A Watchet businessman who donated a children’s play area to the town was finally honoured over 80 years after his death when a memorial interpretation board in his memory was unveiled at a ceremony on Monday.

Henry Davey, who died in 1940, left money in his will to buy land in South Road, Watchet, as a play and recreation field for the town, stipulating that it should never be built on.

“Generations of Watchet children have Henry Davey to thank for being able to play in a green space that would otherwise be covered in houses,” said Molly Quint, former chair of Watchet Conservation Society.

She added that the Conservation Society had taken the lead in having two information signs erected in the field so that both residents and visitors would know who was responsible for providing the valuable and much-used recreational facility.