Taw-Torridge Estuary
(Braunton Burrows - Northam Burrows - Appledore - Bideford - Barnstaple)
Books on this page explore the wildlife and evolutionary history of Braunton Burrows and Northam Burrows as well as the history of Appledore, Bideford and Barnstaple.
| Here is an excellent series of wildlife and nature guidebooks. They impress by their clarity - bold maps - and clear directions - as well as by the highly informative text, pleasant drawings and dramatic photographs. There is also a refreshing element of challenge to the reader. A delightful series, full of variety". (Interpretation Journal) |
Braunton Burrows
BRAUNTON BURROWS ECOLOGY TRAIL Janet Keene
ISBN 978-0-948444-30-2 Thematic Trails 1996. A5.
47 pages. 30 illust. £2.95
A combined reference book and trail designed for visitors seeking serious
explanation of this large unique dune environment which is now an International
Biosphere Reserve. The circular walk through this important sand dune system
includes a transect from the beach, through the fore-dunes, slacks, parabolic
dunes, grassland and woodland.
WILD
FLOWERS OF BRAUNTON BURROWS Mary Breeds 2004
48 pages, 210 mm X 210 mm. Over 140 colour photos of plants and Burrows
landscapes.£3.95
Braunton Burrows is one of the largest expanses of sand dunes in Britain.
This book is both an introduction to, and a celebration of, the unique rich
variety of plants that grow there. It is paradise for botanists because
of the great diversity of species and the rarity of many of them. It is
a pleasure to walk through these dunes, booklet in hand, to discover flowers
and plants that you have never seen before. This admirably illustrated book
neatly complements the exploration of the dunes set out in Janet Keene’s
Braunton Burrows Ecology Trail, see above.
| Locally you can buy Braunton Burrows Ecology
& The Cliffs of Saunton at: Braunton Tourist Information Centre, The Bakehouse Centre, Braunton, North Devon. EX33 1AA T: 01271-816700 and at Barnstaple Tourist Information Centre, The Square, Barnstaple Ex 32 8LN T: 01271 – 375000. |
Northam Burrows
NORTHAM
BURROWS, estuary environments by Janet and Peter Keene
ISBN 978-0-948444-33-3 Thematic Trails 1997. A5.
48 pages. 30 illust. £2.95
A three-mile circular walk examines a mosaic of estuary habitats including
pebble ridge, sand dunes, salt marsh and burrows pasture lands. The approach
stresses the interrelationships between ecology, landscape, coastal defence
and coastal management.
NORTHAM BURROWS, a decision-making exercise
by Peter Jollands.
Thematic Trails 1997. A5. 12 pages.
This booklet, designed for tutor use with the above trail, examines management
problems associated with Northam Burrows and includes an appropriate exercise
for visiting students. Free, on request, with any purchase
or 10p via PayPal.
NORTHAM BURROWS, a mixture of memories and facts
by Philip Waters ISBN 978-1-895546-76-4 North
Devon Museum Trust. Appledore. £4
A5. 64 pages, 29 illustrations.
Northam Burrows including chapters on the Lords of the Manor, golf, freehold,
grazing, horse-riding, sea defences, potwallopers, salt water inundation.
This history is interspersed with the memories of Philip Waters, a local
resident of long-standing.
WESTWARD
HO! ECOLOGY TRAIL: beach sand-dune, salt marsh Janet Keene
ISBN 978-0-948444-02-9 Thematic Trails 1985. A5.
33 pages. 38 illustrations. £1.50
The circular route includes the slipway, beach, clay beds, pebble ridge,
sand-dunes, Greysands, the Skern, salt marsh and mud flats; returning to
Westward Ho! via Northam Burrows. The trail is suitable for both holiday
and school orientated use. It uses a question and answer approach with panels
for notes so may be regarded as an expendable booklet but it also lends
itself to multiple duplication. In a later Thematic Trails booklet, Northam
Burrows, estuary environments, the same author examines a wider a range
of issues of concern in this estuary landscape.
A FIELD GUIDE TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE TAW AND TORRIDGE
ESTUARIES Chris Preece
ISBN 978-1-898546-98-3 Edward Gaskell 2008. A5
48 pages. 29 figures. £4.99
An introduction to some 44 archaeological sites of interest in the Taw-Torridge
estuary, all usefully located on a clear centre-page map which also shows
their relationship to both the Tarka Trail and the South West Coastal Path.
The booklet describes, chronologically, an array of sites, beginning with
the Late Mesolithic midden site on Westward Ho! beach, passing through post-medieval
fish weirs on the Taw and onto wrecks and hulks of more modern times, ending
with tantalising relicts of the Second World War.
Appledore
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF APPLEDORE 1 David Carter
(2000) ISBN 978-0-9538524-0-7 17cm X 24cm 200
pages, 300 photos. £12.50
This admirably detailed liberally-illustrated book presents a strictly chronological
history of the shipbuilding and seafaring village of Appledore. Browsing
through the opening set of fascinating ‘then and now’ photographs, each
pair about a hundred years apart, one is struck by how little the physical
fabric of the village has changed. The lives of the people themselves over
the same period is a very different story. The last quarter of the book
picks up this human story by focussing on the history of one family, the
Slades, probably the most famous of Appledore’s seafaring families.
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF APPLEDORE 2, Its life and
people David Carter
ISBN 978-0-9538524-1-3 David Carter (2009). 17cm x 24cm 246 pages,
400 photos. £13.90
After some 20 pages sketching the early history of Appledore, the rest of
the book describes itself as a ‘guided tour’. It could perhaps be better
described as a ‘village companion’, for the geographical tour provides a
framework to introduce the evolution of the village and its people including
many anecdotes and stories so that, in the company of David Carter, we get
a real sense of time and place. This guided tour is so comprehensive that
to read the 200 pages whilst walking is quite taxing. Better perhaps to
curl up on the sofa and read this fascinating book and then, if you visit
the village, to follow the route with the 8 page Heritage Trail (below)
which will trigger recollections of fuller accounts in the book.
APPLEDORE HERITAGE TRAIL David Carter (2009)
£1.00
8 page (A5) booklet introducing twenty-six places of interest to visit in
Appledore. Text by David Carter. Twenty six illustrations, including a map
of the route, by Bill Wright.
APPLEDORE, handmaid of the sea John Beara
ISBN 978-0-9509110-1-4 North Devon Museum Trust
1976. £2.95
A5.152 pages. 2 illustrations.
The background to the modern history of Appledore is outlined accurately
and clearly.
SALMON NETTING IN NORTH DEVON Alison Grant
and Philip Waters
ISBN 978-0-9504018-6-7 North Devon Museum Trust
1998. £5.95
A5. 91 pages. 54 illustrations.
A comprehensive history 'through fair weather and foul, good times and bad'.
Details include the construction of the traditional Appledore salmon boat.
HMS WEAZEL 1782 – 1799 Bob and Ann Brock
ISBN 978-0-9504018-7-4 North Devon Museum Trust.
Appledore. £4.95
The story of HMS Weazel from construction in 1782 to the time when, as a
Royal Navy brig, she was sent to North Devon to protect the coast against
pirates and was lost, with all hands, in a hurricane off Baggy Point in
February 1799.
Bideford
EXPLORING
BIDEFORD Peter Christie.
ISBN 978-0-948444-31-9 Thematic Trails 2000. A5.
48 pages. 25 Illust. £2.95
Bideford, like many medieval market towns has, until recent times, changed
and expanded relatively slowly. As a result, much of the structure of the
town, its plan or lay-out and its buildings, have been preserved even when
the function of those buildings has changed. One of the pleasures of exploring
an old-established market town and port such as Bideford, is the recognition
of features of the town which have been inherited from a very different
past.
GRENVILLE Alison Grant.
ISBN 978-0-9504018-3-6 North Devon Museum Trust
1991.
A5. 78 pages. 23 illustrations. £4.95
This is a study of Richard Grenville, mayor of Bideford, his life, death,
character and reputation. The booklet describes his voyages including, Puerto
Rico and Virginia (1585), and Newfoundland (1586).
Barnstaple
EXPLORING BARNSTAPLE (2nd edition) John Bradbeer.
ISBN 978-0-948444-42-5 Thematic Trails 2002. A5.
40 pages. 35 illust. £2.95
There is no better way to get a feel for the history of Barnstaple than
to walk its streets and explore its hidden by-ways with an expert who has
researched the history of the town and who cleverly responds within the
text to the questions which inquisitive visitors inevitably ask.
| Locally you can buy most North Devon Thematic
Trails at: Bideford: Walter Henry’s Bookshop, 12 High Street. Bideford. EX39 2AE T: 01237 – 425727 Bideford: Burton Art Gallery, Museum & Tourist Information Centre Kingsley Rd, Bideford,EX39 2QQ T: 01237 - 471455 Northam Burrows Visitor Centre, Northam Burrows Country Park, Northam, Bideford EX39 1LY T: 01237-479708 Barnstaple Tourist Information Centre, The Square, Barnstaple EX32 8LN T: 01271 - 375000. Morthoe Heritage Centre, Cart Linhay. Morthoe Woolacombe. EX34 7DQ |