Events – 2026
All talks are held within the Woodway Room of the Town Hall
and commence at 7.30pm on a Friday unless otherwise indicated.
Admission to the talks will be £1.00 for members and
£4.00 for non-members. Complimentary tea, coffee and
biscuits will be provided after the talk.
January 2026 – No Meeting
6th February 2026
7.00 pm Annual General Meeting, followed by:
The Abbot’s Way across Dartmoor
A presentation by Nick Pannell about the route of this historic walk across Dartmoor from Buckfast Abbey to Tavistock, some of which may not be as shown on modern Ordnance Survey maps.
6th March 2026
Newtonia – the story of Newton Abbot’s Spitfire fundraising
A presentation by Peter Wade about local fundraising for aircraft during the early 1940s.
Historical Walks Our founding Chairman Alan Brunton is planning to produce a series of free local historical walks around Chudleigh that will be available from some outlets in Chudleigh and also on the History Group website. The first of these should be issued in March.
3rd April 2026
Jack Hill - an astonishing infantryman from Hennock
A presentation by Steve McCarthy. Jack Hill was born in Hennock in 1778, was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1796 and then had a career that included the Mediterranean, the Spanish peninsular campaign and then Waterloo. He is buried in Hennock alongside his brother who fought at Trafalgar.
17th April 2026
The Granite Lodge of Stover Park
A presentation by Professor Peter Brooks. This is a history of the Granite Lodge which is next to the A38 approaching Drumbridges and the people who lived in it.
1st May 2026
Early Bus Transport in Devon
A presentation by Bob Crawley. Chudleigh was on one of the first bus routes in Devon in the early 1920s and these services really made public transport accessible to most people for the first time.
5th June 2026
The area around Newton Abbot in Ancient Times
A presentation by Raphael Allnatt which gives an overview of the ancient archaeology and history of the area around Newton Abbot from the Bronze Age to 1100 – Bronze Age field systems, Iron Age hillforts, Roman villages and Norman castles.
July 2026
A group historical tour of Powderham Castle
Details to be advised.
August/September 2026
A group tour of the Stover Park estate
Details to be advised.
4th September 2026
Growing up in Chudleigh in the 1950s and 1960s
A presentation by Humphrey Walters with lots of local information and anecdotes.
October 2026 – No Meeting
6th November 2026
Exeter and the British Empire
A presentation by Todd Gray about the many ways in which the British Empire has had an impact on Exeter, and that Exeter has had on it.
December 2026 – No Meeting
Events from previous years
2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023 – 2024 – 2015