So much more than sea gulls. (Brixham in General)

Member Name: kimking

Product:	Brixham in General
Date:	28/07/04 (1026 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: History, fishing

Disadvantages: not much for kids.

At present I live in Paignton, part of Torbay other wise known at the English Riviera. Although I have lived in other places in England I am only a stones though away from the very place I was born namely Brixham, which is also part of Torbay. I love to take a walk around there remembering how it was when I was a child and seeing how much has changed.

Brixham is spread over a valley at the bottom of which is the town leading down to the harbour, it now has three inner harbour piers where the fishing boats tie up along side. The third one was only added about thirty years ago, I can remember as a child my friends and I used to love playing leap frog over the captains where the trawlers would tie up.

Brixham has always been a very busy fishing port way down through the ages and is the place where William of Orange is said to have first stepped ashore when he came to England in 1688. There is a big statue of him on the quay which has been there since way before my time. The harbour hasn?t really changed much since I was a child, apart from the new pier the only other real change is they have knocked down the shelter that once covered the fish market.

There is an aquarium on the harbour, its not very big but gives a good taste of what sea life there is, there are also gift shops, cafes, ice cream parlours and pubs, right at the end of the harbour there?s a small sweet shop that was there when I was a small child and its still run by the same family, I can remember my gran used to take me for a walk along the harbour and buy me and ice cream from them.

There are loads of little kiosks dotted along the quay where you can book a mackerel fishing or deep sea wreck fishing trips and if fishing isn?t your cup of tea you can choose to go on one of the many little cruises around the bay or even down to near by Kingswear
and sail past the late Agatha Christie?s home and then on down to Dartmouth.

Just backing off from the harbour is Brixham town centre with Fore street running up the middle, this is where I was born to be exact about a quarter of the way up in a pub called the London inn, which was run by my parents, These days it is a tea room and very different. There are all the usual shops in the town, Woollies, Summerfield and many local shops and of course an abundance of gift shops as there always is in a resort.

There is one very odd little shop though, when I was a child it was a tea room but now days it sells clocks. The odd thing about this shop is it is called ?The Coffin House? because it is built in the exact shape of a coffin. There are a couple of stories as to why it is that shape the most popular being that the father of a young woman who fell in love with a man he could not stand, told his daughter ?I would rather see you in your coffin than wed to him? but the girl married him anyway so her father built them this house, weather its true or not I?m not sure.

If you leave the main town and go the top of the left side of the valley you will find Furzham Where I went to primary school, there is a large park and many houses around but also a place now called ?Battery Gardens? so-called because it was where the gunning placements were, to help protect England from invasion during the war, the gunning placements are now turned into shelters where you can sit and look out to sea.

If you take the right hill side from the town this will bring you firstly to the breakwater pier where there is now a large marina and a marine centre which when I was a child was the seamen?s mission home for boys where young boys were sent while there fathers were away at sea if their mothers could not cope with them. Discipline was
very strict there and the boys had to march to church every Sunday dressed in naval uniform lead by their own marching band made up of some very talented boys from the home, This was quite a sight, the police would stop the traffic and the town centre would come to a halt, people would even line the street to watch them. It was a sad loss to Brixham when this stopped; they were so good they even appeared on TV once.

Just past that is Breakwater pier which is the main pier that shelters the harbour from rough seas. There is a great place to fish at the end. Next to that is a small pebble beach and then an out door swimming pool where I used to love to go swimming with my two brothers, the only problem with the pool is, it is right on the edge of the land and the sea over flows into the pool at high tide bringing with it small fish and jelly fish at times but if that puts you off, don?t worry there is a indoor swimming pool as well now.

A little further up the coastline is Berry Head, a place with many claims to fame, Firstly it was once a Roman settlement and the walls of the fort are still standing there to-day. A little later the Reverend Henry Light, who was at the time the vicar at All Saints church in Brixham sat on Berry Head and wrote the famous hymn ?Abide with me? this is still played out by the bells at the church to-day in memory of him. Another claim to fame it has, is that the lighthouse there is the highest and the shortest lighthouse in England because it is only the light section of the light house perched on the top of the cliff top.

I love Brixham and often take my self off there for a couple of hours. To be honest it is not really the kind of place children would want to holiday as unless they like fishing there are a few amusement arcades but little in way of fun, it is little more than history and
sightseeing for them but for a rest or a little break for someone just wanting to walk and sit by the sea it?s a great place, it was also a great place to grow up in to.

Thanks for reading.

Kim.

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