The Wayside Tea Rooms and steps to the Maritime Inn, plus the hire boat building at the end of King's Quay.
During the war there were many ‘tip and run’ raids by German bombers over Brixham, with the planes skimming in over Berry Head so suddenly that there was no time for an air raid warning to sound. "We went outside to sit on the wall above Brixham Harbour. We heard the planes but there was no air raid warning so we thought they were British. No such luck! As we watched, we saw the bombs leave the plane and we all dashed indoors. As many as possible squeezed into the cupboard under the stairs - I couldn't as I suffered from asthma. We had all our windows out and a ceiling came down as well as damage to our roof. There was a new bungalow a couple of streets away and it was demolished." (unknown resident – Courtesy of Plymouth Library Services) 62 year old fisherman, Garnet Tucker, was killed working on his fishing boat out in the harbour. Near the breakwater.
A house in Fore Street was struck by a time bomb, killing the Preston family, consisting of the 74 year old Grandmother, Ellen Preston, and her daughter, also Ellen, and her son Frank.
14 year-old Geoffrey Hill, who was a child fire-watcher and a member of St John’s Ambulance, whose first day at work it was, tried to get to the Preston family to help when the bomb exploded and killed him also.
There are some references to time bombs falling on Middle Street as well but if there were fatalities, the names of those killed have not yet been discovered.
Comments
The Black House wall was coated in tar. Our cottage on Overgang had a tar coated wall which kept most of the damp out.
This used to be my favourite bit of Brixham as a kid, walking down the steps and stopping halfway down to sit on the seat in the alcove and enjoy the amazing view across the harbour.
Oh gosh! I was always holding my Grandfather’s hand walking down those steps.
My grandmother is on the right, Angele Tahon, and her friend, sitting on a sea mine, somewhere in Brixham during WW2. I think they were 12 or 14 years of age at that time. She came over from Belgium with her Father’s boat, escaping the war. Her father owned a fishing boat (O.314 Oscar-Angele). The picture of the boat is here. And a picture of them standing at the bottom of King Steps.
Audio
Narrations of memories from King Steps
Interesting to see the steps in their original position. Re-routed when that building was demolished. I think where the original wall was blocked up is visible in different masonry.