Dulverton Library and Heritage Centre

Dulverton Library, Fore Street

This splendid shop front was installed for German's ironmongers in the late 19th century.  Henry German, ironmonger, came from Bishop's Nympton in Devon in the late 1840s. Although nearly blind he ran the shop in 1891 with the help of his wife and a resident assistant. Two sons succeeded him, another became a nurseryman but John became a photographer. He trained as a painter in the family business but moved to Paington in the 1880s and established himself as a photographer. In 1891 he had an assistant and a female apprentice living with him. In the 1890s he acquired a cottage and shed adjoining the churchyard in Dulverton and set up a photographer's studio. After 1901 he and his family lived in Dulverton for several years. He took portrait photographs and also images of Dulverton and the surrounding area. The family returned to Paignton in 1913. The studio was later used by craft weavers.

The Fore Street shop, once known as the Guildhall, now houses the library, information centre and heritage centre. The library opened in 1995 and the heritage centre at the rear in 1992.