NEW Added another picture of the clay works before it closed, and more photographs of the lost Colony as I call it.

As can be seen from the map above, Shaugh Bridge is situated on the edge of Dartmoor at the meeting of the two rivers, the Plym and the Meavy.  In the “V” formed by the rivers stands The Dewerstone. Shaugh Bridge is situated between the villages of Shaugh Prior and Bickleigh. It is now owned by the National trust and is visited frequently by many people because it is a beauty spot. In the past there had been a small amount of iron ore mining and processing at Shaugh Bridge. There are some remains of buildings on the piece of land where the two rivers meet.  For a more detailed history of Shaugh Bridge go to Graham Eagle's very interesting page on the subject. When we moved to Shaugh the only industry left in the area was farming and the china clay drying pits. Throughout the year, but particularly in winter, the river Plym was very often like a river of milk flowing from Cadover  because of all the clay in it. Due to its extremely fine nature (finer than silt), clay was mixed with water and was transported through pipes to Shaugh as a liquid slurry. It was then stored in huge square stone vats which had fires below them, evaporating the water, leaving solid blocks of china clay.  Lorries then took this solid china clay away. We weren’t supposed to go into the works where the slurry pools were, but I can remember going on the walkways between the vats, when the workmen had gone home. If I had fallen in I would never have survived.

My mother was left some money, by whom I don’t know. With this small inheritance my parents purchased a house at Shaugh Bridge.  House! It was a shack with a corrugated iron roof. It comprised of just two rooms, a living room/kitchen and a bedroom. In my mind’s eye the rooms seemed quite large, but remember I was only a small child, so they probably weren’t that big. Of course there is no way of telling now, because the shack was pulled down soon after we moved to Plympton, 11 years later. I should add at this juncture that my sister prefers to call the shack, a chalet and my mother always called it a bungalow! So as not to offend my dear sister’s sensibilities, from now on I shall also use the term chalet. Our “chalet” was called “Sanpam” and it was bought  from a couple who had two daughters named Sandra and Pamela, hence the name.  They used it as a sort of holiday home. Sanpam was one of about 30 similar but different single storey chalets in a wooded field, called “The Colony”.

Research into the origins of these chalets, suggests that they were built by business people during Second World War to enable them to escape to the comparative safety of Shaugh Bridge whilst Plymouth was being heavily bombed at night. Plymouth was almost razed to the ground during the war because it was a naval base.

There was no electricity, gas or running water in any of the chalets. Ours was one of about seven that were dotted around a grassy area at the top of the field. Each chalet in the Colony was individual in shape, size and colour and each had its own little garden surrounded by a picket fence or privet hedge. Over the gate leading into our garden was a wire bower, over which mother grew her roses. Our chalet had a wooden frame and the outside walls were covered in flat tin sheeting, painted green. The roof was made from corrugated iron and as far as I can remember it was painted periodically with red oxide paint to protect it. The roof was fixed to the beams below with zinc coated nails about 8cm long. If we had a particularly strong wind or gale, the nails would sometimes work loose and let the rain in. This always seemed to happen at night. We would put buckets and bowls beneath the leaks to catch the water. If it was a particularly heavy downpour we would need to empty these on a regular basis. When the rain stopped and daylight arrived, Dad would have to climb onto the roof, knock the nails back in, and reseal the spot with a rubberised liquid.

To See the pictures of Shaugh Bridge click here

To have a look at details of my book if you haven't already. Click here

My thanks to Daniella Fry who supplied a number of photographs. Have a look at Daniella's Travel Blog click here

Classic walks on dartmoor click here

If you have any old photographs of Shaugh Bridge or the Colony and would like them included please send them as an attachment  by email or by post

Copyright

I took many of the photographs. Some were given me by the original owners and some were given to me in electronic form so I have no way of knowing who the original owners are. If you recognise any of the photographs on this site and you are the copyright owner please let me know and I will be happy to remove them or acknowledge you if you are happy for them to stay. Contact me, Don Balkwill memories@happyhome.plus.com

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