Branscombe Project © 2009-2012
Welcome to the Branscombe Project
The Branscombe Project began nearly nineteen years ago. A group of people, some of whom had lived all their lives in Branscombe, others relative newcomers, decided they wanted to find out more about their village and the wider landscape.
The time-span is anywhere from prehistoric times to the present, and the idea is to explore changing landscapes, changing lives, historical materials, and living memories.
We have taped over a hundred interviews, dug in the archives and in the ground, and walked the landscape. People have lent us photographs, documents, postcards and objects.
We put on annual exhibitions, winter talks, documentary dramas and ‘disappeared houses’ walks. We have covered topics as diverse as Branscombe Ghosts, Maps, Farming, Cliff Plats, Orchards, Shops & Trades, the Churchyard, Lace Making, Smuggling, Outside Loos, Road History, School History, Hedgerow Dating, Archaeological Excavation & Field-walking, House & Family Histories, Gardens, the Blackshirts, and the wreck of the Napoli.
Our events and activities are open to all - there is no subscription and no membership list.
We want to make as much of our work available on this website as possible. It will take time. We hope you’ll enjoy what’s here and find it useful.
Contact us at:
contacts@branscombeproject.org.uk
The Steamship ‘Ballarat’ bound for Australia one hundred years ago
The Branscombe Diaspora
Your help needed
Your help needed
If you know of anyone who left Branscombe to live in another country in the past, please contact us by email and we will add your stories to our website.
Read what we know so far here ...
Read what we know so far here ...
Archived Material
Click here to view index
Click here to view index
Update on the WW1 Pewter Mugs
Alan Rockey has sent an update on the mugs.
We are extremely grateful to Frank Haslam of Reading who has very generously returned the mug of Charles Clarke to Branscombe for safe keeping.
Charles Clarke was born 1879 in Stockland Devon, His uncle Charles Clarke we believe was the inn keeper at the Masons Arms, and in the 1901 census he had passed away and his wife Mary Clarke was the Inn keeper with Charles Clarke her nephew mentioned as the assistant inn keeper. In the 1930's he took over as inn keeper when his aunt died. He died in Colyton in 1965.
Frank also was a publican running two pubs in Reading and Arborfield. He was given the mug by his cellar man who purchased it from a secondhand shop for 50p.
The mug was to be found hanging over the bar and was the focus of much discussion as to what its history. Frank even paid a visit to the Masons Arms to try and find out some information about Charles Clarke and the mug, but to no avail.
I would like to say a very big and public thank you to Frank and his daughter for receiving me in their home at Reading and for their generosity in returning the mug to Branscombe.
We now have a record of 16 mugs in existence and know of a further 3 that have disappeared. If anyone has any information on any more mugs please do contact the web site.
We are also still trying to find out how many mugs were issued and who gave them to the war veterans.
We are extremely grateful to Frank Haslam of Reading who has very generously returned the mug of Charles Clarke to Branscombe for safe keeping.
Charles Clarke was born 1879 in Stockland Devon, His uncle Charles Clarke we believe was the inn keeper at the Masons Arms, and in the 1901 census he had passed away and his wife Mary Clarke was the Inn keeper with Charles Clarke her nephew mentioned as the assistant inn keeper. In the 1930's he took over as inn keeper when his aunt died. He died in Colyton in 1965.
Frank also was a publican running two pubs in Reading and Arborfield. He was given the mug by his cellar man who purchased it from a secondhand shop for 50p.
The mug was to be found hanging over the bar and was the focus of much discussion as to what its history. Frank even paid a visit to the Masons Arms to try and find out some information about Charles Clarke and the mug, but to no avail.
I would like to say a very big and public thank you to Frank and his daughter for receiving me in their home at Reading and for their generosity in returning the mug to Branscombe.
We now have a record of 16 mugs in existence and know of a further 3 that have disappeared. If anyone has any information on any more mugs please do contact the web site.
We are also still trying to find out how many mugs were issued and who gave them to the war veterans.
(To read more about these mugs click here)