top of page

Will be held via ZOOM,  

                7.30 pm Tuesday  21st November by  Maureen Godfrey
                                       The Totnes Workhouse

Maureen will be describing how the Amendment to the Poor Law 1834 changed the system of provision for the poor resulting in the building of workhouses throughout the country.  The Totnes Workhouse demonstrates how the new law aimed to work and she aims to demonstrate how Totnes, both workhouse and town, differed, in its beneficial attitude to paupers from other workhouses depicted in such volumes as "Oliver Twist" which have given workhouses their poor reputation.

Since moving to Devon in 1995 Maureen has continued her studies, completing a Master's Degree in English Literature and also in History, with the subject of her dissertation being the Totnes Workhouse

 

Please sign up for our newsletters to keep you up to date on all future online talks using the link.

The Harberton and Harbertonford History Society encourages the study of the local history of Harberton Parish and the surrounding County.

 

There are approximately 5 meetings with speakers each year and at least one field excursion.  Meetings take place in Harberton or Harbertonford on alternative dates, or via Zoom sessions  - details of which can be found in the Programme.

 

Members of the Society have gathered information on the past history of the villages, personalities and the Parish including the preparation of historic walks around both Harberton and Harbertonford.  The Society is making collections of photographs and some artefacts and have embarked on an oral history project to build an archive of first hand histories in both villages.

 

Subjects covered in previous meetings have included:-

        The History of Harbertonford Mill                  Pilotage on the River Dart    

        The Construction of the Avon Dam                Victorian Crime in Totnes

        Tuckenhay Paper Mill                                     Church Houses in Devon

        Vagrants and Travellers in 17 Century Harberton

        The Trist Family of Harberton

 

Field Trips have included visits to:

        Finch's Foundry at Sticklepath

        Grimspound and Bellever Neolithic Sites, both accompanied by an

             Archaeologist from Dartmoor National Park

 

Membership is open to anybody interested in local history and is £12 per year with talks free to Members.  Non members are welcome to meetings at the cost of £3 per meeting.

 

The Society is keen to receive photographs/articles/family records for the archives which can also be added to our website.

Please contact our secretary Jill Powell  -  jill.powell-redlion@outlook.com

 

We are affilliated to   The Devon History Society - see links page

 

Chairmen:--

          Derek Robinson       in Harbertonford       01803 732442

          Stanley Oldfield       in Harberton             01803 864654

 

Harberton Ch
Harbertonford ch

Harberton & Harbertonford 

History Society

hhhs logo
Nav 1 right black large
bottom of page