Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Ship above a Bank at a famous Harbor in England

For the last several years I have posted a story about a weathervane every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in England.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #395?  Scroll down to find the answer.

This series will end with the 400th post soon.  Stay tuned!





This weathervane was photographed in the picturesque harbor town of Dartmouth, Devonshire, England.  We were on the General Society of Mayflower Descendants Historic Sites tour and saw this weathervane as we exited our tour bus.  The Mayflower tour was in Dartmouth, because this is where the Mayflower and her sister ship Speedwell returned for repairs after heading for the New World.  The ship Speedwell was leaking badly, and was repaired in Dartmouth at Bayard's Cove. The Pilgrims left Dartmouth on 20 August 1620.  The repairs did not work, and the two ships later returned to Plymouth where the Speedwell was abandoned, and some passengers were loaded onto the Mayflower and others returned to London.  The Mayflower finally left Plymouth in September 1620 for the New World. 

You can read about our day in Dartmouth at this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/12/along-pilgrim-trail-speedwell-is.html 

This finely detailed, three dimensional weathervane is located on a cupola above the NatWest bank along the waterfront in Dartmouth.  Just coincidentally, it is next door to the Dartmouth Museum which has exhibits about the history of the town, including the Mayflower.  Did you know that Henry Hudson landed at Dartmouth on his voyage home from North America?  And Dartmouth's harbor was a base for the American forces during WWII and for the D-Day landings? 

Although the Mayflower was a large part of Dartmouth history, the town has such a rich maritime story that I cannot presume this weathervane depicts the Mayflower.  But it is fun to imagine!


Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Ship above a Bank at a famous Harbor in England", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 26, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/12/weathervane-wednesday-ship-above-bank.html: accessed [access date]). 

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