​One of the original pioneers of the computer was born over 200 years ago in Great Torrington in the West of England. His name was Thomas Fowler. 

This is a story of stunning resilience and ingenuity in the face of professional prejudice, betrayal and heart-breaking twists of fate. It is a story of an invention destined to re-write the history of computing.

Computers might have changed history and our world almost a century sooner had the ideas of Fowler been understood and adopted by Babbage. Dr Ralph Merkle, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, California.

​On August 4th 1913, flames lit up the sky over a Devon mansion. The papers filled with speculation that suffragettes were to blame. Truth or fiction?

​This fascinating story tells of Devon women faced with a choice, to join the law-abiding suffragists or the militant suffragettes. 

​Together they held MPs to account, joined mass rallies in London, defied the government, endured the indignity and agony of imprisonment ... and joined the bigger sleepover the region has ever known.
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​This is their story. 

Clovelly  - suffragettes ambush the Prime Minister
Sidmouth - the anti-suffragists hold sway
Plymouth - Arson in Devonport
Newton Abbot - Braving mob rule
Lands End to London - Women walk for the vote
Exeter - First Devonhunger strikers
Ilfracombe - an island of militancy 
​Torquay and Topsham - Women evade the census
Lynton - explosive events hit the headlines

The Cornish Fishwife who Walked into History

In the summer of 1851, a 75-year old fish seller set out from the far west of Cornwall with little more than a basket, a bonnet and a fierce determination to reach London - on foot.

Her name was Mary Kelynack
Celebrity followed. Newspapers clamoured to tell the story of her extraordinary walk. She sat for a sculptor, inspired a song and a polka - and even caught the attention of Queen Victoria.
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Another adventure, unknown until now, was to come, yet fame was fleeting. Back home in Cornwall, why did her story fade into folklore  - and why was she laid in a pauper’s grave?

Through meticulous research, contemporary newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts and vivid storytelling, this is the extraordinary story of the endurance, humour and stubborn pride of a woman who refused to be overlooked.