Springing from the ground in Fairy Dell, deep in the beacon hills of Pinhoe, Pin Brook meanders all the way through the village – weaving beneath the railway at the foot of Eastern Fields, through Station Park and Monkerton, under the motorway and along the side of Pinhoe Scout Hut, finally connecting with the River Clyst at Mosshayne
Pinhoe Forum and Wild Pinhoe are joining the Broadclyst Environment Group to take part in their Westcountry Rivers Trust citizen science project, monitoring Pin Brook and keeping an eye on its health and biodiversity.
Anyone can become a Guardian of Pin Brook – please get in touch with Kate or Jessica > mail@portfoliofive.co.uk
Following a lapse in planning permission after delays during Covid, Pinhoe Hub Trustees re-submitted their application to Exeter City Council Planning Committee.
The Hub application was approved Monday 12th June, 5.30pm
Exeter City Council has a new Planning Committee following May elections and Pinhoe’s recently-elected Labour Councillor Mollie Miller is a new appointment. Hub Trustee Cllr Duncan Wood has reverted from being Portfolio holder for Climate Change to Leisure Services and Physical Activity where he previously held the portfolio during development at St Sidwells award-winning leisure centre. Duncan is also Exeter City Council’s representative on the Devon Rail Forum which “Promotes the use of local rail services in the Exeter area and hinterland. Makes recommendations to operators of local train services and lobby (sic) them for improvements. Develops infrastructure projects at stations, to improve access and waiting facilities for all passengers.”
There is currently one objection regarding parking measures which are reduced from the current provisions (see below). The revised foot and cycle path will also be relocated 8.5m south of the existing path as the Hub eases into its larger footprint. Sport England do not consider it a significant encroachment onto the football pitch, which remains out of action following remedial drainage work.
It’s unclear from these drawings how the Hub café will be accessed from the Station platform, following the inclusion of this service in strategic planning by South Western Railways who have contributed to the funding of the project. Plans have not been updated to include energy efficiency measures, solar panels or heat pumps.
Full information is available from Exeter City Council planning: click here; we requested an update from the Hub Trustees June 2023 (new Trustee elections have not been made public)
Our warmest thanks to Susan Heywood Downard for sharing her family photos from Australia. We look forward to meeting Susan when she travels to Pinhoe during the summer
“My great grandfather, Augustus Ford worked for Miss Took at Petersfield in the late 1800’s. He was a very keen photographer and took a number of photographs around Pinhoe, including of the village and the house. I found Miss Took in the census of 1881. She left my great grandfather a pension in her will sufficient to enable him to buy a house in Exeter”
Harrington Cottage
Grant Harrison was able to locate the will in the local press >
Susan also shared a rare photo of Redhayes House (since destroyed by fire) which Marian Orton Cowling identifed: “Major Hext was brought up at Redhayes, his father owning the house. The Waldron’s had it built in Dutch Brick in the late 19th century.”
When East Devon District Council approached us about their series of history and wildlife events in Pinhoe last year, we were delighted to support their programme.
Working with the team at Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton and artist Emma Molony, their fantastic programme included talks about the history of Poltimore House, the Veitch family of plant hunters and their connections to Killerton, sound walks with musician Emma Welton, and an eye-opening wildlife walk along the lanes which connect Pinhoe to the new estates along Langaton Lane.
Moth Trap by Pinhoe Community Field, July 2022 / Routes for Roots
Thanks to some impressive lepidoptery by Simon Bates, here are some of moths identified on the summer morning wildlife walk along Langaton Lane >
Poplar Hawk MothSetaceous Hebrew Character Moth
Artist and film maker Léonie Harding made this extraordinary film about Pinhoe as an audio-visual exploration of our rapidly changing landscape > Continuous and All Around Us
In 1086, the Domesday Book noted Pinhoe’s 20 acres of meadows, 100 acres of pasture and 100 acres of woodland.
The network of hedgerows and hollow ways mark well travelled walking routes through the village. Oak trees in the tall Devon hedges lining these routes are likely descendants of the original oaks from Saxon times. According to renowned historical ecologist Oliver Rackham, some hedgerows are ‘older than almost any structure in England, apart from Stonehenge, and perhaps a 5th of hedgerows in the South of England have been undisturbed since Saxon times’.
Working with the team from East Devon District Council, we commissioned local illustrator Lucy Phillips to create drawings for our map connecting some of the important parts of Pinhoe’s history in a 3 mile walk from the centre to the top of the village.
