August 2020 Newsletter

Lanterns Procession

It is still warm and sunny outside so why am I starting with this theme? Well the reality is that if you are planning events you must start early. This would be true in any year but of course this year is not a normal year by any stretch of the imagination. We are currently in discussion as to whether to go ahead with the Procession at all this year. Were we to go ahead it would have to be a pared down version with no meeting up in the Church afterwards and no lantern making sessions in the Hub. We have been encouraged by the determination of the Carnival committee to put on something to cheer people up and we will let you know by next month what we have decided to do.

Water water everywhere…

It is almost always the case that any human settlement, however small, will be close to a water supply. At first glance Ipplepen does not appear to fit in to that pattern but in truth you will find it everywhere, but it just happens to be underground. Last month I asked for an explanation of the old tale that a tunnel stretched from the Priory to Penrae. The more likely explanation for this rumour is the existence of a water culvert passing under the village.

There used to be a brook flowing down the middle of the cobbled road surface of Fore Street. The stream that can now be seen in the village at the bottom of North Street and which flows through part of the Tremlett Grove estate was once known as the River Creedy.

A ford over the River Creedy can be found in Dornafield Road and like the other open brooks which flowed through the village it now passes under the road through a culvert. Bridge Street derived its name from another ford bridging the stream which runs under Mayfair Road and Croker’s Way                                 to come out into Tremlett Grove through a pipe before joining up with the River Creedy.

Recently several people on Spotted Ipplepen were highlighting wells that they had in their gardens. During the Second World War the parish council were detailed to provide a record of the wells that existed in the village just in case there were any threats to the water supply. According to the 1942 document there were wells at Mountfield, Barnpark, Blackstone Road, Rosemount, the Priory, the Grange, North End farm, the Old Forge, Parkhill, Croft Road, the Old Grange, Appletrees and of course the Pump in Fore Street. Maybe some of you know of more.

Photographic Archive

We have spent some of the lockdown period updating the photographic archive. Many of these are shared on social media and will be familiar to you but some of the photographs from the 1948 Carnival provide an excellent slice of social history. You can enjoy these photos at any time on www.ipplepenlocalhistory.org.uk