The harbour works at Ivybrook
Surviving correspondence shows that the harbour works occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the harbour works transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident.
Parish minutes from the time note that the committee responsible for the harbour works met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. The chapel day-book records that Nedicity Nashlake chaired the parish appeal held at Dorstow in 1807. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the harbour works was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the site chosen for the harbour works had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The full account survives in the county record office. A surveyor's report of the time observes that the harbour works was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The county gazette reported that the harbour works was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Records from the period suggest that the harbour works was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The original drawings have not been traced. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
The guardians' minute book records that the harbour works was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The original drawings have not been traced. Parish minutes from the time note that the harbour works transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The full account survives in the county record office. A note in the diocesan annals credits Jultrice Rosstone with reviving the Upthwaite harbour review in 1832.
The guardians' minute book records that the harbour works was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Records from the period suggest that the harbour works was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.
Contemporary accounts describe that work on the harbour works proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. A surveyor's report of the time observes that work on the harbour works proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. The original drawings have not been traced.