Dawlish Brewery

Dawlish Brewery

At the end of the 17th century, there were six or seven pubs in a village of about 2000 residents. By 1845, there were more than a dozen and the population had increased to about 4000 people. Now, there are about 14,000 living in Dawlish and there are only eight pubs...
The Funeral – Royal Visitor

The Funeral – Royal Visitor

Having written about the auction of the Dawlish Brewery in 1825 by my four greats grandfather, John Force, I have to say that I enjoyed writing about an actual event, even if the details of the story were a figment of my imagination. The problem was, as I mentioned in...
At the fall of the hammer

At the fall of the hammer

My previous blog introduced Mary and her family, and it gave me the idea that my imagination could create an adventure out of any situation, even if it was only a work of fiction. However, I wanted to use a real event and weave a story where I could influence...
Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing

Welcome to my latest musings about the past in Dawlish, which have formed the basis of my second book about the town: Eavesdropper – Dawlish Tales from Long Ago. For those of you who have been following these blogs, I have now recounted snippets of half a dozen tales...
A Watery Tale

A Watery Tale

  Welcome to my latest blog and musings about Dawlish in days gone by. For much of its history, Dawlish remained a small and insignificant village where nothing ever really happened. The villagers lived their lives generation after generation, either tilling the...