At the end of May the Friends held a historical data gathering event in the Castle. The residents of the 54 houses built by Maria Homeyard during the 1920’s and 30’s were invited to get together and share old photos and material from their deeds. The aim was to get a better understanding of how this development progressed and to give the home owners a chance to compare notes about this historic building project.
Black & white photographs of Shaldon’s hillside were projected onto the wall above the Castle’s recently restored fireplace and proved to be quite a talking point. They provided evidence of the order in which this massive undertaking was tackled. Local historian Tim Mole prepared detailed research of the first occupants of the neat rows of Homeyards cottages which back onto the allotment field that rises up behind. Names and photographs of Shaldon characters brought back memories for some and introduced new owners to their predecessors. Broadlands residents scoured their deeds and came up with original ‘Arts and Crafts style’ architectural drawings and facts confirming long forgotten detail. Residents of the ‘Swiss Chalet’ style Hamiltons houses were interested to see a photograph taken in one of their gardens. Although those present agreed these distinctive buildings were the first of the Homeyards houses to be built unfortunately no material emerged to confirm this.
Our intention is to collate this information and to put it together with the Liqufruta and Homeyards Botanical Gardens story and pass it to Teignmouth Museum.
About 50 people braved the weather to take part in this nostalgic afternoon. Thank you very much to all of you. If anyone else has any information or photographs that might add to the archive then please get in touch with us.
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