This is the website of the West Dart History Group. It contains a growing library of local images collected principally under the names of the Parishes of Ashprington, Cornworthy and Dittisham sub-divided into appropriate topics for each parish. It also offers a catalogue of the Archive collection, a number of documents as PDFs, the texts of some of the evening presentations to the WDHG and details of past and forthcoming meetings.
The group meets in Ashprington Parish Hall. Doors open at 6:30pm and meetings start promptly at 7:00pm unless otherwise stated. Guests are welcome to attend one meeting, after which we kindly request that you pay the annual membership fee of £15 for attendance at subsequent meetings to help support the group.
Presentations available online can be opened or downloaded via the active links below
| January 10th | 3pm: Tour of Tuckenhay Mill followed by presentations on its history | Peter Wheeler et al |
| Our AGM will be held immediately after the Tour | ||
| March 6th | The South Devon Atmospheric Railway - Brunel's Folly? | Graham Hawkins |
| May 1st | The Grand Manner. The Legacy of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Plymouth’s greatest painter | Jenny Pery, President of The Devonshire Association |
| July 3rd | History Group Summer Outing | Dartmoor Prison, the Grimpen Mire and the Hidden Moor |
| September 18th | The Evacuation of the South Hams 1943-44 | Gail Ham |
| Nov 6th | The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 and the Siege of Exeter | John Hitchins |
Past Meetings | ||
2023 | ||
| January 4th | Historic Houses of the Dart | Rosemary Yallop |
| March 15th | The Georgian Cloth Industry of Exeter and Devon | Dr Todd Gray FRHistS MBE |
| May 3rd | Charles Babbage, Totnes's Computer Pioneer? | Andy Greener |
| July 20th | History Group Summer Outing | Plymouth Citadel and Nancy Astor's home |
| September 6th | A Lifetime in Photography | Chris Chapman |
| Nov 15th | Joyce Molineux and the Carved Angel, Dartmouth | Tom Jaine |
2022 | ||
| February 2nd | Agatha Christie in Devon – In Fact and Fiction | Graham Hawkins |
| March 2nd | Harold Bate - Devon's First Eco-warrior | Andy Greener |
| May 4th | Eddystone - The Lighthouse they had to Build Three Times (text only) | John Hitchins |
| July 5th | History Group Summer Outing | Visit to Burrator area |
| September 28th | Tikrit after the Second Gulf War (off-topic!) | Graham Hawkins (at short notice) |
| Nov 16th | Early Parliamentary Elections in Dartmouth | Gail Ham |
2020 | ||
| January 15th | The White Rajahs of Sheepstor | Graham Hawkins |
| March 4th | The U-Boat War off the South South Hams Coast 1915-18 | Roger Barrett |
2019 | ||
| January 8th | Exercise Tiger - Disaster and Deception | Graham Hawkins |
| March 5th | Old photographs of the West Dart | Ski Harrison |
| May 15th | Devon Orchards: how Devon took to Cider | Michael Gee |
| July 15th | History Group Summer Outing | Kelly Mine and Lustleigh |
| September 4th | Archives at the Devon Heritage Centre | Brian Carpenter |
| Nov 20th | The Rebuilding of the Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter | Todd Gray |
2018 | ||
| January 9th | The Hallsands Disaster - A Hundred Years On | Graham Hawkins |
| March 6th | An Explanation of Lime Kilns of Torbay, the Dart Estuary and Further Afield | John Risdon |
| June 5th | History Group Summer Outing | Greenway Picnic to remember Tom Appleton |
| July 3rd | Historic Gardens of South Devon | Dianne Long |
| September 4th | Maritime Short-cuts - Canals of the West Country | Colin Vosper |
| Nov 6th | Salcombe Schooners | Roger Barrett |
2017 | ||
| January 3rd | Dartmouth's Story | David Lingard |
| March 7th | Dartmouth Museum | David Lingard |
| May 2nd | Rail Routes West of Exeter | Andy Roden |
| July 4th | Traders of the Night | Sir Geoffrey Newman |
| September 5th | The History of English Heritage | Paul Pattison |
| Nov 7th | The Three Hares | Tom Greeves |
2016 | ||
| January 5th | Taking the No38 Big Red Bus to Kuwait | Graham Hawkins |
| March 1st | The transition from peacetime to wartime in Devon: 1914-1915 | Richard Batten |
| May 3rd | Edwardian Devon | David Parker |
| July 5th | Prehistoric Dartmoor - New Revelations | Tom Greeves |
| September 6th | Oldstone Manor | Paul Pattison |
| Nov 1st | The Third Anthony Harrison Memorial Lecture - Pevsner's Cornwall | Peter Beacham |
2015 | ||
| January 5th | The History of Tuckenhay Mill | Peter Wheeler |
| March 28th | Visit to the Vitifer and Golden Dagger tin mines | Tom Greeves |
| May 5th | The land of junket and cream: traditional Devon Fare, an historical perspective | Paul Cleave |
| July 7th | The Historic House of Devon | Charles & Oliver Fish |
| September 1st | Brunel’s Great Western Railway – the building of the line from Paddington to Penzance with special reference to the Devon section | Brian Portch |
| Nov 10th | The Second Anthony Harrison Memorial Lecture - A Fun and Successful Partnership | Peter Sutton |
2014 | ||
| January 13th | Dartmouth – An Enchanted Place | Joslin Fiennes |
| March 11th | On the Tracks of the Hound – The Origins of Conan Doyles’ novel ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ | Graham Hawkins |
| May 12th | The English Civil War – Totnes Town - Mayhem and Financial Ruin | Jill Drysdale |
| July 1st | The History of the Gardens of the National Trust on the English Riviera | Martin Farhall |
| September 2nd | The Last Days of Dartmoor Tin Working | Tom Greeves |
| Nov 4th | The First Anthony Harrison Memorial Lecture - Dhows | Paul Riley |