Rainy day in Modbury, Devon. March 21

We had our first totally rainy day today.

We started with our full English breakfast at the hotel and then set off to Plymton to try to do a laundry.  But, it was closed, not to open until later.  Bummer.  Then, we realized we had set off without our family records.  sigh.  So, back up the hill we went.  It should be noted that the Moorland Hotel is up in Dartmoor and quite a drive to get to.  So, back we went.  It was pouring. We stopped out of curiosity as we had been noticing lots of diggers in one of the fields.  We found out it is an archaeological dig of prehistoric sites.  There is a mine going in later so they were documenting the site before it gets destroyed.  It was hard work today, for sure.

With our data in hand, we drove to Modbury, the real ancestral home of the Whites.  We thought there was a historic society, but found it was a group of people who only meets monthly.  It seemed we might have hit a wall, but the postmistress suggested we check out a private foundation, the Rural Devon Archives at an estate called Shirlston.  And, then we were in luck.  After quite a harrowing drive down lanes that cannot possibly qualify as roads, we arrived to find quite a modern converted barn with archives.  And, it is only open on Tuesday and Thursday to the public, so we were in luck, as it isThursday. . 

We were helped to find microfiche of births etc in Modbury.  The microfiche reader was broken, so we struggled to move the fiche manually and focus it by finger pressure, which was challenging.  But, we found evidence taking Cal White's research back two, and maybe three more generations.  It was pretty exciting.  Mark got some nice photos of old photos and maps.  If we come back here we will check there more and try to get an address or two, maybe from a census.

 

Then, we drove back to Plymton, found the laundry, did a wash and had a nice little cafe, Grieg's,
 recommended.  We had homemade soup, which was appropriate for the miserable weather.  There is flooding in the area and another miserable day forecast for tomorrow.
Then, back to our hotel for thce last night, which feels quite sad, as it has been great here.  We are eating in our room from a few things we bought at Tesco's.