Newsletter - Issue 33

The Waterside Publican & The Parrot

A short story

Old Waterside Inns, sailors home from the sea with the parrots on their shoulders and a few travellers' tales to tell, only the memories of these now linger around Saltash Waterside. There have been a few travellers' tales told in the three ancient inns which survive since the days when Sir Francis Drake used to cross the river here and climb Culver Road to court Mary Newman, or so the tale tells. No one can believe all the tales...

There are still boats a plenty but of the pleasure sort and sailors are the weekend kind - still spinning tales though. And there is still a parrot, but not a live one, on the wall of the 'Union Inn' that pub with the flag on it. There's a tale to tell of him too.

A few years back, not so many, the landlord of the 'Union' had a parrot, his pride and joy, until one regatta day a cannon fires off outside and he fell off his perch never to rise again. A deceased parrot, it had gone to meet its maker as John Cleese might have put it.

Then a while later one learned town councillor running down the state of the Waterside said 'It's never been the same since the parrot died'. Well our present landlord and his wife decided to put the parrot up, and there he stands to this very day.

But mine is a tale of long back when the Brunel railway bridge was new, a tale of a parrot that Isaiah Trebilcock, landlord of the 'Union' had brought back from his long days at sea. Long before television, before the wireless even, folk would come from all over Waterside, yes even from up-along, to hear old Poll talk away on the affairs of Saltash and of the world. Truth to tell nobody would have come to the 'Union' otherwise; Landlord Isaiah Trebilcock, unlike today's host, was not renowned for his wit or wisdom. 'Miserable' was one of the two words normally attached to him.

So when poor Poll died, the pub's takings died with her. So much so, that one bright Saltash morning Isaiah gazing despairingly across an empty bar called young Jim the potboy, over to him.

'Jim lad', he began (as did another renowned ex-seafarer) 'We needs a new selling attraction and we needs it fast. Now that Mr. Brunel's built that handsome new bridge you'm to take that newfangled railroad up to the port of Bristol.

You find one of they sailors home from the sea with a parrot on his shoulder and buy it off him. But mind you, not one that just says a few words, one that'll gab away proper till the cows come home, like our old Poll. Bring him back down along of we and here's five sovereigns for the parrot, and here's the train fare.'

Next morning, eyes agape, young Jim was crossing the bridge that Prince Albert had recently opened, then passing through Plymouth and speeding up to nigh on thirty miles an hour in a packed train. Then the train slowed down and the crowds started getting ready to alight.

'What's up?' asked Jim of a red faced, well whiskered old cove.

'Why 'tis Newton Abbot and 'tis race day', came the reply.

Well, Jim had always enjoyed fluttering the odd bob or two on a nag but had never yet seen a proper race. After all, he thought, I can always get a later train up Bristol way... That evening he had seen a few races, had a few beers and a few bets. The last train to Bristol had long gone as had Isaiah's five sovereigns. Shame faced he boarded the last train heading down Plymouth way. He had missed any connection to Saltash so walked out in the gathering gloom along the lane to St. Budeaux for the last ferry home.

Isaiah was sitting abjectly about to close his empty bar as Jim walked in.

'All right boy?' he greeted Jim. 'Where'm the parrot to, then?'

'Well', started Jim, 'I sort of got him and I sort of haven't' What do you mean by that?' exclaimed Isaiah. 'And where's my five pound if you sort of haven't'.

'Twas like this', explained Jim. 'I got to Bristol and found my way to the docks and 'twas just like you said governor. There were streets lined with these old inns, all these streets and inns was packed with sailors all hopping around with wooden legs, each with a parrot on his shoulder.

All I had to do was choose. One said 'Pretty Poll' another 'Who's a pretty boy then', but like you said governor, I wanted one that yapped away proper like.'

'At last in the oldest of they inns, sitting in a dark corner there was this old sailor with a long white beard and two wooden legs, fast asleep. But his parrot weren't sleeping. He said to me 'All right, boy' then he started yapping to me all about Bristol and about his travels around the world, all the folk he'd met. Proper marvel he were.

So I woke the old sailor up. Ten quid he wanted for his parrot. I beat him down to seven, that's two pounds you owes me.

'So where'm he to then?' Interrupted Isaiah.

'I'm coming to that, governor. So we took the last train back down Plymouth and I started talking to this parrot.

'Where'm we off to then?' asks this here bird.

'Why, Saltash'. I tells him.

'Saltash, Cornwall!' squawked the parrot. 'Isn't that where Isaiah Trebilcock keeps the Union Inn? I've heard tell of 'e back at sea. It's 'e that waits 'til his missis goes up the town, then 'e pulls down the shutters and sits on the bench with Bessie the barmaid, then 'e... ' 'Well governor, you can imagine I weren't having no more of that. So just as the train comes into Exeter I opens the window and throws him out.'

'Thank'ee boy' said old Isaiah. 'Thank'ee. You did a proper job.'

by Martin Lister

A Bit Of Old Stone

In an excavation in Southwark recently a small stone plaque about 1 foot square was discovered.
Just another bit of carved stone, interesting, but no more.
However on inspection the inscription has caused considerable excitement amongst archaeologists. The style of the carving and the level at which the plaque was found date it to the first or second century AD.

NVM AVOG To the Powers of the Emperors

DEO MARTI CAMULO And to the God Mars Camulus

TIBERINIUS CELERIANUS Tiberinius Celerianus

C(ivis) BELL(ovacus) A citizen of the Bellovaci

MORITIX Moritix (= an unknown title)

LONDINIENSIUM Of the Londoners ...

... (Pri)MUS... .

AUGG -the double G usually indicates a plural - which two emperors?
Mars Camulus - a quite usual combination of Roman and Celtic gods.
Bellovaci - this was a tribe in northern Gaul.
Moritix - possibly a sea captain or head of a guild.
Londiniensium - not Londinensium as has been argued in the past.
Unusually London is not described as either a Civitas or a Vicus so was not a chartered town, which seems to confirm that it was probably an imperial domain. The Londoners could not, as was normal, claim citizenship of their home town and continued as citizens of their place of birth.
So, as has been suspected, London was different even in Roman times.

A small piece of stone 1 foot square has now added considerably to our knowledge of the organisation of Roman Britain.

What, you may ask, has this to do with us?
This small plaque was discarded or lost as just a piece of rubbish. How often has this happened here in Saltash?
When the old North Road School was destroyed by fire the inscribed foundation stone was set aside to be kept until a suitable place could be found for its safekeeping. What happened to it? Was it just destroyed when the tunnel was dug or did someone take it as a fine piece of limestone to decorate their garden? Does it matter? Who knows?
When the Roman plaque was lost, its importance 2000 years in the future could not have been imagined. The North Road stone is probably the only artifact from a school built in 1872 here in Saltash that could last for 2000 years. Important? Who knows?

Ursula M. Davey

'Our Rural Past' Exhibition CD-ROM

During a visit to the Museum in the summer of 2002, I got talking to Ursula Davies who was one of the stewards that afternoon, and she said that it was a pity that there wasn't much of a pictorial record of the 2001 exhibition 'World War 2 - The Home Front' other than a few photographs that people had taken. She also showed me some of the multimedia CD-ROMs kept in the museum for school parties and younger visitors to, under supervision, on the downstairs computer. I then started wondering whether a similar sort of thing could be done for the 'Our Rural Past' exhibition. I had recently purchased a digital camera, so I made a start photographing some of the pictures on the display boards. I then used a multimedia presentation computer program to link the photographs, captions etc. together to make a virtual 'walk-around' of the inside of the museum. Once I had put a few of these together and was fairly happy with the result, I then continued photographing all the remaining pictures and individual items that made up the exhibition in order to put the whole thing together onto a CD.

The CD starts with a title page, from which is shown a picture of the outside of the museum. You can then 'walk' through the door into the exhibition. Each of the individual display panels and cabinets are shown, and when you move the mouse cursor over a particular area of the screen, a brief caption about the item or picture is displayed. By clicking on the item, a full screen view with full details is shown.

The presentation will be useful in several ways: as a record for Saltash Heritage to show what made up the exhibition; for people who didn't get to see the exhibition; and as an educational aid.

Kevin Hale

Saltash Heritage, 17 Lower Fore Street, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6JQ --- Tel: 01752 848466 --- Email: info@saltash-heritage.org.uk --- Registered Charity No. 297525

NVM AVOG	To the Powers of the Emperors
DEO MARTI CAMULO	And to the God Mars Camulus
TIBERINIUS CELERIANUS	Tiberinius Celerianus
C(ivis) BELL(ovacus)	A citizen of the Bellovaci
MORITIX	Moritix (= an unknown title)
LONDINIENSIUM	Of the Londoners ...
... (Pri)MUS... .