Littleham, Devon, England

Notes:
Littleham in the hundred of East Budleigh and in the deanery of Aylesbeare, lies near the southern coast, and forms an united parish with Exmouth, a well-known bathing place, ten miles from Exeter.

The manor of Littleham was given by Ordgar, Earl of Devonshire, to the monastery of Horton, in Dorsetshire, and was afterwards, in 1122, with other lands of that house, bestowed on the abbot and convent of Sherbourn. (fn. 31) Sir Thomas Dennis procured a grant of this manor after the dissolution; and it is now the property of his descendant, the Right Hon. Lord Rolle.



Most of the monuments in the parish-church, and in the church-yard, are in memory of persons (some from remote parts of the kingdom) who have died whilst resident at Exmouth for their health. (fn. 32)

The dean and chapter of Exeter are appropriators of the great tithes and patrons of the vicarage, which is in their peculiar jurisdiction. The Liber Regis mentions a dilapidated chapel of St. Saviour, at Chickstow, in this parish.



Exmouth appears to have been one of the principal ports of Devonshire in the reign of King John. (fn. 33) In 1347, it furnished ten ships and 193 mariners, for the expedition against Calais. (fn. 34) The Earl of March sailed from Exmouth in 1459. Exmouth fort, then a garrison of the King's, was blockaded by Colonel Shapcote, in the month of February, 1646. (fn. 35) It was taken on the 15th of March, with nineteen pieces of ordnance, and a great quantity of arms, ammunition, &c. (fn. 36) Exmouth is a populous town, which has, for many years, been much frequented, for the purpose of sea-bathing. There are warm and cold sea-baths, and every accommodation for invalids.



Sir William Pole mentions, that the family of Drake had large possessions at or near Exmouth, and that a branch of the family resided here.

Bishop Stafford's Register mentions a chapel of the Holy Trinity, in the town of Exmouth, as existing in the year 1412. (fn. 37) Lord Rolle is about to build a chapel in this town, at his own expense, for the accommodation of its numerous inhabitants. Robert Drake, Esq., in 1628, charged a moiety of the manor of Hullam, in Withecomb Ralegh, with 7l. per annum, towards the maintenance of a lecturer, or preaching minister, and schoolmaster, in Littleham and Exmouth. Sir John Elwill, Bart., in 1724, gave 100l., four per cents., for teaching poor children of this parish. Henry Peardon, in the same year, gave 80l. (fn. 38) , which now produces only 2l. per annum. Lord Rolle has built a school-room at Exmouth, for the education of 150 children, on Dr. Bell's plan; and the late Lady Rolle, in 1816, gave the sum of 200l., navy five per cents, towards the endowment of the school, which is aided by the interest of about 85l., accumulated out of savings.



From: 'Parishes: Lamerton - Lustleigh', Magna Britannia: volume 6: Devonshire (1822), pp. 306-326. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50583. Date accessed: 24 February 2008.Littleham, (HOLY TRINITY), a parish, in the union of ST. THOMAS, hundred of EAST BUDLEIGH, Woodbury and S. divisions of DEVON; containing, with part of the town of Exmouth, 3927 inhabitants. The parish is situated at the mouth of the river Exe, and comprises 2068 acres, of which 1398 are arable, 391 meadow, 50 orchards, 165 furze and common, and 63 glebe land. . . The church is an ancient structure, in the early Eng1ish style, and contains about 600 sittings. There is a place of worship for dissenters; and a school, erected by Lord Rolle, is supported by subscription.



[From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (1844)]



LITTLEHAM (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of St. Thomas, hundred of East Budleigh, Woodbury and S. divisions of Devon; containing, with part of the town of Exmouth, 3927 inhabitants. The parish is situated at the mouth of the river Exe, and comprises 2068 acres, of which 1398 are arable, 391 meadow, 50 in orchards, 165 furze and common, and 63 glebe land. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter (the appropriators), valued in the king's books at £15. 12. 6.; net income, £137. The church is an ancient structure in the early English style, and contains about 600 sittings. There is a place of worship for dissenters.



From: 'Lissett - Littleport', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 101-104.Reg’s days before Sandy Bay or trains



Littleham’s Reg Hill has just turned 100. This week we start a series of articles about his memories of life in the village. David Beasley reports.



CENTENARIAN Reg Hill is a veritable living history book – having lived in Littleham continuously since 1911 – and has seen many changes during his lifetime.



"When I was a boy, Littleham WAS Exmouth," he says. "Along with Withycombe, it was the centre of everything and the town you see now sprang from those two communities."



His parents, his younger brother and sister moved from Exton when he was just five years old, when they were among the first families to move into the first council houses in the area, the Tythe Cottages.



Growing up in a small Devon community at the turn of the last century meant that only the well-off had running water, but despite that Reg remembers bath time with fond memories. "We used to bathe in this huge tin bath and my mother put it in front of the hearth to keep warm," he says.



While many towns had electricity, life for many was akin to living in the dark ages. "During the winter, it got dark so early," said Reg. "We had to rely on candles and gas lanterns and we always looked forward to summer."



Naturally, without mains water, there was no toilet and Reg and his family had to use outdoor latrines. "Everyone in the village used to pour everything into the brook," he recalls.

Even the roads were little more than dirt tracks and, as horses and carts travelled through the village, clouds of dust hung in the air, covering everything.



"My boots were filthy all the time, just covered in dirt, so I used to wash them in the brook. Dad always used to give me a real hiding."



Sandy Bay was far from the holiday destination it is today, and Reg recalls that then the only way to the bay was via the cliffs, now Straight Point, by being lowered by rope and ensuring your feet found purchase on the footholds.



"Orcombe Point was also very different," he says. "I remember thousands of tons of sand transported from Exmouth in carts and dumped on Orcombe Point to make the beach."

However, some changes didn't last and, in his lifetime, Reg witnessed the East Budleigh to Exmouth railway line proposed, built, opened, used, closed and built over.



He always considered himself fortunate that his age meant that he avoided fighting in the Great War because he was too young and in the Second World War because he was too old. But he remembers that some of Littleham's residents weren't so lucky.



"I was always very fond of horses," says Reg. "But one day some of the Shire horses that ploughed the fields just disappeared. It turns out that they had been acquisitioned by the army to pull guns between the trenches.



"When they came back, they weren't the same. You could see the horses were disturbed and I even thought they were crying. They were shell shocked."



A great tradition in the village was farmer turned master cider maker Tom Marks and his annual brewing of his pungent scrumpy with an antiquated cider press.



"Straw and apples were all he used. We tried making our own cider and used to steal the apples from his orchard.



"When he caught us, he would always give all of us a good clip round the ear. But he used to make good cider. Even the pigs liked it. They would eat all the leftover fermented apples and you would see these huge pigs stumbling around drunk!"



Stealing apples wasn't the only nocturnal mischief Reg enjoyed and he chuckled as he recalls that he and his old school friend Les Franks, who started off as golf caddy at East Devon Golf Course before moving to Canada, used to make life hell for the village's gas lamp lighter.



"We used to follow him around and every time he turned around we hid. As soon as he had lit a lamp, we used to put it out. The poor fellow didn't know what was going on!"



When cars took over from the coach and horses



Littleham’s Reg Hill has just turned 100. In a series of articles he gives his memories of life in the village. David Beasley reports.



When Littleham's 100-year-old Reg Hill was a boy, many of Great Britain's train lines hadn't been laid, the “engines” that powered coaches were of the four-legged variety and cars and bicycles were a burgeoning technology – out of reach to all but the most affluent.



"I didn't leave Littleham very often,” he recalls. “Everything we needed was in the village. At that time we had to walk everywhere. Once a year, we went to Exeter by horse-drawn coach to the pantomime, but this was a very special treat."



On the rare occasions Reg did venture into Exmouth, it was for a special reason and, if you were a horse lover like Reg, the place to go was Exmouth's Central Coachhouse and Stables, now Exmouth's indoor market.



"I used to spend hours there," says Reg. "I used to watch them look after the horses and repair the coaches. I used to look at the stable boys with envy, thinking ‘I would like to have done that’."



On his rare trips by coach, Reg used to jump out of the carriage on steep inclines, like Knowle Hill, to alleviate the strain on the horses.



"The horses used to get very tired. But the driver had to be quick and put wooden blocks under the wheels – or else the coach would roll back and cause a serious accident."



By 1920, horse-drawn coaches were starting to become obsolete, as more people demanded quicker, cheaper forms of travel – a horse-drawn coach took an hour-and-a-half to get to Exeter from Littleham.



The increased usage of the internal combustion engine forced old coachhouses to close and, in Exmouth's case, it was reinvented as Millers Garage. Among other things serviced there were the open-topped single-decker motorised-coaches that replaced them, called charabancs.



After Reg left school at 13, he worked for several year's on Munday's Farm, before landing a gardening job at Knappe Cross House, now part of Brixington.



During this time, he developed an interest in motor vehicles and he had ambitions to be a chauffeur.



However, after several years of polishing cars, checking tyres and batteries the nearest a disappointed Reg got to driving a car was sneaking a drive around the grounds to deliver either the Daimler, Buick or Bentley to the front door of the house.



"Polishing the cars was back breaking," he said. "If you didn't get it right, you had to start all over again."



However, Reg's luck changed and he soon landed a job as a driver for a well-to-do family, the Willies, who lived in an impressive house on Cyprus Road in Exmouth. But there was a snag.



"The problem was I couldn't drive. Driving around a country estate is one thing but, when there are horses and cars in the way, it was a bit different."



So a rather-worried Reg began to fear that his plum job wouldn't quite work out as expected unless he could convince his employers he could actually drive.



"One of the other chauffeurs, I think Rimmer was his name, offered to help me practise on Exmouth beach.



“Near where the coastguard hut is now used to be an old Great War tank just dumped in the middle of the beach.



"I drove in a figure of eight around the tank in an old Hillman and, after a few hours, I felt I got the hang of it and I was qualified enough to be a chauffeur."



However, Reg wasn't quite of the woods yet and, after driving members of the Willie family through Exton, he remembers a rather oldish lady banging on the partition window with her brolly, chastising Reg for being on the wrong side of the road.



"She shouted at me and basically said if I did it again I would be sacked. It was quite odd that someone who hadn't driven before knew what side of the road I should be on, seeing as there were no road markings and the lane was so narrow."



In fact, driving at all then was a perilous business. Cars, even in the 1920s, could travel up to 70 mph, even though Reg was advised against it. "The car used to shake badly and bits used to start falling off," he said.



Although you could drive for hours and not see another car, traffic wasn't the problem; there were a few rather vague roads signs, no traffic lights, no road markings and a lack of any kind of Highway Code.



"Driving at night in the rain was no joke. The windscreen wipers didn't work well so you had to drive with a window open with your right hand wiping the windscreen on the outside as you drove.



"I used to get soaked. The lights were pathetic. Paraffin lamps really didn't light up the road, so you had to drive very slowly. Driving through fog was almost impossible and dangerous."



Thankfully, this caution led to Reg, despite never having passed a driving test, having an impeccable driving record of no crashes in 50 years of driving.

One thing about being a chauffeur was that it was lonely. A drive to Aldershot or Wales used to take most of the day and, because of the soundproof partition in the car, the passengers never spoke to Reg.



"The only time they would speak to me would be when one of them opened a small door in the partition to bark orders at me."



However, to make up for it the Willies ensured that on long trips, Reg was thoroughly looked after.



"They used to keep several bottles of Bass ale in the car just for me. Unlike today, where you can't drink and drive, they used to encourage me to drink the beer, and I accepted eagerly and carried on driving."



Despite Reg's perfect record in cars, the same cannot be said of motorbikes, as he recalls when he and his future wife used to travel through Topsham on the way to Exeter Showground and the speedway:



"She just fell off the back of the bike. I really didn't notice until I got to Exeter and she was pretty cross. She must have been sitting in the road for some time. This sounds a terrible thing to say but we were eager to get the speedway to see some of the spectacular crashes and just didn't notice."

Latitude: 50.62253, Longitude: -3.3737992

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