How to Contact Us
For general enquiries, please email us by clicking this link.
To order a DHRG book in hardcopy, please visit our book ordering page.
Our meetings normally take place monthly at 10:00am on the first Monday of the month at
Townstal Baptist Church Hall
Carey Road
Dartmouth
TQ6 9LT
There is a bus stop at Carey Road served by the number 90 bus from the middle of Dartmouth to Townstal.
DHRG on Facebook
Come and see us at the Dartmouth Book Festival, at the Flavel Church! We are very pleased to be participating for the second time. There will be three "Ten Minute Talks" about aspects of our local history, based on our publications, and members will be available to answer any questions you have about researching local history. You will also be able to buy our books. We look forward to meeting new friends and seeing old friends again! ![]()
#dartmouth #localhistory #dartmouthbookfestival #flavel #exploredartmouth
If you're in Dartmouth for Regatta Week, why not try our new free "Explorers Trail", and discover a thousand years of history? To access the trail by smartphone, scan the QR code on one of our cards, or on the bookmarks enclosed in our leaflets. You can find them in the Dartmouth Visitor Centre, Dartmouth Library, or lots of other places round town. Or, click on this link:![]()
www.dartmouth-history.org.uk/explorers-trail![]()
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#dartmouth #localhistory #exploredartmouth
80 years ago, as Dartmouth celebrated VJ Day on 15 August 1945, the town “became gay with bunting and merry peals were rung on the bells of St Saviour’s Church. Ships in the harbour sounded their sirens and while the children carried Union Jacks their elders wore red, white and blue favours. The Borough Band played in the Royal Avenue Gardens and the streets were thronged with people. The Mayor, with members and officials of the Corporation, attended a thanksgiving service in the afternoon conducted by the ministers of the town at the bandstand in the Gardens. There was alfresco dancing at night. Many streets staged their own celebrations with tea and entertainments for the children.” (Western Morning News)![]()
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More thanksgiving services were held the following Sunday in the town’s churches. In six long years of war, Dartmouth had played its part, and many had paid a heavy price, both in Dartmouth itself, and in land, sea and air in many other parts of the world. Our picture shows the names of the service and civilian dead added to the Town War Memorial in 1947. For their full details, see the Roll of Honour in our book “When War Came to the Dart”.![]()
#localhistory #dartmouth #VJDay
Come and see us in Dartmouth Library on Friday 11 July 2025, from 10am to 12 noon.![]()
Bring your questions about the rich history of Dartmouth and the surrounding area, or about how to look into your family or house history, and we’ll do our best to answer them! We look forward to meeting you! A big thank you to Dartmouth Library for hosting us.![]()
#localhistory #dartmouthlibrary #exploredartmouth![]()
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Our picture shows some advertisements from the official Illustrated Guide to Dartmouth from about a century ago, published by Cranford & Sons, price 6d. In the 1920s tourism and leisure were already becoming increasingly important to the town, as we can see from the Guide.
100 years ago this week (June 1925) Dartmouth Town Council finally agreed to build new houses in Avery’s Meadow, a field on the south side of Victoria Road at the sharp bend. Four houses were built to start with, then ten more. After receiving tenders from building firms, the Council decided to employ direct labour to reduce costs. Eventually 26 houses were built.![]()
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The Council had rented Avery’s Meadow in early 1918 for allotments for wartime food production, with an option to purchase for new housing development. ![]()
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Between 1919-1924, three housing acts were brought in by successive governments – the coalition under Lloyd George, the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin and the first Labour government under Ramsey MacDonald. ![]()
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As each tried to get more houses built, frequent changes in central government policy caused delays, as did local political arguments – Labour councillors wanted to build houses for rent, Conservatives favoured helping people to buy. Post-war inflation tripled building costs. Even with central government subsidies and increased rates, it was difficult to build new houses at a price working people could afford, whether buying or renting. So progress in meeting Dartmouth’s needs for new housing was slow.![]()
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There's more on housing and health in Dartmouth in the 1920s in the article by Jonathan Turner in the current edition of By The Dart.![]()
#localhistory #Dartmouth #bythedart