brixhamwalks.org
Follow walks in Brixham and learn about your town
Brixham Arts & Theatre Society continue their role as arts mentors and creative supporters in Brixham and the surrounding area with the commissioning of a new brixhamwalks.org website.
BATS Director, Cecilia Kean, explains, “There have been several efforts made by different groups in the town to portray the heritage of Brixham in various formats, such as The Pirate’s Trail, with points around the town that can be clicked on by smart phones to tell stories, the heritage aspects of the town with the BrixFest walk map and app and information boards around the harbour telling the stories of the trawler development, the fishing fleet and various buildings. Sadly they have all now vanished as people have moved away or groups ceased.
After being introduced to Dave Barter of Nautoguide, we discovered it was possible to make an interactive map where the participant can move around the town and images, stories, songs and bits of video pop up. Different themes and a selection of walks can also be selected.
We decided to focus on an initial design exploring The Steps of Brixham. The town is pretty unique with the variety and number of flights of steps, some private and others still in use, and a variety of scales of difficulty to walk up and down them. Their history is fascinating. After much collating together of photographs and stories of the steps at various points in their history and the people who lived and worked on them, the Steps of Brixham walks were created.
The second series of walks added is The Murals and Street Art of Brixham. alks ad Brixhamn walls used to be very monochrome in days gone by, fading whitewash and rarely painted. Nowadays they show a rainbow of colours, with memorials dotted around the harbour. Since 2008 walls across the town have sprouted wings, warships and Winston churchill , as well as mountaineers and the seductive kiss of a mermaid.
In 2024 BATS obtained a grant from the Torbay Local Hdritage Grant Scheme towards the research and creation of walks on the theme of Brixham's Architectural Heritage. Research was conducted into all the listed buildings in brixham, industrial buildings and activitoies and the many award winning contemporary designs across the town. Over 1,000 photographs were taken and 10 new sets of walks added to the brixhamwalks.org website by July 2025.
It is planned to add other layers and walks to the website, such as Brixham's Art & Artists, Brixham's Glorious Gardens, Brixham Nature Walks, Pirates and Smugglers, Ghosts of Brixham, The Military History of Brixham and Brixham's Historic Railway, working with other groups to add their information too... the heritage of the fishing industry, Shoalstone Pool, the archaeology…the list could be endless.
This is now a real resource for Brixham that is interactive so anyone can log on and use it, whether a local wanting to research their family or house history or a visitor seeking a fitness walk around the town (and you can certainly keep fit on some of the steps!). There is also provision for people to send us their memories and pictures so it can become a long lasting memory board for the town.
