PARK ROAD

This appears to be a continuation of the High Street but in fact the main road used to continue through King Street and Regent Street – Park Road was not built until the 1870s. Hatcher Street was built around 1890 in this area known as the Park, where town events and circuses were put on.

The RAFA building was the Cosen’s Institute established by William Cosens in 1865 for the benefit and improvement of the working men of Dawlish through lectures. The management was vested in trustees, and there were 100 members in 1878. The Working Men's Association was opened every evening. There was a beautifully proportioned meeting room with a plaster ceiling. A small museum, including old prints of Dawlish and the library were housed there. RDH Barham, a rector from Cambridgeshire, who retired to Dawlish in 1863, was also a well known geologist. He classified fossils found on the beach and set up a valuable geological collection in the institute.
In 1899, it became a Working Men’s Club and later a Church Institute for social and educational activities.

Further along there was a man’s outfitters in 1910 called Lorams, where the Conservative Club is now. and a shoe shop that had hundreds of boxes of shoes and boots up to the ceiling in a confusing manner but if asked for a particular shoe, the owner knew exactly where it was.

There was a Police Station that lasted until the 1960s and of course our famous photographer, Chapman & Sons, had his studio and shop here.