Brixham - a Pretty Fishing Town

The sweep of Broadsands bay, looking towards Brixham
© Copyright Tom Jolliffe and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

I lived in Brixham from the age of about 13 to just before my 16th birthday. Before that, I had lived for 3 years nearby in Paignton. I've been back for occasional visits since then but have never lived there again.

In the 1960s, it was a good place for children and teenagers. It was safe, we were allowed out on our own, but most children were in those days wherever they lived. There was plenty to do for children. We had the whole coastline to explore. In the summer my friends and I would go to one of the small coves between Brixham and Paignton, lie on the beach, go in the sea, climb the rocks. Of course the climbing was strictly against parents' instructions but that's children for you.

School
From the age of nearly 12 I went to Churston Ferrers Grammar School, just off the main road between Brixham and Churston. When I started there in 1960, it was only a few years old and relatively small by today's standards with only about 400 pupils. Generally, I enjoyed school. Unlike most grammar schools of the time is had boys and girls taught together.

Horse Riding
I went horse riding from the stables right next to the school. I say horse riding but they were mostly ponies. One time I was riding a pony I hadn't ridden before. We were ready before the others so I took the pony just outside standing on the pavement (sidewalk) with its hindquarters to the road eating grass from a bank. I was sitting on it, completely relaxed with the elastic on my helmet over the peak rather than under my chin.

This was a quiet side road off the main road and there was no traffic at all. Then a sports car came up and hit his horn as he came level with us. The horse virtually leaped in the air then bolted. It ran towards the main road, over a dangerous bridge on a blind bend - I can still remember seeing the cars coming towards us. Luckily it then took a side road. I'd lost my stirrups but was hanging on for dear life. We went about 3 miles. The next thing I know I woke up in hospital with concussion because my helmet had come off. I never wore it without the elastic under my chin again! I recovered in a couple of weeks then went riding immediately.

Brixham Breakwater
Copyright Glamhag used under a Creative Commons License

My father loved to go fishing with rod and line from Brixham Breakwater. He had his special fishing clothes which made him look like a tramp. One time I was walking home and he said I walked past him without speaking because he was in his fishing clothes. The truth is I was too vain to wear my glasses so I didn't see him.

He caught bass (not as fashionable then as they are now) and conger eel. One time he won a prize from the local angling club for catching the biggest conger in Torbay. The worst thing about conger eel was my mother cooked them and we had to have them for dinner. They were disgusting.

Sometimes my brothers and I would go to the breakwater when he was there fishing. We'd climb around on the rocks that protect its sides, then get bored and wander off to find something more interesting to do. Fishing is not a spectator sport.

Berry Head, Brixham
This prominent headland has been half removed by quarrying in the past
© Copyright David Stowell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Berry Head on the western edge of the town. It is a limestone headland and is home to many species of seabirds and rare plants. Once an Iron Age fort and later a Roman one, more recent fortifications were built during the Napoleonic wars in the 1790s and then in the early 19th century. You can still see the granite walls with gun ports as well as a dry moat and some surviving buildings.

The lighthouse here is the shortest in the country. It doesn't need to be tall as Berry Head is 200ft above sea level. There are stunning views right across Torbay and it is a good place to watch sea going vessels, including some Royal Navy ones, making their way past. Sometimes, in severe weather, they take refuge in Torbay.

From Sharkham Point to Berry Head is now a National Nature Reserve as it has several nationally rare and endangered species including the greater horseshoe bat found in the limestones caves of Berry Head. It also has the largest colony of guillemots on the South Coast.

Agatha Christie's Devon home, Greenway House
© Copyright David Hawgood and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

In the mid 1930s Agatha Christie and her second husband, archaeologist, Max Mallowan, bought the Greenway Estate, Dittisham, near Brixham, as a second home.

This was quickly filled with the couple's collections of antiquities. Agatha Christie never wrote any of her books in this house. It was strictly her holiday home where she spent the summer relaxing and enjoying the company of family and friends.

Agatha Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks, lived in the house until she died in 2004 although she had signed over the house to the National Trust in 1999 to preserve it.

Up until this year (2009), only the gardens were open to the public but from February 28, the newly restored house is also be open even though there will still be some final work being undertaken.

Visitors will be able to see the many beautiful possessions with which Agatha Christie and her family surrounded themselves. These include a beautiful collection porcelain, pottery and glass, shell pictures, tapestries and watches as well as antique and period furniture.

William of Orange with Seagull
Copyright Knuts used under GNU Free Documentation License

Although there is some evidence of humans in the area as early as the Ice Age, the first real settlement did not appear until Saxon times. When the entry for it was made in the 11th century Domesday Book, spelled Briseham, the population was show as just 39. It's likely that this was based in Higher Brixham, around where St Mary's Church stands.

The village gradually grew over the centuries and in medieval times was the largest fishing port in the southwest of England. Even so, it remained the quintessential small town where nothing much happened until its moment of national importance arrived. In 1688 William of Orange landed here to take the throne of England after the unacceptable James II stepped down. A statue stands on the edge of the quay to commemorate the event - often with a seagull on its head, but they have no respect for kings or commoners.

Brixham Harbour, Devon, UK Photographic Print
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Brixham Sailing Trawlers

The principal occupations of Brixham residents centred on the sea and fishing. Not only were fishermen going out on the boats, there was boat building and net making. Even before the coming of the railways, Brixham sent fish as far afield as London. The catches went by sea to Portsmouth and then by road to the capital. In the mid 19th century, the town had about 240 trawlers rising to about 300 by the end of the century. Some of these fished local waters while others went further, to the Bristol or Irish Channel or east to Ramsgate for example.

It was here in Brixham that 'beam trawling' was invented in the 19th century. This method was specifically developed to catch flat fish like plaice and flounders. These boats were wooden sailing trawlers and their sails were a distinctive red colour. In fact, the song Red Sails in the Sunset was written on board one of these.

Brixham was called 'the mother of deep-sea fisheries' because their design of trawlers was taken up by other fishing ports, notably, Hull and Grimsby.

In the waters around the coast, there are many shipwrecks and some of them are Brixham trawlers. Perhaps the worst disaster to befall the town's fishing fleet occurred during the night in January 1866 when a terrific storm blew up. The trawlers were at sea and tried to sail back into harbour but with only their sails to make way, they were no match for the storm force winds and heavy seas. Their situation worsened when the lighthouse beacon was swept away so they could not determine the position of the harbour in the dark. It is said that the women of Brixham came out of their homes carrying everything they could that would burn including their own furniture. They used it to light a big bonfire on the quay to show the trawlermen the way. That night 50 boats were wrecked and 100 men died. As always, the cost of fish can be high.

Today Brixham is still a leading light in the English fishing industry accounting for about 26% of jobs in the area. This includes fishing related jobs, for example, in the numerous fish processing and packing companies in the town.

Memories
When I was a girl in Brixham, I can remember the old fishing market on the quay - an open sided construction with a roof, which anybody could walk through. Little boys used to sneak around taking the odd pilchard or mackerel from the boxes waiting to be sold but nobody seemed to take much notice or care. One time my little brother found a large catfish which he dragged home, really pleased with himself. When he arrived home, he discovered why the fish had been abandoned. It was rotten and stinking!

Today, that old market has gone and there is a new fish market, not so easily accessible to naughty boys.

Fishing Trawlers leaving Brixham Quay
© Copyright Phyllis Flannagan and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

The replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind has been moored in Brixham Harbour since 1963. This was the ship in which Drake circumnavigated the world. Originally called the Pelican, it was renamed by Drake in honour of a friend.

The expedition of three ships left Plymouth, Devon, on November 15th, 1577 and returned on September 26th, 1580. During the voyage Sir Francis Drake's ships attacked Spanish treasure galleons. He was so successful that he returned to Plymouth with about £600,000, the equivalent of about £25 million today. Drake was authorised by Queen Elizabeth I to prey on Spanish ships so he had to share the proceeds with her.

The replica of the Golden Hind gives visitors the opportunity to experience conditions on a 16th century ship. Below decks there is a Pirates' Exhibition and every week during the summer there is a Pirates' Thursday when the Brixham Buccaneers take over the ship for the amusement of visitors.

The Golden Hind is open from March to September.

The Brixham Lifeboat

Brixham (officially Torbay) Lifeboat Station has two lifeboats. One is an all weather boat (see picture above) and an inflatable inshore one, introduced in 1963. The all weather boat, named RNLB Alec and Christina Dykes in memory of Mrs Dykes whose bequest covered half the boat's cost. It is a Severn class boat, the largest type used by the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute). It began work in Brixham in November 2001.

Of course, in such a busy shipping area as Torbay, used by many small boats and large ships when sheltering from storms, the lifeboat is called out on many occasions. Over the last five years, the average number of call-outs (or 'shouts', as they call it) are 126 per year. The crews have accumulated 52 awards for gallantry over the years.

Coxswain Wins Gallantry Awards
The most recent was given to lifeboat coxswain, Mark Criddle, in January 2008 when the lifeboat was called out to the Ice Prince, a 6,395 gross tonne vessel, with 20 crew on board, and was in trouble 34 miles south east of Berry Head because of a Force 9 severe gale which had caused its cargo to shift, leaving the ships listing badly. Both the Brixham and Salcombe lifeboats were called out and a Coastguard helicopter took off 12 of the 20 crew in very dangerous conditions.

Mark Criddle then had to make numerous manoevres in the treacherous conditions to get the lifeboat in position so that the remaining crew could jump from the stricken ship. The lifeboat crew then hauled them onboard. The Salcombe lifeboat held station as best it could to use its searchlights to provide light for this successful rescue.

Mark Criddle was presented with a silver gallantry award and other members of his crew were given Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum.

Many of the rescues are less dramatic than this and may involve vessels with engine problems, fire aboard, or taking on water. The lifeboat is also called out sometimes to assist police or coastguard in searches for missing persons or potential suicides threatening to jump from cliffs.

The crews of lifeboats are all volunteers. They drop everything and run for the lifeboat station as soon as they get a 'shout' regardedless of what they are doing. They also have to find time from their work and personal lives for regular training.

Henry Lyte who wrote Abide With Me

Henry Lyte (1793 - 1847) wrote the hymn Abide with Me in Berry Head House while he was vicar of All Saints Church. He was the vicar there for 23 years. He had suffered with ill health most of his life which led him to going abroad during the winter to benefit from a milder, drier climate. It was just after he finished this, his most famous hymn, that he died in Nice where he was buried in the English Cemetery.

Torpedoed Sailors Picked up by a Brixham Fishing-Boat Giclee Print
Stott, R.W.
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