Tag Archives: Bucks Mills

#100daysofbfotc Day 15: Aunt Matilda

by thehistoryinterpreter

Aunt Matilda, along with other characters, provided me with an opportunity to explore the issue of mental health. Matilda lived all her life in a cottage in Bucks Mills and assumed the traditional youngest daughter’s role of caring for her elderly parents. After her parents died, she lived quietly with her elder sister and they served refreshments to holidaymakers from their home. When that sister too died, matters began to unravel for Matilda.  I was very excited to discover detailed case notes relating to Matilda’s time in Exminster asylum. As well as outlining her condition, these documents also included a physical description. So, although no photograph survives, I know that she was old, well nourished, with marked cavities, a slight beard and moustache, dark eyebrows, blue eyes, a pale complexion, flushed cheeks, a far-away, slightly worried, expression and that she weighed 7 ½ stone.

Exminster aslylum

Exminster Asylum

On 28 January 1908, Matilda was admitted to Exminster Asylum, with what was described as a first attack of mania. She was found to be suicidal and frequently had to be restrained from injuring herself; she kept scratching her face. She admitted to having tried to get out of a window and claimed to have heard roaring noises in her head for years, which was worse if she had catarrh. In addition, she heard voices and believed she was going to be killed. She frequently gave way to swearing, saying that the devil had changed her tongue. Matilda was recorded as being a dissenter, at this date, almost certainly a Methodist and had been happy in her faith but now believed she was going to hell. She also said that she had lost the use of her legs and that she did not want to live. She was described as being dull and melancholic in manner, with a defective memory. Other comments on her condition reveal that she slept badly and was noisy at night. She suffered from constipation and said that she had only a little bit of a tongue and no stomach, so nothing could go through her.

As you can imagine, this was wonderful background information for a writer and a true incident from her time in the asylum is described in chapter 4 of Barefoot on the Cobbles. Some may wonder why she appears in the novel at all. Apart from wanting to tell her story for its own sake, it also helps to explain why the spectre of the asylum haunted the other characters.

 ‘King’s Cottage was also home to Aunt Matilda, their grandparents’ youngest daughter, who cared for her parents in their old age. She was a strange little woman, slight and swarthy, with rotten teeth and the faintest suggestion of a moustache. The poor woman was inoffensive enough but she dwelt in the corners of Eadie’s nightmares, chilling and dark.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.

#100daysofbfotc Day 8: Rose Cottage, Bucks Mills

by thehistoryinterpreter

Rose CottageIn the novel, Rose Cottage is the home of William and Mary and their two adult sons. We encounter the Cottage and its inhabitants in the first chapter of Barefoot on the Cobbles. The name is used anachronistically; this small fisherman’s cottage at the top of the village of Bucks Mills was given the name Rosie’s Cottage in the mid-twentieth century. It is now known as Rose Cottage and in the absence of a contemporary name, it seemed appropriate to refer to William’s home by its current appellation. In the summer of 1890, when Eadie comes to join the family, Rose Cottage was a four roomed, thatched, cob cottage, typical of others in the village of Bucks Mills. It is set back from the road, next to the former ale house, The Coffin Arms and a small terrace of cottages known as Forest Gardens. Rose Cottage was to remain in the family for another seventy years.

More information about Bucks Mills can be found here.

‘The pervading scent of fried fish reached them as they approached the bend in the road and turned towards the path that led to Rose Cottage, near the top of the street.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.

#100daysofbfotc Day 2: William

by thehistoryinterpreter

William BraundYou will meet William in the pages of the first chapter. William is a taciturn fisherman, who is content, providing there is a meal on the table and no-one disturbs his afternoon doze. He has lived all his life in the fishing hamlet of Bucks Mills, where he fished alongside his father and grandfather and now runs a small Bucks Ledge Boat with his two sons. By the time the story opens, he has lived in Rose Cottage at the top of the village for about three years. He was born in 1837 at the now ruined cottage The Bluff but grew up in King’s Cottage overlooking the sea. When he married, he moved to John’s Cottage and spent a few years at Mark’s, before settling at Rose Cottage, where he died in 1906.

‘Hobnails clashed and sparked on the cobbles outside and the menfolk filled the small room with their bulk and the scent of the sea.

‘Good catch?’ asked Mary.

‘Plenty enough,’ replied William. ‘Takey’s off to Bideford with a cart load. We were late in, so he was already pretty full and we’ve some left he wouldn’t have, so they’ll need salting down.’ ’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.

A Chance to Meet Devon Authors in a Beautiful Setting

by thehistoryinterpreter

coast-27-april-09

The View from The Cabin

It is time to announce an exciting weekend for our authors’ group. Seven Devon writers will be taking it in turns to spend time in the idyllic setting of Bucks Mills, being inspired and talking about our work to those who pass by. Our venue is The Cabin, the quirky retreat that used to be owned by the artists Mary Stella Edwards and Judith Ackland. The Cabin is now administered by the National Trust and has been unchanged since the early decades of the twentieth century. It is rarely open to the public, so this will be a  opportunity to see inside. The Cabin lacks electricity, running water or sanitation, obstacles that we are womanfully willing to overcome in pursuit of our art!

Do come along if you like chatting about books and writing, if you want to immerse yourself in beautiful scenery or if you want to see a relic of days gone by (that’s The Cabin by the way – though more than one of our authors may recognise the description). We will be in-residence on Saturday 29 April, Sunday 30 April and Monday 1 May. Only one or two of us will be there at a time, so watch the individual authors’ websites for who will be on duty when. Those taking part at some point over the three days are:-

Ruth Downie – author of crime novels set in Roman times.

Susan Hughes – author of twentieth century historical fiction.

Wendy Percival – author of genealogical mystery novels set in North Devon.

P J Reed – poet and author of horror and fantasy novels.

Liz Shakespeare – author of books inspired by the people, history and landscapes of Devon.

Pamela Vass – author of North Devon based fiction and social history.

Oh and me! How did I end up in such illustrious company? Hopefully I might use the opportunity to work on the chapters of #Daisy that are set in Bucks Mills.