An online journal for the North Devon Athenaeum
The Veitch Family Nurseries Plant Hunters Hybriders It is difficult to imagine, in the present day, how much of the world in the mid 1800’s was inaccessible, dangerous and unexplored terrain. Between 1840 and 1914 the Veitch Nurseries had introduced into cultivation, 1281 plants, new to Britain either as the result of their exploration of …
This year’s closure period was a perfect example of why we need closure periods each year, but it was also a challenging one for more than one reason. Late last year we received the news our Chairman, Peter Christie, had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Shortly after his diagnosis he asked us to collect …
We like to start of each new year with a quick look back at what we’ve been up to in the previous 12 months but we've been a little busy, (you'll find out why in our next blog post) so although a little later than planned here's what we got up to in 2023... January: …
The town of Great Torrington or the Guildhall in Barnstaple are probably not the first places you would associate with Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was born in Plympton on the 16th July and baptised a few days later on the 30th July 1723 and went on to make his mark in the world of art. …
Continue reading "Discover the Joshua Reynolds Connection…On Our Shelves!"
As part of our celebrations of the last ten years of Tales from the Archives we’ve chosen a favourite post from each year. 2013 – North Devon in 1823 Written by our current Chairman, Peter Christie, we had to include this post of what North Devon was like 100 years ago. Great Torrington Church [DVPF-023] …
Continue reading "Ten of Our Favourite Posts from the Last Ten Years of Tales From the Archives"
To celebrate ten years of our blog we thought we would share the top ten posts from the last ten years! 10) The Ballad of Barnstaple's Gaols We're kicking off the countdown with this post written during the first lockdown in 2020, giving a very brief history of some of the prisons of Barnstaple. 9) …
Continue reading "Our Top Ten Posts of All Time – Ten years of Tales From the Archives"
Described as the Grand Old Man of Barum on his death in 1976, Bruce William Oliver was born 140 years ago on 28th May 1883. He is probably most well known as a local architect along with his father William Clement Oliver who was responsible for designing many of the nineteenth century buildings in Barnstaple. …
Continue reading "Introducing Bruce William Oliver…10 things you may or may not know about him."
After a three year hiatus we had our first stocktaking closure period earlier this year where we were able to work on some larger projects we are unable to do whilst open to the public. While our colleagues in the Record Office carried out their stocktaking in the strongroom and a serious sort out and …
While we were rather quiet on the blog front last year, we had plenty to keep us busy during year as we take a look back at 2022 in pictures. January The beginning of the year saw some book post and a rather happy librarian, it was also the start of some serious behind the …
A few years ago, we celebrated the life of local author, Charles Kingsley by tracing the literary links between him and P.G. Wodehouse. This year, to celebrate the birth of Devon born poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, we take a look at some more interesting local literary links. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in Ottery St. …
Tales From the Archives 