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Bonfires

Timeline of Past Bonfires

Here is a list of all our past bonfires in time order:

1970 - The First Bonfire

1971 - Worlds Tallest Bonfire

1972 - SS Defuego

1973 - Battleship Bismark

1974 - Viking Ship

1975 - American Fort

1976 - Worlds Tallest Guy

1977 -Silver Jubilee Bonfire

1990 - Houses Of Parliament

1991 - The Great Train Robbery

1996 - Torrington Church 1646

2000 - The Great Fire Of London

2005 - HMS Victory

2010 - The Great Torrington Castle

2015 - Trumptonshire

Bonfire 2010- Torrington castle

In 2010 We built a replica of Torrington castle taken from a wooden carving found in the back of a farmers barn in Torrington!

To go the Bonfire 2010 timeline page please follow this link. Bonfire 2010

View photos of the build

View a slideshow of the build

View photos of the burn

View a slideshow of the burn

HMS Victory Bonfire 2005

This was our most ambitious project to date abley managed by Dick Matthews the project co ordinator and Tony Easton the project secretary. The event was attended by over 20,000 spectators who helped us to raise over £70,000 for charity. 25% was donated to The Chestnut Appeal, 25% The North Devon Hospice with the remainder being donated to local charities and organisations who applied for funding.

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Slideshow


The Great Fire of London Bonfire 2000

Saturday 26th August 2000 saw the culmination of 2 years work. We built a small section, but full size, of the old part of London where the Great fire started in pudding lane. We had a Pub, a butchers shop, a hardware shop, THE BAKERY, an apothecary, a jail, and a church. When the structure was complete members of the public could walk around the streets and visit the shops.

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Bonfire 1996. Fire & Steel 1646

Torrington was one of the last battles of the english Civil. The battle of Torrington took place on Tuesday February 16th 1646 in the streets of the town. The church was used both as a prison and a gunpowder store when suddenly there was a massive explosion destroying the church and much of the town and killing the 200 prisoners within. No one knows whether the explosion was deliberate or not.

We built a full size wooden replica of the church as it stood before it was blown up. It had a graveyard, stained glass windows, an alter and pews.

Another organisation in town brought the largest muster of the sealed knot society to re enact the battle. Members of the society actually had a wedding in our church along with a local couple who had a blessing there.

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The Gunpowder Plot - 1990

The Gunpowder Plot in 1990 was most of the current memberships first bonfire. It was certainly the first for many years.

We built a replica of the Houses Of Parliament. We traced 70 decendants of the conspirators from all over the world and invited them all to finish the job.

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Bonfires Pre 1990

I dont have much information about these bonfires.

Some are Bismark, The defuego (galleon), Fort Dearborn, a viking ship and a large guy.

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Slideshow