A new entrance to Dartmouth

Many of our readers will know Ray Bridges from his fantastic work in fighting for the Flavel Arts Center, and his role of Trustee within the team, Chaired by Sir Geoffrey Newman, that built Dartmouth’s Indoor Swimming Pool (not physically of course), amongst many other things. Well Ray has now asked me to poll our readers to get some feedback on what the community would like to see sited on the new roundabout just created at the entrance to the new Baker Estates Little Cotton Farm site. I agree with his view that this will now be the new grand entrance to the town and it might be appropriate to display something which shows visitors they are just arriving at a vibrant, beautiful and historic town.

We are all familiar with the Newcomen monument sited on the Leisure Center roundabout at the top of town, which used to be the introduction to Dartmouth, but now visitors will view the new island before they get to this one. So the question for Dartmouth’s community is what would you like to see sited on the new island if anything?

If you have any ideas on what you would like to see there please post a comment on this article on the website.

Some ideas!

  • Move the Newcomen Monument there,
  • Create a new Naval themed sculpture,
  • Modern abstract steel sculpture to bring the towns image up to date (see below)

I have been informed that I should provide more information about the role played by others in the Indoor Swimming Pool. This information from my good friend Brian Boughton:-

“The Dartmouth Indoor Swimming Pool was started by the swimming pool group of the MCTI which I chaired
And it carried out the feasibility studies with Karen Lupson at Plymouth University, the various business plans and  £2.2m fundraising
The Trust was set up by myself and paid for by my wife Elizabeth, and was brilliantly chaired by Sir Geoffrey Newman who was responsible for most of the pool construction
The political support and money from Dartmouth Town Council came from the late Francis Hawke, and on  South Hams Council it came from Hilary Bastone and Jonathon Hawkins, without whom the pool would never have been built
In addition, hundreds of Dartmouth residents played a role in building the pool and its stands as a testament to people like the late Elizabeth Cooper who conceived and sold Happy Family packs of playing cards to raise money for it”

Brian Boughton

8 Comments

  1. Hi Paul

    I love the idea of the modern abstract sculpture if it ends up looking like that. I presume Mr Baker’s company would pay for and install it?

  2. Yes, move the Newcomen monument, provided this will be the first roundabout as you enter Dartmouth. Is it possible that another will be constructed at the junction with Venn Lane.
    Suitable planting and signage so that the view of the monument is not partially obstructed as it is now.

  3. I really like that sculpture. Something like that would be good but it would need to be a substantial size to be effective.

  4. Why not ask the students of Dartmouth Academy to submit sculpture designs. The top 3 could be picked by Ray Bridges then the town get to vote for their favourite from those 3. The local gardeners could then plan a yearly planting scheme to go around the sculpture. It will help future generations know they are part of this town and it would definitely look amazing on one lucky student’s CV.

  5. I think the ‘sails’ would provide a dramatic and appropriate entrance to the town, also like the excellent idea of asking Academy students for designs A small redundant fishing boat might be a cheap alternative, but would have to be made vandal proof and maintained,. It’s hard enough to find volunteers to care for similar town assets without adding more!

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