This is my monthly roundup of highlights of future posts, and loose ends that won't make it into any future posts. August was closely focussed on Torquay due to work on recent posts you may have already seen. This selection therefore has a heavy Torquay bias. This opening picture is a close up of some superb stained glass at the church of St. John the Apostle, that overlooks Torquay harbour.
In August I produced a history post about Redcliffe Towers in Paignton, you can read it and see it at The Maharaja of Paignton. These are some details not in that post. To find out more about it you'll have to see the post, I won't repeat it all here.
In August I produced several posts about the Singer family, of sewing machine fame. It's a fascinating history with some very interesting characters. These are some close ups of Isaac Merritt Singer's tomb in Torquay cemetery.
The tomb is covered with symbolic plants and foliage of all types. The one that caught my eye as most unusual was this repeated carving on all four corners, of the maize plant, in almost botanical detail, showing root, stem, fruit and flower. I have read that this was used to denote Singer's American origin, as maize is native to North America. There is a very interesting history of this unusual cemetery too in this blog.
Many Singer family members were subsequently interred and memorialised here, including European Royalty who married into the Singer family. Isaac's daughter Winaretta herself became a French Princesse. Her husband requested in his will to be buried at Torquay where she was also ultimately buried by his side forty two years later. His funeral must have been quite a spectacle.
Western Morning News - Monday 19 August 1901
THE LATE PRINCE E. DE POLIGNAC
FUNERAL AT TORQUAY
The funeral of Prince Edmond de Polignac, who died in Paris last Thursday week, took place yesterday afternoon at Torquay cemetery. The deceased Prince was connected with the Torquay district through the Singer family, his widow, the Princesse de Polignac, being a sister of the Messrs. Singer, of Paignton. Although he was a member of an ancient French family, it was his wish to be interred in the Singer vault at Torquay. The deceased Prince was in his 67th year. He was the fourth son of Jules de Polignac, the Minister of Charles X. but, unlike his father he eschewed politics, gaining celebrity by his musical composition. His wife (nee Singer) was a sister of the Duchesse de Cazes, the Duc whose grandfather, in the reign of Charles X. was one of the greatest adversaries of the father of the now deceased Prince Edmond de Polignac. The remains of the Prince were conveyed to Torquay from Dieppe on board the steam yacht Vellada, the property of the Duc de Cazes, brother-in-law of ‘the deceased. The yacht reached Torquay on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning Mr. A. Waycott of Paignton, took charge of the coffin, and had it brought ashore and conveyed to the cemetery, where it rested in the chapel until the funeral in the afternoon. Among those present were the Princesse de Polignac, the Prince and Princesse C. de Polignac, the Duc de Cazes, Mr. Mortimer Singer, Mr. Washington M G Singer, Mr. Paris Singer, Mr. Franklin Singer, Mrs. Paris Singer........
...There was a magnificent array of wreaths, some of them being five feet across. Among the contributors were the widow, Prince and Princess C. de Polignac, the Duc de Cazes, Prince de Caraman Chimay, Count and Countess Mathieu de Nosilles, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Singer, Mr. and Mrs. Washington Singer, Mr. and Mrs. Paris Singer, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Singer, and Les serviturs du Prince.
I haven't mentioned Mortimer Singer much so far in my posts, but he was quite an over achiever as we might say today.
Daily Mirror - Tuesday 25 June 1929
SIR MORTIMER SINGER
Death of Well-Known Sportsman—
Pioneer of Flying and Motoring -
Sir Mortimer Singer, K.B.E. son of the inventor of the Singer sewing machine, died in London yesterday after a short illness. He was sixty-six years of age.
An American by birth, Sir Mortimer became a naturalised British subject in 1900. He was a great sportsman, and was a pioneer in cycling motoring and flying. His aeronautical certificate was . No. 8.
He owned the racing yacht Astra, and was a breeder and a racer of thoroughbred horses, and a great salmon fisher. Last year Sir Mortimer purchased Invergarry House, Inverness, for the sum of £50,000. He inherited great wealth from his father, and was a man of generous sympathies.
He was a man as generous as his father before him and also as generous as his brothers. Of course it was easier to be generous when you were that rich, his Inverness holiday home only cost £2.3 million in today's money, but even so, there have been plenty of rich people in history who did no good at all.
Paris Singer famously gave over Oldway Mansion in Paignton as a military hospital during the first World War, and paid to furnish and run it too, but his brother Mortimer followed suit.
Western Evening Herald - Friday 14 August 1914
SUPPLYING A HOSPITAL AND STAFF
Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Singer's Munificence
Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Singer have given up their newly completed house, Milton Hill, Steventon Bucks. as a convalescent home under The Red Cross Society for 150 wounded men other than officers of the Navy and Army. They are fully equipping the residence and are providing a medical officer and a staff of nurses entirely at their own expense. They will personally administer and supervise the home and will themselves live in a small house nearby.
Elsewhere in Torquay, is quite an unusual assortment of buildings that I encountered on a short walk.
This is the small Freemasons Hall of the Jordan Lodge founded on the 13th June 1872
The lighter brick wing on the right is marked as being 1898 so I am guessing that it is a later extension to the main building.
At the back of Torquay Town Hall is this almost hidden little Art Deco gem, obviously a statement piece when it was first built. It is Grade 2 listed by English Heritage and has a profusion of Deco details throughout.
Electricity showrooms and office. 1935, drawings signed W Marsden, with a reference to PW Ladmore, Borough engineer and architects' offices. Sheradised metal windows by Percy Hope and Sons; electrically operated sunblinds and patent non-reflecting windows by Pollards.
Sherardising - also known as vapour galvanising and dry galvanising, is the process of galvanisation of ferrous metal surfaces. The process involves heating up the steel parts in a closed rotating drum that also contains metallic zinc dust, and possibly sand. Unlike galvanising, which involves dipping the parts in a liquid bath containing zinc.
The building is now used as Council offices and the door was firmly locked, because as usual I always try a door if an interior looks interesting. I have no doubt that this building is packed with original features.
Art Deco granite architrave to office door to left. Original pair of well-detailed bronze and glass doors, fascia with Art Deco 'offices' lettering over, deep overlight with pattern of horizontal and vertical bands;
The view through the front door was tantalising. This is the lobby where some steps descend with chrome handrails and wonderful lighting features either side. I suppose the repeat wave pattern is meant to be waves of electricity rather than water.
The office entrance hall is particularly fine, lined with polished Purbeck, flight of steps down flanked by semicircular half-columns encased at the bottom with back-lit frosted glass with applied metal wavy lines. English Heritage
At the back of the Town Hall which is the side of Electric House the original features continue. No expense was spared. There was a lot of pride in this public project.
Even the air bricks are custom pieces.
The perfect housewife back in 1963 could win a house, £1000 for furnishings, a range of Hoover appliances and a Ford Consul Cortina Super Estate, no less. All she had to do was to answer the "constructive questions" on what makes a good housewife.
That £1000 would amount to £21,000 today, the house probably half a million and the car, now a classic? Well just a boxed Corgi toy version would set you back £170.
Electric House was "Your rendezvous for Everything Electrical. Every day of the week there is something new and interesting to see at Electric House, Torquay."
Guess the weight of the cake competitions, I Spy competitions to spot prizes in the showroom window, special Trade In Offers of £3 on a new boiler. "Be sure to examine our own SWEB Refrigerator offered at the bargain price of 30 guineas".
The Council were encouraging people to consume electrical goods and to use more electricity. How things have changed. "Visit Bargain Corner and take your pick". Don't forget that everything could be purchased "on our Low Hire Purchase Terms".
The Bling has left this building, just leaving the "things".
The rest of the Town Hall is also a statement, although a lot earlier and in a very different style to Electric House. It is covered in edifying statements aimed at improving the populace. "Read wisely for a good book is a faithful friend" is the message in this shot. I've checked out the Torbay Council website as it is today and their message now is "Leave the car at home and walk and cycle more." This sounds so invigorating but would leave a lot less time for a good book. The council also says "Plant more trees and biodiversity rich plants in your garden."
The building is Grade 2 listed by English Heritage, "Edwardian Baroque", and was built in two phases, the library in 1906 and this main building in 1910, a lot later than I thought. The same architect, Thomas Davison designed both phases. What is interesting is that the, by comparison, fundamentally futuristic Electric House was only added about twenty years later.
Personally if I were a resident of Torquay I would rather they painted the English Heritage Grade 2 listed railings and lamp posts in front of their offices. If this is the squalor that the powers that be find acceptable in their own place of work it doesn't suggest they have much pride in the rest of the town.
"Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of Virtue" or "Reduce the amount of waste you create and reuse and recycle more."
This little gem. "We are also committed to protecting and enhancing our high quality built and natural environment, safeguarding it for future generations." "We declared a climate emergency in 2019 and we are committed to tackling climate change locally and becoming a carbon neutral Council" This is clearly what "a carbon neutral Torbay by 2030" looks like.
Next I visited two churches that really couldn't be more different, and both unique in their own way. I was told that one is known locally as the ugliest building in Torquay. Both of these will feature as separate posts in the future so I won't give too much away now.
Now this is weird and not what you expect to see on the way to the vestry in a church.
Someone internationally famous designed these windows and someone else internationally famous made them. One of them said “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” This is the Church of St John the Apostle.
Not far from the Town Hall and I am on my way to see a very different church. This isn't it, but it is a reminder of what stood here before the current church was built. On the map this is described as a Sunday School, I'm not sure if it still is, but it was part of the original church that once stood here and there is a vestige of that church left behind. On the left hand side an arch that once soared upwards has been cut off.
This is the site in the 1830's, the trees indicate that it was a green plot and it was known as Morgan's Nursery.
A small timber and zinc roofed chapel was built on the site, which was later replaced by Belgrave Church.
Belgrave Church opened in 1870, built on the site of Morgan's Nursery. Damaged by a bomb during World War 2 it was repaired but suffered from structural damage that couldn't be fixed, so it was demolished in 1972.
The early seventies was the heydey of poured concrete and so Central Church was born. Many think it is ugly, but think of it like this, where have you seen anything like this in the area. It is one of a kind and so indicative of when it was built. That surely is worth something. It is not listed and I am fairly sure that with shrinking congregations and possibly having far more value as a redevelopment plot, it's days could be numbered.
Our concrete heritage is so fast disappearing that we could well enter a future when people curse those of us alive today for allowing it to be wantonly destroyed.
If the building no longer has a future as a church it surely has a future as something else. So many of our redundant churches live on in new roles. I believe it is more commonly used as a sports hall at the moment, and the floor is lined for games courts.
Just a slight detour now to one of our green, back lanes and a recent walk near where I live. I love the high hedges and holloways and the sneak peeks of distant views that pop up every so often.
Meanwhile in Dartmouth there has been a temporary resident who brought his enormous floating home with him. This yacht has been moored for the month of August.
Aviva was a snip at £250 million for its 322 feet of luxury. It belongs to billionaire Joe Lewis who formerly owned Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club. The yacht was built in 2017, hosts a mere 16 guests and has 25 full time crew. It does have an indoor tennis court though, so you could probably add a couple of sofa beds in an emergency. It also sports a helipad, spa and cinema as well as one of the most expensive art collections in the world, with Picasso and Matisse original works included.
But sadly Joe is only the 38th richest Briton which must be a huge disappointment, he's only worth an estimated £5.3 billion. Could do better, I say.
On my way back to the Town Hall car park I spotted this impressive building on the opposite side of the road to the library.
Western Daily Mercury - Saturday 04 April 1863
THE NEW BAPTIST CHAPEL
The opening of the Baptist Upton Vale chapel in the St, Mary Church Ward took place yesterday at 11 o’clock, a.m. At one o’clock, p.m., a cold collation was provided in the school room for the convenience of the friends of the denomination coming from a distance to attend the services ; and at five o’clock a public tea was held in the same place preparatory to a public meeting at seven.
I love the "cold collation" part, what we would probably now call a buffet. Theirs probably didn't include onion bhajis, coronation chicken sandwiches or tempura prawns, although it almost certainly did include the still familiar sausage rolls.
The building is exceedingly plain, both internally and externally, the utmost economy having been practised in providing a building with the maximum amount of accommodation at a minimum of cost. It is said that the chapel will hold comfortably sixteen hundred persons. Beneath the chapel there is a very spacious room, which it is intended to use as a schoolroom. The situation of the chapel is very good, being at the bottom of the St. Mary Church road.
Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 20 November 1909
7,908 SERMONS.
The Rev. Evan Edwards, formerly pastor of the Upton Vale Baptist Chapel, Torquay, has just preached his 7,908th sermon there. Without a single note he spoke from his old pulpit for 40 minutes. Mr. Edwards, who was born at Nantmel, Radnorshire, was known in his younger days as "the boy preacher," owing to his addressing cottage congregations on the Welsh hills. He was appointed pastor at Torquay in 1868, and has remained there ever since, 17 years as pastor and 24 years in semi-retirement. He is 94 years of age.
Torbay Express and South Devon Echo - Saturday 01 May 1999
Cafe money spinner for the Third World
A VOLUNTEER-RUN cafe in Torquay has raised a record amount of money in the last 12 months.
The Cottage Cafe opposite the Library at Castle Circus has given more than £14,000 to a variety of missionary projects in some of the poorest parts of the world.
Mrs Glenys Hammond heads up a team of volunteers at the popular cafe. She said "It's really exciting to be able to be involved in these pioneering projects. We have managed to raise nearly twice as much as last year." Light meals and snacks are served at the cafe which is part of Upton Vale Baptist Church and all profits are channelled into Christian projects in developing countries.......
.......Within the last few weeks £5000 has been sent to Qinghai Province in China to enable schools to be built in the poorest parts of the Tibetan plateau. Last year the Cottage Cafe paid for two yaks to be given to Tibetan nomads in the same area.
The Cottage Cafe is open on Mondays to Fridays from 10am until 4pm.
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