RIP Albert William Tarr

Albert William Tarr was born in East Anstey in 1880.  At the time of his death in 1935, he was living in East Anstey with his widowed mother Harriet.  He had been deaf and unable to speak since birth.  He became a tailor's assistant.  

On January 8th 1935 Albert Tarr was at Dulverton Railway Station in Brushford, waiting for a train to East Anstey.  Mrs Ivy Ellen Thomas of Coombe Head Cottage, Dulverton, was also at the station with her 4 year old son Robert John Thomas.  She and her son were crossing the railway line using the trolley crossing, rather than the footbridge at the other end of the station.  Mrs Thomas was laden with parcels, as she had just returned from a shopping trip to Tiverton.  Robert was dawdling behind her.  

The porter on the platform heard the whistle of an incoming train from Barnstaple and shouted at Mrs Thomas to hurry up. She turned to grab Robert, but then hesitated for a moment.  Albert Tarr realised that Mrs Thomas and Robert were about to be hit by the train, so he tried to save them. The train driver braked, but hit and killed all three of them instantly. 

Mr Leslie Sloman, who had returned from Tiverton on the same train as Mrs Thomas, also tried to grab Mrs Thomas, but he was able to jump back just in time and so wasn't hit by the train.

An inquest into the accident, was held in Dulverton on 10th January.  The verdict was Death by Misadventure.  The coroner was Mr G.P. Clarke. Both the train driver and the railway company were exonerated from blame.  However, the coroner recommended that the footbridge be moved nearer to the station entrance.

Copy of the memorial plaque in East Anstey Church

The Taunton Stop Line

The Taunton Stop Line was built in 1940, when the UK government believed an invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany was imminent. The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk at the end of June 1940, increased the sense of urgency. The Taunton Stop Line was part of a network of defensive lines built across various parts of Britain.  The purpose of a stop line was to slow down, a German advance, if they had invaded Britain.

General Edmund Ironside was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces at the end of May 1940.  On 25th June he announced plans for Home Defence to the War Cabinet.  He proposed:

1. The construction of coastal defences to fight off small raids and delay any landings.
2. Road blocks at strategic locations to be manned by the Home Guard
3. The construction of static fortified stop lines, which divided coastal areas into sectors and sealed off London and the Midlands from the coast
4. A central reserve of troops, who would be ready to deal with any major breakthroughs
5. Local mobile groups, which could deal with parachute landings and local attacks.

The Taunton Stop Line ran for approximately 50 miles from the Bristol Channel/mouth of the River Brue at Highbridge to the English Channel at Axmouth Harbour in Devon.  Its route was via Pawlett Hams, Dunball, Bridgwater, North Newton, Creech St Michael, Wrantage, Ilton, Ilminster, Donyatt, Knowle St Giles, Chard, Forton, Perry Street, Chard Junction and Axminster.  

Where possible the Taunton Stop Line utilised natural barriers.  It followed the River Parrett to Bridgwater, then the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal to Creech St Michael and then the line of the disused Chard Canal to Ilton.  It then followed the Great Western Railway to Chard Junction and then the River Axe and/or the Southern Railway to Axmouth Harbour.

Highbridge was also the start of the General Headquarters (GHQ) Green line, which ran east to Bradford-on-Avon and then north to Framilode on the River Severn south of Gloucester.

The construction of the Taunton Stop Line began in July 1940 and was largely completed by September of the same year.   About 400 defensive structures, including pillboxes, road and rail blocks, anti-tank gun emplacements and anti-tank obstacles were constructed at strategic points along the stop line to strengthen it.  The anti-tank obstacles were usually made of concrete and came in various shapes and sizes, including dragons' teeth (flat-topped pyramids), posts, cubes and coffins. 

Gun emplacements were built at strategic locations, landmines were laid, trenches were dug and barbed wire entanglements were put in place.  Many of the bridges along the route had charge chambers cut into their walls, so that they could be blown up in the event of an invasion.  The pillboxes were disguised and/or camouflaged using paint and netting or locally available materials such as soil, beach pebbles and hedgerows.

In 1941 twelve defensive "islands" were created to strengthen the stop line at Bridgwater, Durston (to cover the railway junction at Cogload), Creech St Michael, Wrantage/Crimson Hill, Ilton (RAF Isle Abbotts/Merryfield). Ilminster, Chard, Forton, Perry Street, Whitford, Axminster and Colyford.  These anti-tank islands were intended to be used as bases from which to launch counter attacks, if the stop line was breached.

The Taunton Stop Line was initially manned by the army, assisted by the Home Guard, but as the threat of an invasion receded, the Home Guard took over responsibility for it.

The majority of the structures built for the Taunton Stop Line are still intact and in situ today.

Pillbox close to the River Brue at Highbridge

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal near Outwood House

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal

Pillbox on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal near Outwood House

This pillbox has had its front wall removed.

 

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal at Charlton

Pillbox and dragons' teeth on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal

Pillbox at the junction of the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal and the Chard Canal in Creech St Michael 

It was probably originally disguised as a farm building or canal-side cottage.  In 2015 it was repurposed as a bat roost. This is a Type 26 pillbox.

Pillbox on Park Drive, Ilminster

Pillbox near Dillington, Ilminster

Donyatt Halt

One of a pair of concrete blocks, into which sections of railway track would have been slotted to form a vehicle barrier.  There are some anti-tank blocks in the background. 

6-pounder anti-tank gun emplacement on the now disused railway line near Knowle St Giles

6-pounder anti-tank gun emplacement near Knowle St Giles

Anti-tank wall, Victoria Avenue, Chard

Artillery Battery on Axmouth Beach

This would probably have been equipped with a 6-pounder Hotchkiss gun

Further Reading: The West Country's Last Line of Defence: Taunton Stop Line by Andrew Powell-Thomas, Amberley Publishing, 2017

Lynmouth to Porlock Overland Lifeboat Launch, 1899

On the afternoon of 12th January 1899 a storm arrived on the North Devon coast and wind speeds increase to force 8.  In the early evening, the RNLI Lynmouth Lifeboat crew received a telegraph message from Porlock informing them that a ship called the Forrest Hall was rudderless and in distress in Porlock Bay and requested their assistance.  Coxswain Jack Crocombe decided that it would be impossible to launch his twelve-oar lifeboat Louisa from Lynmouth, due to the high seas and then he announced to his surprised crew "We'll launch from Porlock".  They were unable to send a telegraph message back to Porlock to tell them this because the wires had blown down.

A team of up to 100 people, including Jack Crocombe and 13 lifeboat crewmen, and 18 borrowed horses were soon assembled and they set off to drag Louisa on her carriage 13 miles overland.  Their first challenge was the climb up Countisbury Hill - 300 metres in two miles and 1:4 in places.  Richard Moore, the lifeboat's signalman, and half a dozen men had been sent ahead with pickaxes and shovels to widen the road. On the way up Countisbury Hill one of the wheels came off Louisa's carriage but they managed to put it back on.  

Once the main party reached the top of Countisbury Hill, most of the volunteers turned back, leaving 20 men to haul the Louisa the rest of the way.  She was 10 metres long and weighed 10 tons.  At this time the road across the top of Exmoor was a muddy track.  At one point it was so narrow that Louisa had to be taken off her carriage and dragged on skids because the road could not be widened.  The carriage took a different route over the fields and re-joined them a mile further on. They also had to climb to a height of 420 metres above sea level and all the while it was raining and the gale continued to blow.

The team of men managed to successfully hold Louisa back when they were descending Porlock Hill (1:4 in places) but they had to break down part of someone's garden wall to get through. 

They arrived in Porlock Weir at 6.30am on 13th January.  Despite being very wet, tired and hungry, they immediately launched the Louisa and it took them an hour to row out to the Forrest Hall, which had anchored near Hurlstone Point.  They stood by the Forrest Hall until two tugs arrived when it got light.  The lifeboat crew helped get a rope from the tug to the ship and some of the lifeboatmen went aboard the Forrest Hall to help her crew raise their anchor.  The Forrest Hall was then towed to Barry, accompanied by the Louisa, in case there were any problems. Thanks to their actions, all 17 or 18 crew members of the Forrest Hall survived. 

They arrived in Barry at around 6pm and the crew of the Louisa were given dry clothes and food and accommodated in a hotel for the night. The following day they rowed back to Lynmouth, although they were towed part of the way by a steamer.  Louisa's carriage was hauled back to Lynmouth by road.

The 13 crew members received awards of £5 each.  The repair bill for the hire of horses and the rebuilding of walls was £118 17s: the owners of the Forrest Hall paid £75 of this.

The overland journey was re-enacted in 1999 by which time the roads had greatly improved but the weather hadn't.

Mosaic in a shelter on the seafront in Lynmouth depicting scenes from the overland journey and the rescue

Plaque commemorating Captain Jack Crocombe on The Captain's House, Lynmouth

Blue plaque on The Captain's House giving an account of the overland journey and the rescue 

The Captain's House, Lynmouth 

currently a B&B

Lynmouth Harbour

Porlock Weir

Maclaren Memorial Stone, Brendon Common

There is a tall grey granite memorial stone located on Brendon Common 500 metres to the east of the B3223 and 500 metres from the Somerset/Devon border on the Devon side (grid reference SS 767 438).  The inscription on the stone reads as follows:

In memory of Colonel R.H. Maclaren OBE

MC Commander CW Troops

Royal Engineer who was

killed on duty on this spot

May 20th 1941

This stone was erected

by his brother officers

Robert (Bobby) Hillhouse Maclaren was born in 1902.  In May 1941 he was in charge of a team of Royal Engineers who were testing a new rocket delivery system for gas warheads on Exmoor.  On 20th May he was observing a demonstration firing of five inch rockets on Brendon Common.  According to Brigadier Lloyd, who was also present at the demonstration, there was a fault with the launching equipment, which caused some of the rockets to be fired in the wrong direction. One of the rockets landed behind the onlookers and exploded. A sliver from the rocket's metal casing hit Colonel Maclaren and penetrated his chest.  He died shortly afterwards.  He is buried at Tidworth Military Cemetery in Wiltshire.

There is a path of sorts that starts to the south west of the memorial and heads towards it in a north easterly direction.  There are adders on Brendon Common and so stick to the path, unless you want to have my experience of only just avoiding stepping on a black adder on a pathless section just to the north of the memorial stone!

Colonel Maclaren's memorial stone, Brendon Common

Colonel Maclaren's Memorial Stone

Inscription on the memorial stone