Langdon boathouse

In the census of 1881 it is recorded that James Hockaday, 32, a boatman, and his wife Harriet, 33, with a son, Raymond, 1 year old, lived there. He would have been obliged to provide fresh fish and shellfish.for the squire’s table, probably selling whatever he could on the side! He would also have been required to row out on occasions to the Mewstone to catch rabbits for the squire’s table. He would probably have rowed others out for a small fee as well! Another part of his job would be to provide craft for pleasure for the Squire and his family, taking them on boat and fishing trips into the bay, sometimes even rowing them as far as Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo, or around to the beach at Bovisand.

This picture is from an 1885 painting by William Gibbons, showing the boathouse with the Mewstone brooding in the distance.

This photograph of the boat house from the field above was taken in the early 1900s. In the 1950s threshing machines were brought this field to thresh corn for Lewis Andrews of Langdon Barton. On particularly hot days, some of the men would go ‘skinny dipping’ in the sea during the lunch breaks to cool off! (there was not the number of casual visitors back then as there are now).

In the 1960s HMS Cambridge brought the slipway back into use, and extended it a few years later. The living accommodation used to go across top of the boathouse and was accessible by a flight of steps from the beach level.

The boathouse by this time was a roofless ruin but quite a good place for playing.