Creekside Warfleet Dartmouth Devon TQ6 9BZ

Tel: 01803-833881

9/28/2004

Mrs G. E. Jewell

27, Brierley Green

Netherfield

Nottingham RFVavasour

Notts NG4 2PP 28/07/00

Dear Mrs Jewell,

Vavasour Slip.

Your letter to Dartmouth Council has been passed to me to answer as I am a local historian. I am sorry to be so long in replying, but I have been away on holiday for a month.

I had a similar query from another lady, and enclose a copy of the letter which I wrote to her in 1997 along with copies of two memorial inscriptions in Dartmouth churches and a summary of the will of Henry Vavasour. The name is often spelt Vavasor, without the “u”. .

The first mention of the name is an entry in St. Petrox parish register of the marriage of Mr. Roger Vavester to Mrs Elizabeth Lane on 25/10/1688. It seems most likely that this is a mis-spelling of Vavasour, as Roger Vavasour married Elizabeth Lane. There is also a will of Roger Vavasour dated 23/2/1694. He leaves his wife Elizabeth £700 and her dwelling house at Hardness - this is the part of Dartmouth where Vavasour Slip now is. It was then, and had been for at least two hundred years, the site where ships were built, and a “slip” implies the place where ships were slid into the river. Roger’s will leaves £700 to his daughter, some small amounts to his (Roger’s) brother Richard, sister Elizabeth Pardue, and his nephew Charles Vavasour, while the rest of his estate goes to his son Henry. Henry’s will leaves shares in two ships, which he clearly then owned. This would explain the name of Vavasour Slip, as they were usually called after whoever owned the yard at the top. Henry died aged 36 and unmarried in 1727; after him there were no more Vavasours in Dartmouth so the family only lasted for two generations but the name survived in the slip.

A friend who is interested in family history tried to trace other Vavasours and found a Richard Vavasour (possibly brother of Roger, or his son) who was mayor of Totnes in 1738 and 1745. If you would like more information about other branches of the family I suggest you write to her: Mrs Joan Peel, Spring Cottage, Pershore Road, Lt. Comberton, Worcs., WR10 3EW.

Our Dartmouth History Research Group has recently published a booklet, price £3, called “The Torbay Paint Company” which describes how a Brixham paint firm bought an old stone building at Vavasour Slip in 1874 to use as a paint factory. There are three photos of the buildings on the site between then and 1929., when they were sold by the paint company. At the end in a post script there is an account of what happened between 1929 and 1981 when a block of 12 flats was built on the site, called Vavasour House. Most of the booklet is about Brixham, but if you would like a copy please send me a cheque for £3 + £1 for postage and I will send you one.

With good wishes,

Yours sincerely,

(Mrs Ray Freeman.)