On This Day in Wembury — January 15, 1874
An announcement in the Western Daily Mercury invited buyers to a timber auction on the Spriddlestone Estate, which lies across the parishes of Wembury and Brixton.
Messrs Andrew and Son advertised oak, elm and ash trees of fine quality, many of them large and straight and said to be well suited for shipwrights, wheelwrights, and carpenters.
The notice described the timber as suitable for naval purposes, with the advantage of lying close to the navigable River Yealm so that it could be shipped at little expense.
Buyers were told they could view the lots at Spriddlestone House before the sale at the Fox Hounds Inn in Brixton.
It was a glimpse of a time when the timber of Wembury and its neighbouring communities still helped to build the ships of Devon.
Source: Western Daily Mercury, 15 January 1874.
