The Steam Laundry was started in 1881 by railway engineer George Michelmore, initially in Dartmouth but two years later it was re-established in Kingswear in the vacant shipbuilding premises at the head of Waterhead Creek. Michelmore had obtained the contract from the Britannia Royal Naval College for all the laundry which was at that time being sent on a two week round trip to London. The Kingswear Laundry continued for the next 70 years until in 1950 the College transferred their business to Plymouth and the Laundry was forced to depend on local business. It ceased trading in 1970 and after an unsuccessful planning application for conversion to a motel, the buildings were demolished and houses built in what is now Waterhead Brake.

The Michelmore family were proud of their initial ‘royal’ connection and collected over the years various carved wooden Coats of Arms which were installed on walls of the Laundry buildings. These included a Royal Coat of Arms which Don Collinson remembered seeing in the foyer of The Royal Dart Hotel and appears to have been acquired by a business partner of Mrs Sue Holman in the early 1970s when the Laundry was broken up. Mrs Holman kindly agreed that it should be given a wider viewing in the Village Hall and after professional restoration it was unveiled earlier this year on 27 April by Mrs Holman with Don Collinson and Barrie Tulloch, chairman of the hall committee.

A small plaque giving the history of the Laundry is affixed below the coat of arms.