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| The old papermill at Tuckenhay |
There are a few theories about how Tuckenhay got its name.
The most prosaic is that it's named after Joshia Tucker who built the quays
here in 1806. A more poetic version is that it comes from the process of
'tucking hay', or tucking textiles. Little over a century ago, this tranquil
place was a bustling centre of industrial activity where lime, corn, malt,
rope, cider and road-building materials (no doubt for metalling roads)
would be loaded on to merchant ships. Among the cargo would be paper made by
Millbourn's paper mill, whose imposing and rather beautiful building still dominates
the village, though nowadays it provides holiday accommodation rather than
paper.
At the mill, high quality paper and parchment was produced,
much of it by hand, from rag pulp. This superior quality paper was used for
legal deeds, cheques and banknotes for Jamaica and Cyprus. At one time the mill
employed a hundred people, including the skilled papermakers for whom our
holiday cottage (and the rest of the little terrace of houses) was originally built
in 1900; (a further two houses were added to the terrace after the First World
War.) Papermaking was a highly skilled certified craft and papermakers from
North Wales and from Kent moved to take up residence and employment in Tuckenhay.
It's claimed that the proclamation for the Coronation of Queen
Elizabeth II was read from paper produced at Tuckenhay. Yet, despite its proud heritage
of quality production and skilled craftsmanship, the mill eventually closed in
1970. The elderly lady who was our neighbour
for a week told me she grew up in Tuckenhay and her family had worked at the paper
mill. She had moved away when she married, and then moved back here again to care
for her parents as they grew older. Now she and her husband remain in the shade
of the mill, "rooted" (in the words of WB Yeats) "in one dear,
perpetual place", while transient holidaymakers like us come and go.
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| The Maltsters Arms |
Apart from being, officially, an Area of Outstanding Beauty
in its own right Tuckenhay - with its proximity to the lovely towns of Totnes
and Dartmouth and to Agatha Christie's former home of Greenway (now a National
Trust property) - is a perfect centre for a peaceful holiday. And if you want to
go easy on your exhaust pipe, and enjoy some real ale, there are not one but
two excellent riverside pubs within easy walking distance. Our favourite was The Maltsters Arms, an 18th century inn that is as popular now with holidaymakers as
it must have been with all those 19th century paper mill workers.
Most evenings we would walk to The Maltsters and enjoy being
in the riverside beer garden drinking local Otter Ale. But other people would
arrive in canoes or sailing boats and, one evening, we watched as a little boy came
alongside the pub in a kayak and joined a school-friend at the table next to
us.
"Where's your mum?"
asked the mother of the boy's friend.
"Oh, she's following along
in a bit," he explained.
And sure enough, his mum turned up a few minutes later on a
paddle-board. Just imagine having a mum who follows you to the pub on her
paddle-board. It left me pondering how different life might have been if we had
brought up our family in an area like this: our children would probably have grown
up to be confident in the outdoors and on the water, my wife could have been an
enthusiastic paddle-boarder instead of an irrepressible cyclist and I ...well,
I would be a happy pub-goer, impoverished by constantly having to replace my
car's exhaust pipe.
