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As
well as being a destination for Forest coal, the North Devon coast was
visited by Foresters who travelled by train and boat.. The photo shows
a party of Foresters from Bream arriving at Ilfracombe around 1930. The
boy with the suitcase bottom right is Harold Henry (John) Davis. To his
left his aunt Maude Jeffery (nee Batten) - who married an Ifracombe man
Bertie Jeffery, next left is his mother Caroline Davis (nee Batten),
the man to next to her in the dark hat is Thomas Batten. They would have
travelled by train from Whitecroft station to Sharpness Docks. Other
trains from Birmingham would connect with the sailings. The trains would
also connect with the return sailings. The passengers would have set
sail from Sharpness Docks on a P. and A. Campbell vessel, usually their
flagship vessel the paddle steamer Brittania. The Brittania one of 12
vessels in the fleet and was fast enough to make the return journey in
a day.
Vickery the Ilfracombe photographers would be ready to photograph passengers
as they disembarked and have the photos ready before the return journey set sail.
The puffer steamer the Snowflake under captain Irwin transported Forest coal
weekly from Lydney to Ilfracombe. She was wrecked once on rocks near Ifracombe
but she was salvaged and continued her service for several more years. The
coal was supplied to the Ilfracombe Coal and Salvage Company who sold the coal
to their customers as "Best Lydney". The coal was unloaded onto a Quay (The
Cove) which is now a car park
The photo shows The Cove at Ilfracombe.
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