Dawlish Nub News reported earlier on the work done by a team of volunteers to maintain the Memorial Garden, and how much this was appreciated by local residents.

Here, we take a look at the history of this much-loved public space.

The site of the Memorial Garden, next to St Gregory's Church, was once occupied by two cottages. They are thought to have been owned by the wealthy Hoare family, who bought a large amount of land from the Church after it was put up for sale in around 1800. The cottages burned down in 1913 and the site fell into disuse.

After the end of the First World War and the creation of the Cenotaph in London, many towns and villages wanted their own memorials to honour their war dead.

A group of Dawlish residents began looking into a suitable site for a memorial and at one point considered Tucks Plot, but this was also used for fairground rides, so was not thought to be suitable.

By this time it seems that the site of the former cottages was owned by a Mr Herbert Holman, a London barrister who also owned Holcombe Down House as a holiday home, and who would have known the Hoare family.

His son Paul had been killed in the war and he was very keen to help the project to establish a memorial in Dawlish.

On June 9 1920 he officially gave the land to what was then the Urban District Council, for no cost, but with the proviso 'that the land be used for a public walk and the erection and maintenance of a memorial to those who died in the Great War 1914-1918'.

The war memorial was built by J Easton & Son of Northernhay Street, Exeter, and was officially unveiled on February 21, 1921.

The garden's more recent history

Over time, the garden surrounding the memorial became overgrown and neglected. But in 2014, with the centenary of the end of World War One approaching, Val Mawhood and a friend asked the town council for permission to restore it.

She was not a councillor at the time, but had already been involved in organising volunteers to plant daffodils in the Lawn and Manor Gardens, in a scheme initiated by Cllr Mary Lowther. Some of these volunteers became involved in the restoration of the Memorial Garden after the daffodil planting was completed.

The restoration team aimed to create a garden with year-round interest, that would be wildlife-friendly and as low-maintenance as possible, since it would be looked after by volunteers.

They had to work around the fact that some plants and shrubs they would have liked to grow, such as camellias and azaleas, would not flourish because of the alkalinity of the ground, due to lime mortar from the walls and from the cob and lime plaster from the demolished cottages.

However, they succeeded in creating a beautiful and tranquil public space, which is still cared for by a team of volunteers led by Cllr Mawhood.

The garden has been much appreciated by local residents during the Covid-19 crisis, as a peaceful place to enjoy nature, and it is once again serving the purpose Herbert Holman had in mind when he donated the land to the town.

Read more here Dawlish's Memorial Garden - a very special place