft.

There is an information board at the site on the canal with a memorial stone set beneath it:

Canal Information Board

18/07/2021 Update: DevonLive published an in-depth article about the crash which you can read here.