Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas OCTOBER. 05, 2021
On the 7th October 2020, almost exactly a year ago I was posting daily on Photoblog a 365 post. For that day my daily post number 63, I decided to go a mile or so up the road to the neighbouring village of Stokenham to photograph the small thatch animals on the roofs there. That blog post can be seen here.
The main row of connected buildings are a pub, the fourteenth century Tradesman's Arms and three small cottages.
Just after midnight on Monday the 27th September, 2021, a fire crew was called to attend an incident at The Tradesman's Arms pub.
Dan Taylor, of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue, told LBC News: "At twenty-to-one in the morning, we were called to the report of a kitchen fire within a pub. "When the crews arrived, they realised that the fire was more significant, and the thatch of the cottages was also involved. So, we asked for 12 extra fire appliances to come to the incident."
The pub and three cottages were completely destroyed. Thankfully nobody was hurt although some residents lost all their possessions. Everyone resident at the time was evacuated safely.
The village and the pub are much loved locally and the community has been shocked by the severity of the damage. Money is being raised to help those affected in the short term.
This thatch fox below was one of the animals I photographed last year and stands on another cottage a few yards away so was spared any damage. So I leave this post with this fox being a symbol of hope that the other buildings are saved and fully restored soon.
Comments