sfeiSisgsjywy^ 
 

 
s 
 
A 
 
 NEW GUIDE, 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OI 
 
 Wbt mmtim of g>tfmtout&, 
 
 BEING A SKETCH OF 
 
 The Situation, Salubrity, & Picturesque Scenery ; 
 
 WITH 
 
 &n Account of tfje ISn&irotia, 
 
 Within FifteerCMiles round, 
 INTERSPERSED WITH AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES. 
 
 — *— 
 
 By the late Rev. EDMUND BUTCHER, 
 
 —•— 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 Printed by W. C. POLLARD, North-Street, 
 
 FOR JOHN WALLIS, ROYAL MARINE LIBRARY, SIDMOUTH J 
 
 AND SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN EXETER, 
 
 AND BY MESSRS. LONGMAN, REES, AND CO. 
 
 PATERNOSTER-BOW, LONDON. 
 
^9o 
 
 /#Y* 
 
THE 
 BEAUTIES 
 
 OF 
 
 SIDMOUTH, 
 
 NAME AND SITUATION. 
 Sidmouth, anciently spelt Sidemew, is 
 situated as the name imports, near the spot 
 where the small river Sid falls into the ocean. 
 It lies nearly in the middle of that vast bay, 
 which is bounded on the east by the Isle of 
 Portland, and on the west by the Start Point. 
 The whole of this extensive curve is scollopped 
 with a number of hollows and small bays, formed 
 by the bold headlands of Devon and Dorset. 
 Between the lofty and magnificent ridges which 
 these headlands terminate, a multitude of 
 streams, which adorn and fertilize the rich 
 valleys through which they flow, are continually 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 finding their way to the great reservoir, the sea. 
 On the margin of one of these minor bays, 
 bounded by Salcombe Hill on the east, and 
 Peak Hill on the west, lies the small but rapidly- 
 increasing subject of the present sketch. 
 
 By former writers it is only noted as an 
 " inconsiderable fishing- town." Leland says, 
 " Sidmouth is a fischar town, with a broke of 
 that name, and a bay, six miles west of Seton;" 
 and Sir W. Pole writes, " Sidmouth, where the 
 little river Sid runneth into the sea, is a small 
 market town, and has been famous for fishing." 
 Several persons are still living who can attest 
 the accuracy of such descriptions, and recollect 
 almost the whole town consisting of thatched 
 houses, of dark stone, with their chimnies to- 
 towards the street, a mode of building of which 
 seyeral specimens yet remain, and which still 
 predominates in most of the unmodernized 
 towns and villages of Devonshire. 
 
 Tradition reports, that here was formerly a 
 harbour, which has been gradually choked up 
 by accumulating sands. Risdon, in his " Sur- 
 vey of Devon," written in the reign of Charles 
 II. gives this account: "Since the surrender 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 to the crown, Sidoiouth is one of the chiefest 
 fisher towns of this shire, and serveth much 
 provisions into the eastern parts, wherein her 
 principal maintenance consists. But in times 
 past it was a port of some account, now choked 
 with chisel and sands by the vicissitudes of the 
 tides." 
 
 The rocks, which project for a considerable 
 way from the shore, and extended almost across 
 the whole of the Sidmouth bay, do not support 
 this account, nor give much encouragement to 
 a plan which has been suggested of forming an 
 artificial harbour, by erecting a wall upon some 
 of them, something like the " Cobb" at Lyme. 
 Modern enterprize, however, we are witnesses, 
 is capable of producing effects which had long 
 been considered as dubious, at least, if not im- 
 practicable, and therefore, perhaps, some 
 future period may witness the addition of an 
 harbour to the growing accommodations of Sid- 
 mouth. 
 
 SIZE OF THE PARISH. 
 
 Sidmouth, in some old writings called Sid- 
 mouth St. Nicholas, is but a small parish, being 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 only three miles in its greatest, and two miles 
 in its shortest length, and about one mile in 
 breadth. It is bounded by Harpford and 
 Sidbury on the north, by Salcombe Regis on 
 the east, by the sea on the south, and by Ot- 
 terton on the west. Farm-houses appear in 
 several different parts of the parish, chiefly be- 
 longing to the manor of Sidmouth ; they are 
 built in general of cob, a composition of clay 
 and straw, (named probably from the Greek, 
 Ko7T7roe) and stone, and have roofs of thatch. 
 The farms are small, and each divided into a 
 number of little fields, and mostly in a good 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 Sidmouth, it is said, was a borough-town in 
 the 13th century : this report is certainly not 
 contradicted by the following information, which 
 is to be found in Sir William Monson's Naval 
 Tracts : " In the fleet of eleven hundred sail, 
 in the reign of King Edward III. the several 
 ports were, upon forty days' warning, to furnish 
 such a number of ships for fifteen days, upon 
 their own charge after setting sail ; and to do 
 it every year if demanded — the rest of the time 
 the king to pay them." That Devon was then 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 one of the most considerable maritime counties, 
 appears from its sending from 
 
 Ships. Mariners. 
 
 Seaton 2 25 
 
 Sidmouth 3 62 
 
 Exmouth 10 193 
 
 Teigmnouth ----- 7 120 
 
 Dartmouth ----- 32 283 
 
 Plymouth - 26 603 
 
 Yalme 2 47 
 
 82 1333 
 
 London, at. that time,rsent - 25 662 
 
 Bristol - - - 3_' _ - 22 608 
 
 Yarmouth ------ 43 950 
 
 MANOR. 
 
 The manor of Sidmouth was demised by in- 
 denture, under the seal of the monastery of Sion, 
 to which it had been given in 1414, dated Fe- 
 bruary 5, fourteenth of Henry VIII. to Richard 
 Gosnell, Gent, for ninety-nine years, under the 
 yearly rent of £38. 7s. Sd. By old deeds it 
 appears that the manor and rectory reserved to 
 the crown after the dissolution, were, in the 
 reign of Elizabeth, leased to Sir W. Peryam, 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 Kiit. daring his natural life. James I. let it 
 to Christopher Manwaring, at the yearly rent of 
 £54. 7s. 8d. The manor was afterwards sold 
 by Christopher Manwaring, Esq. to Sir Ed- 
 mund Prideaux, Bart, and at the same time 
 the great tythes were sold to Wadham College. 
 Sir Wilmot Prideaux was the owner of the 
 manor in 1775, and held his court-leet and 
 court-baron at Sidmouth. Thos. Jenkins, Esq. 
 then residing at Rome, became, by purchase, 
 the next lord of the manor ; and from him it 
 came to his nephew, the present Thomas 
 Jenkins, Esq. 
 
 When Brice wrote, he tells us, that at Sid- 
 mouth are "some respectable merchants, par- 
 ticularly the Folletts, of good reputation for 
 probity and honor ;" and till 1814, the name 
 was preserved in the town, by the late Mr. 
 Abraham Follett, who has left a large family. 
 
 FORMER TRADE. 
 
 It is certain that the former inhabitants of 
 this place were largely engaged in the New- 
 foundland Fishery, a branch of maritime com- 
 merce which now flourishes chiefly at Dart- 
 
SIDMOUTH.. 
 
 mouth, and at Poole in Dorsetshire. By this, 
 lucrative, but frequently hazardous employment, 
 many considerable, and some large fortunes have 
 been accumulated, -r— and to this, as well as our 
 other fisheries and coal trade, we are indebted, 
 in a great degree, for that breed of hardy and 
 skilful mariners, to whose courage and dexterity 
 pur islands are so deeply indebted, under Pro- 
 vidence, for their safety from any hostile attack. 
 Her navy has long been, and with the greatest 
 reason, the boast of Britain : by this, even du- 
 ring the late terrible, protracted, and expensive 
 war, the treasures of the 7 most distant parts of 
 the world were brought into our ports — ran in- 
 tercourse kept up with our numerous colonies 
 —many of the foreign possessions of the enemy 
 fell into our hands — and the greater part of those 
 fleets which, in former periods, insulted and 
 threatened us, even on our own shores, have 
 been captured or destroyed. Such is the navy 
 ofBritain ; and all possible attention ought to be 
 pajd to it : but it may be permitted to the se- 
 rious observer to remark, that there is a higher 
 protection, which if we forfeit by national and 
 individual iniquity, not all the navies or armies 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 in the world can save us from destruction. That 
 protection there is only one way of securing, 
 and that is, not by noisy and hypocritical pre- 
 tensions to piety, but by real, substantial, and 
 persevering- goodness of character. 
 
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 
 
 Sid mouth has a bold open shore, but on ac- 
 count of the depth of the bay in which it lies, 
 but few vessels of any magnitude come nearer 
 than the extreme edge of the horizon. We 
 have been, however, occasionally gratified by 
 ships of war standing close in ; and when Lord 
 William Bentinck went out Ambassador to 
 Sicily, the Caledonia of 120 guns, and three 
 74's, with several transports, were within three 
 miles of the town. Fishing and pleasure boats 
 are frequently seen spotting the deep blue of 
 the ocean with their white sails, and affording, 
 as they tack and shift their positions, a pleas- 
 ing and interesting spectacle. Many of the 
 newest lodging-houses are ranged upon the 
 beach, which is defended from the attacks of 
 the ocean by a natural rampart of pebbles, 
 which rises in successive stages, from the sur- 
 
3 
 
 <s 
 
 1 
 
 S5. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 face of the sea, at low water. With every tide, 
 the exterior parts of this shifting wall assume 
 a different appearance ; are either raised higher 
 or sunk lower ; or are driven to the east or west, 
 according to the strength and direction of the 
 wind. At low water, considerable spaces of fine 
 hard sand are visible — these afford a walk, which 
 would be more pleasant, were it not so fre- 
 quently interrupted by collections of stones 
 and streams, which find their way between 
 the pebbles to their -parent ocean. In dry 
 weather, however, these streams are very in- 
 considerable. 
 
 At low tides, a fine ride is to obtained on 
 the sands to westward of Chit Rock ; this road 
 is equally practicable for pedestrians, when de- 
 fended by thick shoes. 
 
 As a watering-place, Sidmouth, in its na- 
 tural advantages, yeilds to none, and exceeds 
 many of those retreats of Hygeia, which utility 
 and fashion have found out, on almost all the 
 coasts of our island. An air mild and salu- 
 brious ; a soil uncommonly fertile ; the purest 
 water continually flowing ; and a situation de- 
 fended from every wind but the south, give it a 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 pre-eminence over most of those places on our 
 coast, which are now so generally resorted to 
 both for health and amusement. The beautiful 
 vale in which the town stands, is bounded on 
 both sides by long lofty mountains ; these form 
 its eastern and western sides ; and towards the 
 north, it is screened by the Gittisham and 
 Honiton hills. The approach to Sidmouth by 
 the new road from Honiton, is in the extreme 
 picturesque. 
 
 MACKAREL CATCHING. 
 
 The fish with which Sidmouth is supplied, 
 is but little of it caught by the labours of an al- 
 most daily decreasing race of fishermen. The 
 finny stores of the deep are brought in by boats, 
 or by land carriage, from Beer on the east, and 
 Brixham on the western side of this place. 
 Vast quantities ofmackarel and whitings are 
 occasionally caught immediately opposite the 
 town. They are taken in large nets called a 
 seine. The origin of this name does not appear 
 possible to ascertain. The seine and boat are 
 worth an hundred pounds and upwards. The 
 common seine is five hundred yards long ; in 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 the mackarel season they extend them to seven 
 hundred, and even eight hundred yards. The 
 boat having carried out the net to a certain dis- 
 tance, greater or less as circumstances may 
 require, the seine is shot from the boat, which, 
 as it moves on, forms a circle, being supported 
 by a vast number of corks, affixed at equal dis- 
 tances, to the outside ropes of the net. From 
 each end of the seine, when the semicircle is 
 completed, are cords extending to the beach, 
 and which are held by persons stationed to haul 
 or pull in the seine, when completely cast into 
 the sea : these individuals form two rows, which 
 gradually close as the net approaches the shore. 
 Many of the inhabitants and visitors of Sid- 
 mouth were gratified in the month of July 1809, 
 with seeing above fifteen thousand mackarel 
 brought in by one haul, and opposite Wallis's 
 Library, in 1827, a larger draught was hauled 
 in. It is a curious and entertaining sight to 
 witness the beauty of this fish when first brought 
 out of the water. The diversity and bright- 
 ness of their colours, which vary every moment, 
 cannot escape the most cursory observer. This 
 is doubtless occasioned by the different atmos- 
 phere in which they are then placed ; and hu- 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 inanity hopes that most of these are muscular 
 motions, and attended with little pain to the 
 expiring animal. 
 
 The produce of each Jiaulh divided in the 
 following manner : the owner of the seine and 
 boat is entitled to one half of the fish caught ; 
 and also to an equal share of the remainder with 
 the rest of the crew, between whom the other 
 half is divided share and share alike. When 
 women (which seldom happens at Sidmouth,) 
 take apart of the adventure, the supposed supe- 
 riority of strength in the male quite supersedes 
 that politeness which, in some other depart- 
 ments of society, pays a compliment to female 
 assistance ; for the lady gets only half as much 
 as the gentleman. 
 
 Whether fish are taken or not, the labour is 
 not over when the seine is pulled in. It is ne- 
 cessary that the net should be carefully over- 
 hauled, that is, spread regularly out upon the shin- 
 gles for drying; as, when it is first taken out of 
 the sea, it is left in large hillocks, in which situ- 
 ation it would rot and not dry. This overhaul- 
 ing, after an unsuccessful shoot, is a very flat 
 business — nearly an hour of toil is added, after 
 the several labourers have found that there is 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 not a fish a-piece to repay them for their time 
 and exertions. Soles, salmon-peal, red mullets, 
 john-dories, turbot, pipers, gurnets, and brills, 
 are the fish most commonly brought to Sidmouth. 
 The shell-fish are crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and 
 prawns. 
 
 PLACES ON THE COAST. 
 
 That part of the coast which can be seen 
 from Sidmouth beach, has been thus described. 
 From the harbour of Dartmouth, the coast, 
 winding to the north-east, shoots out into a pro- 
 montory called Berry-head, which forms one 
 side of Torbay, where there is a good roadstead 
 for shipping, but has no port except Erixham. 
 Beyond this lies Teignmouth. Exmouth next 
 appears in view, and then Sidmouth. Nor ought 
 Seaton to be overlooked, once a capacious port, 
 though at present an inconsiderable creek. A 
 great part of the cliffs on the coast, from Ex- 
 mouth to Lyme, are nearly four hundred feet 
 high, and almost perpendicular. " The High- 
 peak at Sidmouth is supposed to rise six hun- 
 dred feet from the sea. From Hope's-nose to 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 the Berry-head is formed Torbay, being nearly 
 a semicircle of twelve miles." 
 
 Changes, more or less considerable, are fre- 
 quently taking place upon the coast. In the 
 year 1788, there happened a remarkable slip of 
 earth, about half a mile from Beer. From a 
 pasture-down, called Southdown, a great quan- 
 tity of the cliff gave way, and sank to a con- 
 siderable depth. The plane surface was full 
 six acres of good ground, and the depth mea- 
 sured perpendicularly about two hundred feet. 
 It happened about twelve o'clock at night ; the 
 huge part of the cliff went off with a terrible 
 noise, that greatly alarmed the people of Beer. 
 A more than usually quantity of rain had fallen 
 for many successive days before the cliff gave 
 way. It is the washing of the sea, together 
 with the action of the frosts and wind, which 
 has formed the cliffs at Sidmouth; they were 
 originally sloping hills, which being gradually 
 washed at the bottom, fell down. 
 
 One of these loosenings of the coast, as they 
 are termed, took place on the 1st of April, 1811, 
 just beyond that part of Peak-hill, on which the 
 signal-house formerly stood ; it has rendered 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 the former road between Sidmouth and Ex- 
 mouth so impassible, that the circuitous course 
 which carriages and horses are now obliged to 
 take, has added two miles to the distance be- 
 twixt the two places. The road by Newton 
 Poppleford, which is less hilly, is two miles 
 further. 
 
 INTERNAL SCENERY. 
 
 From the beach, Sidmouth appears, on three 
 sides, encompassed with hills ; the tops of 
 which, in a beautifully undulating line, form a 
 vast curve of uncommon richness and simplicity. 
 Cultivation nearly approaches to the summits of 
 some of them ; and the inclosures, which are 
 numerous, present a rich variety of arable and 
 pasture grounds. Where there are no en- 
 closures, a short sweet and darkish grass covers 
 these elevations. Furze and heath, with their 
 yellow and purple flowers, fill the air with fra- 
 grance, and beautifully diversify the scene. 
 Great numbers of sheep browse upon this de- 
 licious herbage ; and the cottages and bakers' 
 ovens of the town and its vicinity, are many of 
 
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 them supplied with fuel from these mountainous 
 store-houses. 
 
 The hedges of Devonshire are proverbially 
 large and rich. Sidmouth is closely surrounded 
 with them like so many green and flowery zones; 
 forming a complete contrast to the barren 
 downs which surround Weymouth, Brighton, 
 and the watering places on the Kentish shores. 
 Elms, ashes, and oaks are interspersed in great 
 numbers in almost every inclosure ; these are 
 the foresters most commonly to be met with, 
 but many other sorts are scattered here and 
 there. Orchards abound in all directions, and 
 that agreeable beverage, cider, is plentiful, and 
 often extremely delicious. It is probably 
 owing to the pigs being turned into the orchards 
 when the young fruit is dropping from the trees, 
 that a great deal of the Devonshire pork is pe- 
 culiarly well flavoured. 
 
 In the vernal and autumnal parts of the 
 year, the numerous lanes which intersect and 
 divide this rich valley, are truly delightful. 
 The country then seems a universal garden ; 
 the air is full of fragrance, and the eye gratified, 
 almost beyond conception, with an incalculable 
 
SIDMOUTII. 
 
 diversity of shrubs and flowers : the deep banks 
 are literally covered with vegetable mosaic. 
 Trees, many of which are very lofty, as well as 
 umbrageous, wave their rich foliage in the air, 
 and almost on the margin of the sea display all 
 the luxuriance of inland vegetation. Great quan- 
 tities of holly and ivy enliven the dreary months 
 of winter; and with myrtles, laurels, and other 
 evergreens, shed a perpetual verdure over this 
 charming spot. In vallies there is seldom much 
 flat surface: of this, Sidmouth vale is an ex- 
 ample — slopes and swells every where meet the 
 eye. Streams, so transparent as to reveal every 
 pebble over which they flow, run from almost 
 every declivity, soothe the ear with their 
 murmurs, and refresh, as well as decorate, the 
 landscape of which they form so sweet a part. 
 The serpentine Sid, which, in still weather, is 
 as clear as any of its neighbouring brooks, 
 waters the whole eastern side of the valley, and 
 as it approaches the ocean, washes the marly 
 rocks at the east end of the beach. In summer 
 this stream is so inconsiderable, as to have no 
 visible communication with the sea; but in 
 winter, or in any part of the year, when 
 D 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 swollen by the rain, it becomes an impetuous 
 torrent. It then disdains to creep beneath the 
 pebbles, but driving them to the right and to 
 the left, opens for itself an unencumbered pas- 
 sage to the " great storehouse of the deep," 
 and from no inconsiderable mouth, pours into 
 it its freshening current. 
 
 THE TOWN 
 
 Consists of about three hundred and fifty houses, 
 and in the census taken by order of Parliament 
 in the year 1803, was said to contain twelve 
 hundred and fifty-two inhabitants. This num- 
 ber, according to the census in 1813, was in- 
 creased to above 1G00 ; and in the last of 1821, 
 to 2747 ; the number of inhabited houses 480, 
 occupied by 562 families. Beginning from 
 what is termed Mill Cross, at the north end of 
 the town, and ending at the beach, its length is 
 about the third part of a mile. For rather more 
 than half of this space, it is principally one street; 
 the remainder is divided into two branches, like 
 the letter Y. In the eastern branch, which 
 seems rather the best of the two, are shops of 
 almost every description, and two of the inns of 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 the town, the London Inn and the Commercial 
 Inn. In the western branch of the main street 
 is the Post Office. Both branches of the Y, as 
 well as the main stem, contain lodging-houses, 
 very various both in size and price. 
 
 At the London Inn commences a short 
 cross street, which ends in the market-place. 
 On the west of this is a division called Western 
 Town, in which most of the remains of the old 
 buildings of Sidmouth are to be found ; it con- 
 sists chiefly of poor low cottages, many of 
 which will, probably, at the expiration of their 
 present tenures, give place to buildings more 
 suitable to those with which they are surrounded. 
 On the east side of the town is another suburb, 
 called, probably from its low situation, as it de- 
 scends to the river, the Marsh : here are also 
 some lodging-houses, and, in the narrower part 
 of it, towards the sea, many small residences 
 for the poorer sort of people have lately been 
 erected. 
 
 Returning again to the London Inn, from 
 thence a small remaining part of the main 
 street terminates at the Beach. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 This structure, which is supposed to be 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 about four hundred years old, is a convenient 
 place of worship. Both within and without an 
 air of neatness predominates. It is a slated stone 
 edifice, and its tower is remarkably well built ; 
 its open windows are handsomely ornamented. 
 The dial of the clock obscures one of them — of 
 this, some architectural antiquarians have com- 
 plained, as a sacrifice of taste to utility ; but 
 upon the principle that a " living dog- is better 
 than a dead lion/' surely such an objection 
 should be given up. A clock, which is of con- 
 stant use to a whole town, is unquestionably of 
 more value than a window in a steeple, which 
 not above one person in five hundred would 
 look at with any particular attention : the number 
 of bells in this tower are five. The church 
 had once an organ, which, we are told, " was 
 destroyed in CroinwalFs days;" it has not, how- 
 ever, now to lament the want of this appro- 
 priate piece of church music, as a small one 
 has been lately erected by subscription. The 
 south, or principal entrance, which has been 
 lately repaired, and over it a new window 
 opened, is surmounted by a small stone cross, 
 similar to some others at the angles of the 
 roof. The claims of this edifice to the tu- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 telage of a patron saint, are divided betwixt 
 the rival names of St. Nicholas and St. Giles : 
 the argument in favor of St. Nicholas, who is a 
 sort of a Christian Neptune, is, that many 
 churches upon the coast are dedicated to him, 
 and this amongst the rest. That, in favor of 
 St. Giles, is, perhaps, rather stronger, which is, 
 that the parish wake is held on St. Giles's 
 Monday. 
 
 Amongst the older monuments in this church 
 is one on the north side of the chancel, to the 
 memory of Walter Harlewin, Esq. ; on the 
 east is another, to the memory of the Rev. 
 John Minshull, formerly vicar of this parish ; 
 on the south is a third, in memory of the Rev, 
 Oliver Courtrice, and John his son, the two 
 preceding vicars. Of the modern mural records, 
 many of which adorn both internally and exter- 
 nally the walls of this edifice, and commemo- 
 rate the virtues of the dead — or hold out admo- 
 nitory lessons to the living ; one of the most 
 distinguished preserves the memory of Dr. 
 Currie, of Liverpool ; and another that of a 
 lady from Northumberland — both are slabs of 
 white marble, and surmounted with urns. 
 
 Many appropriate texts of scripture, evi- 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 dently painted a considerable time ago, are 
 conspicuously placed in the body of the church. 
 
 Two new galleries have been erected in 
 the church, which has been much enlarged, 
 and both under and over it are many neat me- 
 morials of strangers, mostly in younger life, 
 who have here finished their mortal course. 
 
 In the church-yard, as Sidmouth becomes 
 more celebrated for the winter as well as the 
 summer retreats of invalids, every year adds to 
 the number of tomb-stones. Many of them, as 
 may easily be supposed, are erected over the 
 remains of those, who, seeking too late the re- 
 novating breezes of this charming place, have 
 here paid the debt of nature. Several of 
 these mortuary erections are in a handsome, 
 substantial style. One of them records the 
 name of the Reverend Samuel Blackall, B. D. 
 Rector of Loughborough, who was so delighted 
 with Sidmouth, while living, as to wish to be 
 buried in the church-yard. He was the grand- 
 son of Dr. Offspring Blackall, who was Bishop 
 of Exeter in the reign of Queen Anne, and, 
 from the great interest which her Majesty took 
 in his elevation, denominated the Queen's 
 Bishop. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Tiie church of Sid-mouth was granted in 
 t212, by Bishop Marshall, to the monastery of 
 St. Michael de Monte, in Normandy, to which 
 the priory of Otterton was a cell. Sidmouth is 
 now a vicarage, the rectorial tythes belong to 
 Wad ham College, Oxford ; and for the vicarial 
 the inhabitants pay a composition. The Rev. 
 William Jenkins, brother of Thomas Jenkins, 
 Esq. the lord of the manor, is the present in- 
 cumbent. The vicarage-house is situated near 
 the entrance of the town from the north : it is 
 an old building modernised, and very consider- 
 ably enlarged and improved. 
 
 A house near the beach, for many years 
 known by the sign of the Anchor, afterwards a 
 private dwelling, and about the year 1805 pulled 
 down, is said to have been a chapel of ease, 
 while Otterton was the mother-church. The 
 thickness of its stone walls, the firmness of the 
 cement by which the stones were united, and 
 its chapel looking door-way arched with stone, 
 certainly favoured this idea. In further con- 
 firmation of it, there ran near it a path leading 
 from Sidbury and Sidmouth to Otterton, called 
 Go-church, in which, till about forty-five 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 or fifty years since, an ancient stone cross was 
 standing : its situation, and the space it occu- 
 pied, are still discoverable, by a difference in 
 the pavement near the present market-house. 
 
 THE OLD DISSENTING CHAPEL 
 
 Is situated at the north entrance of the town, at 
 the corner of Mill-lane. 
 
 THE INDEPENDANTS CHAPEL 
 
 Is a very neat and commodious edifice, situated 
 at the eastern end of Theatre-lane. 
 
 ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 There are three Inns in the town, — the Lon- 
 don Inn, the York Hotel, and the Commercial 
 Inn. The original Assembly and Card Rooms 
 are at the London Inn ; the Assembly Room is 
 large, well fitted up, and the floor has an excel- 
 lent spring ; it is generally well attended. The 
 landlord, J. Hetherington, was butler to E. B. 
 Lousada, esq. 
 
 The York Hotel is a large handsome house ; 
 it stands on the beach, and has an uninterrupted 
 view of the whole bay in which Sidmouth lies. 
 
 The Commercial Inn, is upon a smaller scale 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 than either the London Inn or the Hotel. Very 
 good accommodations are to be met with here 
 also, and it possesses a convenient stable. At 
 the London Inn, and York Hotel, post-chaises, 
 good horses, and careful drivers are to be had ; 
 and the proprietor of the Commercial Inn has 
 for hire, excellent gigs and horses, at reason- 
 able charges. 
 
 Mr. Pearcy, who is admirably well qualified, 
 is the proprieter of a Boarding House upon 
 the Beach, in an undeniable situation for such 
 an establishment. 
 
 The Market-House is a convenient modern 
 brick edifice, surmounted with a ball and 
 weathercock. 
 
 THE BEACH 
 
 Is the grand public mall: it is a delightful 
 broad walk, upon the margin of the sea, railed 
 and rolled in a very good style. It is a quarter 
 of a. mile and eighty-eight yards in length, and 
 is furnished at the extremities, and in some 
 other parts, with neatly painted convenient 
 double seats, from which either the land or the 
 sea may be contemplated with every advantage. 
 E 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 Going westward, and at tbe eastern corner 
 of the new Subscription Cricket Ground, is 
 
 WALLIS'S, THE ROYAL MARINE LIBRARY. 
 
 This is a very neat pile of building with 
 battlements, and at the western extremity is a 
 flag-staff, upon which the Union is hoisted to 
 celebrate the anniversary of royal birth-days, 
 and other public occasions. When Sidmouth 
 had no establishment of this description, the 
 present proprietor embarked his property under 
 the most favorable patronage ; among whom he 
 had the honor to boast, Lord Gwydir, Lady 
 "Willoughby, Lord and Lady Le Despencer, 
 Emanuel Baruh Lousada, Esq. and the prin- 
 cipal nobility of the town and neighbourhood. 
 The Library was first opened to the public, 
 June the 20th, 1809, and this romantic watering- 
 place at length boasted what it bad long de- 
 sired — a lounging place in a conspicuous and 
 pleasant situation, where articles of fancy, 
 as well as information and utility, may be met 
 with ; where the news of the day may be col- 
 lected and discussed, and an opportunity given 
 for the pleasures of social intercourse. No 
 
SIUMOUTH. 
 
 situation can be more favorable for all these 
 purposes than the Royal Marine Library ; from 
 hence the spectator commands a near and ut- 
 terly unimpeded view of the sea, comprehending 
 the immense bay within Portland and the Berry- 
 head. Parties are often chatting on its benches : 
 the gay and healthy are amused, and the invalid 
 finds a spot from which he can inhale those salu- 
 brious breezes which so frequently suspend the 
 ravages of disease, pour fresh oil into the lamp 
 of life, and send him back with renovated 
 energies, to both the cares and the joys of mor- 
 tality. 
 
 It may be mentioned as a proof of the dis- 
 tance at which objects may be seen from the 
 beach, as well as a memorable historical fact, 
 that from the veranda of the Marine Library, 
 the late Right Hon. Lord Gwydir and Lord 
 Charles Bentick, witnessed the entrance into 
 Torbay, of his Majesty's ship Bellerophon, with 
 Napoleon Bonaparte on board, 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL CAMERA OBSCURA 
 
 Is erected at the western corner of this building; 
 to those who are unacquainted with the nature 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 of this most interesting exhibition, we cannot 
 explain it better, than by an extract from a re- 
 cent publication, entitled Reflections during a 
 Ramble in Germany. — " We went to the Ca- 
 •* mera Obscura, because it is usual, andthere- 
 " fore thought it but right to give the expected 
 "fee; a Camera Obscura I can be amused by 
 "for hours, when man is the thing exhibited, — 
 " man lilliputionized. It is a fine lesson of hu- 
 "mility to see thus a crowded and fashionable 
 " esplanade, a race course, &c." 
 
 In this small room every surrounding object 
 is seen in miniature. The sea — the whole es- 
 planade — the eastern and western cliffs — the 
 cricket ground — new promenade — and the sur- 
 rounding country ; with the company, vessels, 
 and every object in motion, reflected in their 
 natural vivid colours. Admittance, one shilling 
 each person. 
 
 In the month of October, 1819, Mr. Wallis 
 had the distinguished honour, when the late 
 Duke of Kent first visited Sidmouth, of con- 
 ducting his Royal Highness to the old and 
 new sea-water baths, &c. and was subse- 
 quently introduced at the York Hotel, to sub- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 mit the much admired panoramic view for his 
 Royal Highness's inspection, of which he ex- 
 pressed his decided approbation, and was gra- 
 ciously pleased to accept a copy, and say it 
 would afford him much pleasure to show it to 
 her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. On 
 the 24th of December following, their Royal 
 Highnesses and suite arrived at Sidmouth, 
 previous to which Mr. Wallis received the honor 
 of his appointment, to be Bookseller, &c. to 
 their Royal Highnesses household, dated Ken- 
 sington Palace. 
 
 Directions to the COTTAGES, and RESIDENCES of 
 the Nobility and Gentry, in 
 THE ENVIRONS OF SIDMOUTH. 
 
 The houses and estates scattered in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the town, adorn, not merely 
 the flat part of the vale, but the slopes of the 
 hills which bound it on either side. 
 
 In the flat part of the valley, west of the 
 town, and open to the sea, a row of brick houses 
 appear, eleven in number, which if finished ac- 
 cording to the plan laid down, would form a 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 crescent with a small curve. — No. 4 is the resi- 
 dence of the Misses Schimmelpenninck ; No. 5, 
 of Capt. George White, R. N.; the rest are all 
 let for hire. The field in which they stand is 
 called the Fort Field, from a little fort which 
 was erected during the late war, but it is now 
 demolished. 
 
 Entering the Fort Field from the Royal 
 Marine Library, the first buildings that offer 
 themselves are, two small brick dwellings with a 
 balcony, for hire, called Potbury's Houses, No. 
 1 and 2 ; further on are three houses for hire, 
 called Denby Place. 
 
 A large brick house near the Church, is Fort 
 House, and is the property of Sir John Ken-, 
 naway, Bart, by whom it has been greatly en- 
 larged and beautified ; it is capable of receiving 
 a large establisment, or is let as two distinct 
 houses. On the east side of Fort House stands 
 Cobourg Terrace, opposite which is Amyat 
 Row, where lodgings are very reasonable. 
 
 On the west of Fort House is BartonCottage, 
 a neat and convenient residence. Immediately 
 adjoining, is a large brick house, well fitted up, 
 belonging to Mr. Rafarel, and calculated for the 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 reception of a nobleman's or extensive estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 At the entrance into the Fort Field, opposite 
 the church, is a house and garden belonging to 
 Miss Pleydell ; the internal part is very taste- 
 fully fitted up and prepared by Mr. Johnson, of 
 Ludgate Hill, in a manner perfectly unique. 
 
 Proceeding up the Fort Field from Mr. 
 Rafarei's, and separated from it by a lane, stands 
 Rosemount, with a neat flower garden in front; 
 a very pleasant habitation erected by C.E.Pigou, 
 Esq. formerly his residence, but now to be let 
 for a long or short period. 
 
 Adjoining is a neat and pretty cottage, 
 belonging to Miss Rose ; and a little further up 
 the lane, Violet Bank Cottage, 
 
 At the end of the lane, on the left hand, is 
 Cotmaton, an ancient seat, commanding a plea- 
 sant view of the bay. It was sold by the Duke 
 of Otterton, to William Harlewin, Esq. Sir 
 John Harlewin, who was knighted for his valour 
 in the reign of Edward IV. lived at Sidmouth ; 
 and his descendants continued to reside there 
 to the time of Charles II. 
 
 Immediately at the corner stands Cotmaton 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 House, the residence of Henry Stuart, Esq. 
 who Las greatly improved it by adding two 
 handsome bow windows on the ground floor, 
 projecting into the garden, and other alterations, 
 effected since he has been in possession of it. 
 John Carslake, Esq. is the owner of this, to- 
 gether with New Cotmaton. A house built by 
 John Carslake, Esq. his late uncle, almost ad- 
 joining the old one, is the residence of Miss 
 Bethell. Its front looks full on the sea, and 
 like the terrace in its beautiful garden, com- 
 mands a fine view of the expanse of ocean. To 
 see the front of this house, it will be necessary 
 to go into the Fort Field, and cross opposite 
 Rosemount Cottage, where you will find a path 
 leading to a neat iron bridge, on the left of 
 which are seen the offices and gardens of Wool- 
 brook Cottage, where His Royal Highness the 
 late Duke of Kent died. 
 
 Ascending the gravel walk on your right, the 
 very neat residence of John Carslake, Esq. 
 called Asherton Cottage, is seen ; and at the 
 summit on the left hand, is Witheby, the elegant 
 cottage planned and built by Miss Floyd, stand- 
 ing at the head of a fine verdant meadow. This 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 beautiful cottage ornee has been enlarged and 
 decorated by the taste and spirit of its possessor 
 Miss Wrighte, in such a manner as to render it 
 a most lovely residence. The new carriage ap- 
 proach from Mill Lane, while it increases the 
 convenience of access, adds a new beauty to the 
 scenery around it. 
 
 On the right hand, approaching Miss 
 Wrighte's, with a beautiful lawn and shrubbery 
 before it, and an excellent walled garden, rises 
 The Marino, the well designed and highly finished 
 house of the Reverend Jame$>Hobson : the view 
 from the lawn, both of sea and land, is rich and 
 extensive. 
 
 Proceed between Witheby and The Marino, 
 and enter Mill Lane ; immediately opposite 
 which is a large and commodious residence, 
 called Gotland House. It is delightfully situated 
 upon a commanding eminence; the approach is 
 through a luxuriant shrubbery, and it commands 
 a fine and extensive prospect of land and water : 
 this house is capable of receiving a large genteel 
 family. Turn to the left, and the other side of 
 the road is Miss Wrighte's shrubbery and car- 
 riage way ; opposite to which is Helens, an ex- 
 F 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 cellent house, with coach-house and stables, be- 
 longing to Mrs. Butcher, and makes up twelve 
 or thirteen beds. Next to it is the handsome 
 mansion of Edward Lee, Esq. where consider- 
 able alterations have lately been made, and the 
 shrubs and trees in its front, and on its wings, 
 are every year increasing its beauty. Both these 
 houses are delightfully situated, and between 
 the trees, which flourish luxuriantly about them, 
 have charming views of the sea and the sur- 
 rounding country. 
 
 Proceeding towards the hill, the extremely 
 neat lodge of Peak House, the property and re- 
 sidence of the hospitable Emanuel Baruh Lou- 
 sada, Esq. is the next object of attention. The 
 drive from the lodge up to the house is uncom- 
 monly fine ; on the right hand a shrubbery full 
 of fragrance and beauty, through the greater 
 part of which there is a serpentine foot-path, 
 and on the left an unbroken view of the ocean, 
 at all times an interesting and elevating specta- 
 cle. The mansion itself, which has been con- 
 siderably added to, and improved to a great ex- 
 tent by that gentleman, is, with its fine grounds 
 and gardens, a delightful abode . It is upon a 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 f^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 K 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 considerably elevated situation, and commands 
 a fine reach of the ocean, the white and yellow 
 cliffs of Bere, Charmouth, and Bridport, and 
 the bold promontory of Portland. 
 
 Considerably above Mr. Baruh's, erected 
 by him, and standing on his estate, are five or 
 six small houses ; one is a fanciful building, 
 which, before its battlements were removed, 
 had something the appearance of a small fort. 
 The other has a veranda, and a stable and coach 
 house attached to it. It is needless to add, that 
 a noble, diversified, and expensive view presents 
 itself from the windows of these mountain houses 
 
 Nearest to the cliff is Mount Sid Cottage, 
 the residence of Capt. Young, R. N. with stable, 
 gig-house, and every desirable convenience; 
 amongst which is a most prolific kitchen garden, 
 where fruits and vegetables flourish luxuriantly, 
 and attain the highest state of perfection. 
 
 On the southern extremity of Peak Hill 
 stood a Signal House, now happily untenanted. 
 In fine weather, this is often the boundary of a 
 ride or walk, and the lovers of landscape beauty, 
 not only from this point, but in the several stages 
 of their progress, are richly rewarded for the 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 labourof the ascent, by the vast panorama which 
 spreads its ample circle around them. Sea and 
 land unite in this picture. If any vessels are 
 passing, here they must be visible ; and on the 
 land side the prospect is replete with all the 
 charms which nature and art can give to such a 
 scene. The ridges of the hills, which in every 
 direction bound the view, are for the most part 
 without cultivation ; but this comparative steri- 
 lity only serves to augment the richness of the 
 general prospect : by the contrast, the fine 
 foliage of the trees and hedges is shown to 
 greater advantage. Fertility and beauty unite 
 in every part of the scene ; the landscape is 
 complete : the earth clothed with verdure, the 
 air balmy and refreshing, orchards and gardens, 
 hills of all dimensions, large stacks of hay and 
 corn, and a multitude of habitations, many of 
 them a pure white, which harmonizes so well 
 with the azure above and the green below. The 
 tops of the hills afford full scope for the enter- 
 tainment and health which are combined in 
 equestrian exercise. 
 
 Having feasted the sight from hence, and 
 witnessed the equally magnificent view from the 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 western side of the hill, return to the lodge of 
 Peak House, and passing Helens and Gotland 
 House, proceed down the lane till you arrive at 
 the elegant rustic lodge belonging to the Rev. 
 Mr. Hobson's Marino, which is an object of uni- 
 versal admiration. The ivy which creeps up its 
 slender pillars, and hangs in festoons from its 
 roof, gives it a simple elegance which no other 
 ornament could have bestowed. 
 
 Pass over a wooden bridge, and on the left 
 is a neat cottage occupied byMrs. Col. Kingsbury, 
 and at the corner of a lane, a short distance fur- 
 ther on, is the carriage entrance to Springfield 
 Cottage, the residence of J. B. Bernard, Esq. 
 Great taste has been shewn here, both in the 
 internal and external alterations, by which he 
 has converted a mean looking brick house into 
 one of the most interesting cottages in the vi- 
 cinity of Sidmouth. The judicious manner in 
 which he has thinned the luxuriant trees and 
 shrubs with which he found the grounds crowded, 
 while it enlarges his prospects, has really in- 
 creased the beauty of the scene. Trees are, no 
 doubt, a great beauty in a landscape ; but it is 
 possible to have too many of them. 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 Having passed this cottage, proceed straight 
 down the lane before you, at the bottom of 
 which, upon the left hand, is the rustic cottage 
 of Rear- Admiral Digby. The exterior, which, 
 was altered by the late Lord Gwydir, from 
 a farm-house called Old Hayes, had a fanciful 
 and unique appearance. Its garden, which is 
 but small, is partly an orchard : on the whole 
 northern side of it ran a covered walk of un- 
 common simplicity and beauty. The roof, the 
 interior of which was formed of straight sticks, 
 with the bark left on, was supported by two 
 rows of oak pollards — round which roses, 
 honey-suckles, the clematis, and other climbing 
 shrubs and flowers, twined themselves. The 
 walk was terminated by a small room, with seats, 
 framed of the same rustic materials, which had 
 the appearance of a hermitage or chapel ; the 
 whole having very much the air of the cloister of 
 some religious edifice. 
 
 The adjoining is also the property of Ad- 
 miral Digby, and is named Spring Gardens ; 
 immediately beyond which, secluded from 
 public view, is the peculiarly neat and com- 
 fortable cottage of H. Carew, Esq. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 In the field opposite Admiral Drgby*s, "fa 
 Powys Cottage, the residence of Mrs. Powys 
 Floyd ; a second specimen of that lady's elegant 
 and happy taste. The length of the building 
 is one hundred and twenty feet, the middle di- 
 vision of which is a conservatory : it is sur- 
 rounded with beautiful shrubberies, walks, and 
 garden ground, and commands a fine view of 
 the church, embosomed in rich foliage, with the 
 sea in the distance. 
 
 At the opposite corner of the lane to Powys 
 Cottage is Audley Cottage, the greatly admired 
 abode of the Dowager Lady Audley. 
 
 On a beautiful eminence, to the north of 
 the residence of H. Carew, Esq. a few years 
 ago Lord Le Despenser erected a Marine Villa : 
 it was a thatched building, forming nearly a 
 quadrangle, and contained about forty rooms. — 
 It is known by the name of Knowle Cottage, and 
 is now the property of T. L. Fish, Esq., who 
 has considerably reduced the number of rooms, 
 and made the house in every respect more com- 
 fortable ; the improvements and embellishments 
 he has added, have rendered it a truly picturesque 
 and enchanting residence. The veranda and roof 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 white and common pheasants, American, French 
 red-legged, and common partridges. Mr. Fish, 
 who owns this costly assemblage, and luxuriant 
 spot, most liberally throws open his gates for 
 the public gratification every Monday, during 
 his sojourn at Sidmouth, (which is from July to 
 October) between the hours of two and four 
 o'clock. It is to be hoped no damage will be 
 done to the shrubs, &c. nor any liberty taken, 
 which may prevent the liberal proprietor con- 
 tinuing this great attraction, and consequent be- 
 nefit to the town. 
 
 Returning from Knowle, enter Mill Lane be- 
 tween Powys and Audley cottages, and about 
 half-way down on the left, upon a lovely emi- 
 nence, is Belle Vue, the residence of Moses Gut- 
 teres, Esq. The next to it is Ivy Cottage, and 
 on the opposite side of the road stands Rose 
 Cottage, having, from the southern window, a 
 view of Blackmoor fields, and the church and 
 sea in the distance. 
 
 At the bottom of Mill Lane, turning to the 
 left, are two substantial and genteel houses, with 
 pleasure ground in front; the first is occupied by 
 — Blatch, Esq. and that adjoining by Lieut. Col. 
 
SIDMOUTII. 
 
 Hogg. A little farther on is Radway Cottage, 
 belonging to Mr. J. G. Jenkins, solicitor ; and 
 next to it is the Vicarage, the Rev. W. Jenkins. 
 Still farther on the left is a spot, called Balsters. 
 The first cottage is named The Hermitage, 
 Miss Slaters ; next to it is a convenient and 
 pleasant lodging house, belonging to Mr. Bar- 
 rett ; and the third is the very neat cottage of 
 Miss Tinney, known as The Shrubbery, having 
 a view over the Elysian fields. Much taste has 
 been displayed by Mr. Barrett in the disposal 
 of these buildings, which excites the admiration 
 of every visitor to this charming retreat. En- 
 tering the iron gateway, on the right is Temple 
 Cottage, the residence of Christopher Marriott, 
 Esq. who also owns the next, Rosebank Cottage, 
 now occupied by Mrs. Martin. 
 
 Camden Cottage, upon the left, is the pro- 
 perty of Capt. Stapleton, and is a lodging house. 
 Adjoining Rosebank Cottage '^Cumberland Cot- 
 tage, John Rookes, Esq. ; and next to it Rich- 
 mond House, opposite which is Somerden Cot- 
 tage, D. O'Brien, Esq. ; still further, on the 
 summit of a beautiful rising ground, commanding 
 a grand view of country, and the broad expanse 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 of ocean in the distance, is the residence of — 
 Mackie, Esq. ; the approach to this house is on 
 the right hand from the lane, at a short distance 
 be} r ond Mr. Fish's cottage, with a view of the 
 sea, and overlooking the smali deer park of 
 Knowle ; a new cottage stands at the side of 
 the same carriage entrance, possessing every 
 convenience. 
 
 From the Elysian Fields proceed on the 
 Exeter road through the turnpike, and pass a 
 plantation on the right, belonging to Lieut. - 
 General Walker ; a short distance further, on 
 the left, upon an elevated and commanding 
 situation, is Arcot House, the seat of Lieut. - 
 General Rumley. Entering the Honiton road, 
 upon the right, is Livonia Cottage, the property 
 of Capt. Elphinstone, R. N. ; and still further 
 on the left, at the road side, is Bloomjield Cot- 
 tage. 
 
 Returning to the vicarage, pass down the 
 Lyme road, and over a neat stone bridge, 
 through the turnpike ; on the right hand is 
 Mount Pleasant, the property of Mrs. Pollard ; 
 walk on the Salcombe side of the river Sid 
 towards the sea, and you will arrive at the 
 
V. 
 
 ■&%.*< 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 mill, directly opposite which is the private 
 foot-path to Salcombe Hill, the mansion of 
 George Cornish, Esq. This edifice, which has 
 a handsome colonade in front, and the luxuriant 
 and beautiful scenery with which it is sur- 
 rounded, enrich and adorn the eastern boundary 
 of Sidmouth. 
 
 Myrtle Cottage, decorated by the taste of 
 Miss Campbell, is delightfully situated, imme- 
 diately under Salcombe Hill — the exterior of 
 its garden is washed by theCSid. This lady has 
 added a green-house, and at a great expense, 
 very much enlarged and improved the premises, 
 contributing in an eminent degree to the truly 
 attractive scenery of Sidmouth. One of the 
 principal beauties of this scenery, is Egypt Cot- 
 tage, pleasantly perched, like a nest in a grove, 
 upon the lowest ridge of Salcombe Hill, di- 
 rectly above Myrtle Cottage, late the residence 
 of the Rev. G. J. Cornish. 
 
 From the grounds of George Cornish, Esq. 
 which extend to the sea, a ,.,ar view of the town 
 is to be obtained — the little bay in which it is 
 secluded— many of the indentations of the 
 coast-r-the deep-ribbed side of the high peak — - 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 the western boundary of the ever-memorable 
 Torbay, and Berry Head, which appears 
 plunging into the distant waves, and marking 
 the line which separates the sky from the land. 
 It is thought that the most extensive land view 
 is to be had from this eastern height ; the eye 
 ranges over a space of at least forty miles, and 
 rests the extremity of its vision upon the most 
 elevated points of Dartmoor. 
 
 It is necessary here to remark that the 
 grounds of Salcombe Hill are not accessible to 
 strangers without permission. Return to the 
 turnpike at Waterloo Bridge, and enter Sid 
 Lane. 
 
 On the left hand, delightfully situated in a 
 fine lawn, and surrounded with sylvan scenery, 
 is Salcomhe House, the property of the very 
 Rev. the Dean of York. The river, which runs 
 through the grounds, and on the side of which 
 there is a walk open to the public, is, especially 
 when swollen by rain, a fine feature in the 
 landscape. 
 
 A little beyond Salcombe House, is Hill's 
 Cottage, now the property of the Misses Leigh, 
 lateofSlade. On the ridithand of the lane 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 beyond, is the house of Mrs. Lyde, and in a 
 field nearly opposite, the elegant box of R. 
 Miles, Esq. At a still greater distance from 
 the town, lies Sid Cliffy the secluded and truly 
 romantic cottage of J. Bacon, Esq. originally 
 planned and laid out by the taste of Mrs. 
 Boehm, of London ; and considerably added to 
 and improved by its present proprietor. Be- 
 yond Sid Cliff is a fanciful building deno- 
 minated Sid Abbey, the residence of Capt. 
 Clarke ; the river Sid meanders at the bottom 
 of the garden, and the prospect from every 
 part of the dwelling, for richness and diversity, 
 cannot be exceeded. 
 
 For the indulgence of that occasional re- 
 tirement from the world, which is so conducive 
 to health of body, and to the refreshment and 
 vigour of the mind, and in which wise and vir- 
 tuous spirits have at all times so much delighted, 
 the immediate vicinity of Sidmouth is pecu- 
 liarly calculated : it abounds with lanes, many 
 of them of considerable length and variety, 
 more or less sequestered, and at all times per- 
 fectly safe — in which, either on foot or horse- 
 back, the delights of solitude, or of society upon 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 a small scale, may be enjoyed. The leach, on 
 the contrary, offers to such as are most happy 
 in a crowd, whose grand enjoyment it is to see 
 and be seen — a walk, in which, at almost all 
 times, amusement and health are to be found. 
 Few, indeed, are those days in the year, on 
 which, in some part or other of them, if not the 
 whole, a promenade on the beach is not dry and 
 agreeable. 
 
 NEW PROMENADE, CRICKET GROUND, AND 
 BOWLING GREEN. 
 
 The town of Sidmouth is infinitely indebted 
 to the exertions of a select number of gentle- 
 men, who have, at a considerable rent, taken a 
 lease of the Fort Field, and superintended the 
 execution according to their own plans, in im- 
 provements of great importance, for the com- 
 forts and enjoyments of the company resorting 
 to it. 
 
 The turf, which has been wholly taken up, 
 is newly laid and levelled for the cricket 
 ground — constantly rolled, swept, and kept in 
 perfect order. The club meet from the month 
 of May, every Monday throughout the season, 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 and play is continued all day. A marquee is 
 pitched upon an elevated spot of ground at the 
 northern extremity of the field, where a cold 
 dinner is provided for the members and their 
 friends, to the number of thirty persons; a 
 small tent, with attendants, being pitched next 
 the marquee. Adjoining this elevation is a fine 
 levelled spot for a Bowling Green, and round 
 the whole field there is formed a gravel walk, 
 five times round which is one mile and a half. 
 The Terrace at the southern extremity is a most 
 agreeable lounge, being provided with conve- 
 nient seats, and is one hundred and seventy feet 
 long, and twelve feet broad. The whole pro- 
 menade is enclosed with a light iron railing, 
 which excludes all improper company. The 
 terms of subscription are as follows : — 
 
 For a family for the year £1 1 
 
 For an individual 10 6 
 
 For a family for any period not ex- > Q , Q ~ 
 
 ceeding two months $ 
 
 For a single person for the same ? q 5 o 
 period $ 
 
 The principal houses in the town are, Myr- 
 tle Hall, the residence of Henry Manning, Esq. ; 
 that built by General Grinfield, now the pro- 
 H 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 perty and residence of H. Cutler, Esq. ; and 
 Mrs. Le Mar chant's. 
 
 Westward of the Terrace, at the southern 
 extremity of the Fort Field, is an embattled 
 wall, enclosing Belmont House, the most con- 
 venient and delightful residence of Lieut. Gen. 
 Walker. 
 
 Near it is a neat wooden bridge, over a 
 stream, which gives its name to Woolbrook Cot- 
 tage, situated at the upper part of a Ham, 
 through which this pretty rivulet winds its 
 course to the sea. This greatly admired and 
 lovely spot, was the short residence of their 
 Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of 
 Kent, with the Princess Victoria. His Royal 
 Highness, to the inexpressible sorrow of the na- 
 tion at large, breathed his last at this cottage, 
 January, 1820. 
 
 Near the bridge, and overlooking the 
 grounds of Woolbrook Cottage, is a pleasant 
 red brick dwelling, called Westmount; and upon 
 the left hand, fronting the sea, are five lodging 
 houses, denominated Clifton; a few yards 
 further west, is a pleasant house, called Rock 
 Cottage, which is for hire ; and beyond it is 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Clifton Cottage, much improved by the addition 
 of a rustic bridge, &c. and greatly admired, the 
 residence of — Crampton, Esq. 
 
 The last house previous to ascending Peak 
 Hill, is Cliff Cottage, one of the most luxuriantly 
 situated in Sidmouth. It commands an ex- 
 tensive and uninterrupted panoramic view, em- 
 bracing sea, cliffs, mountains, and vallies. 
 This retreat of Major Gray cannot be surpassed, 
 and although at the edge of a cliff, it has not 
 only a beautiful panterre of .flowers, but a 
 kitchen garden, abounding with the choicest 
 fruits and vegetables. In commemoration of 
 the victories obtained during the Peninsular 
 war, Major Gray, upon each anniversary, hoists 
 a St. George's ensign, on an elevated spot, 
 commanded by the whole promenade. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRYING AND PRE- 
 SERVING MARINE PLANTS. 
 
 All the smaller plants should be expanded 
 under water, in a plate, upon a piece of writing 
 paper, sunk to the bottom. In this state they 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 will assume their natural form and position. The 
 paper, with the plant upon it, must be with- 
 drawn from the water gently ; and the plant 
 and paper must afterwards be placed be- 
 tween two or three sheets of blotting-paper, 
 and pressed with a book or flat board. When 
 taken from hence, it is to be put between fresh 
 sheets of paper, until all the moisture appears 
 to be gone ; it is then to be laid up in a quire 
 of blotting-paper, under pressure, for a day or 
 two, when, if dry, it may be placed permanently 
 upon writing-paper. The larger coriaceous 
 kinds require a good deal of drying, in suc- 
 cessive changes of paper, and in a very dry 
 room, or near the fire. When once dried, and 
 put into a herbarium, they seldom become damp 
 again. 
 
 THE CLIMATE. 
 A SONNET, written upon a return to Sidmouth. 
 Sidmouth ! Hygeia's chosen seat ! 
 Again receive me : let me greet 
 Thy ruddy cliffs, thy pebbly beach, 
 Thy broad majestic ocean reach, 
 And streams that murmur thro' thy green retreat. 
 
 Thy primrose banks, thy balmy skies, 
 Thy lofty trees which graceful rise, 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Thy lanes and orchards, mountain-bound, 
 Thy fields with ceaseless verdure crown'd, 
 And every gem which Flora's hand supplies. 
 
 Sweet realm of peace, my chosen home, 
 
 To thee with joy again I come : 
 
 The lamp of life but dimly burns, 
 
 But when my step to thee returns, 
 With brighten'd ray shoots up the ruddy flame, 
 And lights afresh the renovated frame. 
 
 The air of Sidmouth is sometimes moist, but 
 always pure, and, with very few exceptions, 
 mild and soft. There are no stagnant waters 
 in its vicinity, but, as has been already re- 
 marked, a number of the purest streams con- 
 stantly flowing. 
 
 Many of the faculty think the air of Sid- 
 mouth equal to that of the south of France, and 
 very commonly recommend it to invalids, parti- 
 cularly to those who are affected by, or have a 
 tendency to, consumptions. The natives and 
 stated inhabitants of the place are, in general, 
 healthy and strong, and live to a good old age. 
 Eighty and ninety are ages frequently to be 
 met with, and some few live to more than a 
 hundred years. 
 
 A striking proof of the mildness of the Sid- 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 mouth air is, that both the large and small 
 leaved myrtles are planted out of doors, and 
 bear the winter without any shelter; against 
 many houses and garden walls, they rise to 
 a great height. All kinds of geraniums, phusias, 
 and other tender plants, flourish luxuriantly at 
 this place, with very little attention. 
 
 It is remarkable, that storms very seldom 
 occur in this part of Devonshire ; the thunder 
 is generally very distant, and the lightning mild 
 and beautiful ; it is often seen when no thunder 
 can be heard — a proof that the explosion takes 
 place at a great distance. 
 
 Occasional storms, however, are by no 
 means to be considered as an unnecessary part 
 of the economy of nature. " After, by a storm, 
 the lower stratum of the atmosphere has been 
 throughly mixed with the surface of the water of 
 the sea, the air is more pure and salubrious. Even 
 hurricanes improve the healthiness of the cli- 
 mates where they take place." How just, as 
 well as pious upon this subject, is the remark 
 of Dr. Buchan ! " Thus, while contemplating the 
 * tempest, that in its rage appears to convolve 
 " sea and sky, we learn to revere the Author of 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 ff nature, who in his wisdom has ordained this 
 " awful instrument, which, while it sweeps 
 " from the surface of the earth that noxious va- 
 " pour, whose accumulation would eventually 
 " put an end to animal existence, blends it with 
 " the agitated waters of the ocean, in whose bo- 
 u som it becomes harmless, and is, probably, 
 " rendered subservient to some useful purpose." 
 
 Sometimes, atSidmouth, as in other parts of 
 England, a very hot day occurs, but it is seldom 
 that even in such cases, ±he heat is not tem- 
 pered by a refreshing breeze. 
 
 The West of England has been commonly 
 considered as more rainy than almost any other 
 part of the island. This is by no means a well- 
 established fact. A gentleman at Plymouth, not 
 long ago, assured us in one of the periodical 
 publications, that by comparing the accounts 
 which he, and a friend of his in the upper part 
 of Yorkshire, had kept for some years, of the 
 quantity of rain which fell in those two distant 
 points, the balance was in favour of the west ; 
 that is, during that period more rain fell in 
 Yorkshire than at Plymouth. In the vicinity 
 of the sea, and in the neighbourhood of lofty 
 
THE BEAUTIES OP 
 
 hills, it may, perhaps, be admitted, that in 
 general more rain falls than in an open level 
 country. 
 
 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Lowest State of the Thermometer at the following places, 
 
 Friday Morning, February 9, 1816. 
 
 o ' 
 
 Stamford Hall, Leicestershire, a little ? j q 
 after eight o'clock in the morning. . § 
 
 Nottingham, half-past seven , . . . . 4 2 
 
 Exeter, by a Register 18 
 
 Heavitree, at eight 21 
 
 Sidmouth, by a Register 21 
 
 Lowest State of the Tliermometer at the following places, 
 Saturday Morning, January 15, 1820. 
 
 Blackheath below Zero. 
 
 Stratford, near Bow 1 
 
 Tottenham, Middlesex 1 
 
 Lewes, Sussex 2§ 
 
 Eltham,Kent 4 
 
 Staffordshire 6 
 
 Shropshire 7 
 
 Barton-Street, Westminster 9 
 
 Exeter 13| 
 
 Sidmouth 16 
 
 The Thermometer at Sidmouth, situated 
 north-east at Wallis's Royal Marine Library, 
 during the severe January of 1820, average 36°, 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 was never below 16°, and several days between 
 40° and 50°. 
 
 NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 Among the cliffs, and in the beautiful shady 
 lanes of Sidmouth, the lover of natural history 
 may find much to study, and much to amuse 
 him. The botanist may cull a variety of plants, 
 and the admirer of fossils collect many of the cu- 
 rious internal productions of the earth. Pholens 
 of great beauty are occasionally met with ; and 
 the stones of the cliffs, many of them, are mixed 
 with echinoe marinoe, petrified coral, and other 
 similar productions. The cornu ammonis is to 
 be found here, of all sizes ; one of the in- 
 habitants of the town has got a very fine one, 
 of an embellished metallic appearance, above 
 twenty inches in diameter, which he found in 
 the cliffs. 
 
 In the little basins, worn by the waves in the 
 rocks, elegant corallines abound ; and not un- 
 frequently that wonderful marine production, 
 the aemone, or animal flower. It is difficult, 
 indeed impossible, to decide to which of the 
 kingdoms of nature, the animal or vegetable, 
 I 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 this half- animated substance belongs. It pos- 
 sesses a kind of fungus consistency, by which it 
 adheres to the rocks, while the part presented 
 to the eye has the appearance of a multitude of 
 small snakes, of various and beautiful colours, 
 which diverging from a centre, spread into a 
 circle, something like the corolla of the anemone, 
 from which it derives its name — these threads 
 are in constant motion. This creature is found 
 in the little pools among the rocks, generally 
 covered with water. 
 
 Spars , transparent and crystalized, in va- 
 rious forms, particularly the rhomboidal and hex- 
 angular, are found in various parts of Devon- 
 shire. On a great number of the lime rocks, 
 calcareous incrustations are found. Lime and 
 marble are produced in almost all parts of the 
 country, except in the moor-stone districts. 
 Many of these marbles, as the chimney-pieces 
 of most of the new houses of Sidmouth prove, 
 for their hardness and beautiful veinings, rival 
 the best Italian marble, and when polished, fall 
 very little short of it in lustre. Most of the 
 marble of Devonshire which is not black, is a 
 sort of flesh colour, with brownish spots and 
 veins of different shades. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Lime upon this coast is in general very plen- 
 tiful, and some of it of a very good quality. It 
 is used in great quantities for manure, as well 
 as the usual purposes to which it is applied. 
 
 Alabaster is found in great plenty in the cliffs 
 near Sidmouth, as well as in various other parts 
 of Devonshire ; its texture is granular, with shi- 
 ning particles : it is a deposition from the water 
 that distils from the lime-stone rocks. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 As Geology, a branch of science so highly 
 interesting itself, is every day becoming more 
 popular, the author of this work is happy in ha * 
 ving it in his power to enrich it with the follow- 
 ing geological remarks upon South Devon, from 
 the pen of Mr. Robert Bakewell, Mineralogical 
 Surveyor, the well known author of the Intro- 
 duction to Geology, &c. 
 
 " To the Rev. E. Butcher, 
 
 "My dear Sir, 
 
 "In compliance with your request to com- 
 municate my observations on the geology of the 
 country in the vicinity of Sidmouth, I send you 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 the following brief remarks on some of the lead- 
 ing features, which may interest the general 
 reader. 
 
 "The southern coast, from Portland Head 
 to Exmouth, exhibits a fine section of the diffe- 
 rent strata as they rise in succession to the 
 south-west, the sea having laid bare the surface, 
 and presented a perpendicular face of rock nearly 
 along the whole line. The southern counties, 
 east of Portland, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, 
 are almost exclusively occupied with rocks of 
 the chalk formation, and their accompanying 
 beds of sand and clay. The roe-stone which 
 succeeds, terminates at Portland. Between 
 Portland and Bridport Bay there appears to 
 have been a considerable break in the strata, 
 and the green sand, which, in its regular posi- 
 tion, is above the roe-stone, may be seen rising 
 from the sea, east of Bridport; this stratum, 
 which is provincially called fox mold, extends 
 far to the west, as we shall have subsequently to 
 observe. 
 
 "The blue lias, covered by the green sand, 
 rises from the sea near Bridport, and extends 
 from thence to the river Ax, with little inter- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 ruption. This is the most remarkable and best 
 characterized of any of the British strata. The 
 whole thickness of this bed cannot be less than 
 two hundred yards. It is composed of nume- 
 rous thin strata of dark grey lime-stone, combi- 
 ned with much clay and iron, and some manga- 
 nese. Many of the strata form an excellent 
 water lime-stone ; the beds of dark clay which 
 intervene, abound with pyrites, and have been 
 known to take fire spontaneously. The strata 
 rises gradually to the south-west, but there are 
 numerous faults, or breaks, which throw them 
 down on the western side of such breaks from 
 ten to thirty feet. 
 
 "Large masses from the perpendicular cliffs 
 of lias are constantly falling down, and disco- 
 vering the imbedded petrifactions of numerous 
 tribes of extinct animals. The lias lime-stone 
 is the lowest of the British lime-stones that con- 
 tain the remains of oviparous quadrupeds, or of 
 any vertebrated animals, that is, such which 
 have a brain and spinal marrow. Remains of 
 fossil alligators, in a mutilated state, are very 
 frequently found. 1 was fortunate enough to 
 obtain part of a small jaw, very perfect ; on 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 comparing it with the drawings of Cuvier, it 
 nearly resembles that of the Gangetic Crocodile. 
 About a mile west of Lyme, there is a small for- 
 mation of chalk at Pinney, resting on the fox- 
 mole, over the lias. The lias continues to near 
 Axminster, where several of the lower beds lose 
 their dark grey colour, and are called white lias. 
 This white lias may be seen distinctly resting 
 on the red marie east of Axminster. 
 
 " It may be proper to observe, that the same 
 bed of lias runs northward, through Dorset, 
 Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire, and into 
 some of the northern counties of England, car- 
 rying with it, in its whole extent, numerous fos- 
 sil remains of ammonites, pentacrinites, nauti- 
 lites, scaly fish, and the bones of alligators. 
 Near Bath, it is more indurated and crystaline 
 than in Dorsetshire. The red marie, which 
 succeeds the lias, is suddenly broken on the 
 west side of the Ax, and a small formation of 
 chalk makes its appearance at Beer, where we 
 are presented with a fantastic range of chalk 
 rocks and caverns, the chalk forming perpendi- 
 cular cliffs, projecting into the sea. The fox- 
 mold, or green sand, succeeds, and then the red 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 marie, which extends from near Beer to Sid- 
 mouth, and to the west of Exmouth, constitu- 
 ting a range of precipitous cliffs, rising from the 
 sea more than 600 feet, in several parts of its 
 course, particularly in Salcombe and Peak Hills. 
 The red marie, as it has been denominated by 
 some geologists, consists of silicious particles, 
 mixed with clay, and deeply coloured by the red 
 oxyd of iron ; various beds of stratified sand- 
 stone occur in it, particularly at Heavitree, 
 near Exeter ; these strata are evidently of me- 
 chanical formation, and contain imbedded frag- 
 ments of slate, and amygdaloid, similar to the 
 rocks on the west of Exeter. 
 
 "Geologists have been perplexed, in at- 
 tempting to class the red marie with the rocks 
 in Werner's system, some supposing it to occupy 
 the place of what he denominates the old red 
 sand-stone. But without stopping to inquire 
 what place it occupies in any geological system, 
 I will briefly state what place it really occupies 
 in Devonshire. 
 
 " I have before observed, that it rises from 
 under the lias lime-stone ; now where this lime- 
 stone occurs, it is always above the coal forma- 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 tion, but, in the south of Devon, the coal forma- 
 tion is entirely wanting, and also the mountain 
 lime-stone under the coal, and the red marie 
 supplies the place of both, extending from the 
 river Ax to some miles west of the Exe, where 
 it is found resting on coarse slate, provincially 
 called skillet. — The east side of Exeter stands 
 on the red marie, the west on the slate or shillet. 
 Near the termination of red marie on the west, 
 various rocks of balsatic formation, provincially 
 called dun-stone, frequently occur between the 
 slate and red marie, and in many parts the rocks 
 of dun-stone project through the red marie. 
 
 "The dun-stone differs much in its quality; 
 in some parts it is a sienite, and passes into 
 green-stone, or trap, in other parts it is more like 
 what the Germans would call a compact grey 
 wacke ; sometimes it assumes all the appearance 
 of real lava, containing numerous hollow cells, 
 and presenting a dry and burnt aspect : in this 
 state it cannot be distinguished from many vol- 
 canic lavas. Were 1 to hazard a conjecture re- 
 specting the formation of the red marie, I should 
 say that it had been derived from the debris, or 
 waste, of extensive basaltic rocks, of which the 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 present rocks of dun-stone are only the remains; 
 and it adds probability to this opinion, that the 
 red marie on the east side of the dun-stone is 
 always filled with the fragments of the same 
 kind of rock with that which is in its more im- 
 mediate vicinity. For a knowledge of this fact, I 
 am indebted to B. W. Johnson, Esq. Surgeon, 
 Exeter. The red marie in some parts, contains 
 beds of gypsum, and I should not think it im- 
 probable that rock salt, or brine-springs, may 
 exist in some parts of Devon, occupied by this 
 extensive stratum. I now return to speak of 
 the green sand or fox-mold, which, though a 
 member of the chalk formation, and immediately 
 subjacent to chalk, is carried not only over the 
 lias, but over the red marie, and forms caps on 
 many of the highest hills, from Black Down, 
 on the east, to Hal Down, six miles west of 
 Exeter; it contains numerous silicious masses 
 conglomerated, in which a kind of opaque horn- 
 stone may be traced, passing in to flint — the flint 
 also may be traced passing into beautiful calce- 
 dony, and the calcedony again forming into 
 quartz crystals. I am satisfied that the process 
 is now going on, though we are at present un- 
 K 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF, &C 
 
 acquainted with the causes by which it is effected . 
 Numerous marine shells, ammonites, &c. occur 
 in the green sand, proving incontestibly, that 
 the highest hills in this part of Devonshire were 
 once buried under the waves of the ocean, of 
 which we have also a further proof in the heaps 
 of rounded pebbles and gravel on the high 
 ground between Sidinouth and Exeter. It 
 would be foreign to the purport of my letter to 
 describe the rocks below the red marie and 
 dun-stone, but I may just observe, that the 
 slate round Dartmoor is remarkably twisted and 
 bent, and contains in some parts beds of tran- 
 sition-limestone ; it is succeeded by granite, 
 which forms the base and summit of Dartmoor, 
 and extends from thence, with some interrup- 
 tion, to the Land's End in Cornwall. 
 I am, &c. 
 
 ROB. BAKEWELL." 
 
 " 13, Tavistock-Street, Bedford Sqwre, 
 May 16, 1816." 
 
Amongst the attractions of a watering-place, 
 those which are contained in the country imme- 
 diately about it, must always be reckoned as 
 some of the most considerable. It will be the 
 object of this small volume, to point out the 
 principal rides which branch out from Sidmouth. 
 
 The vicinity of Sidmouth, as has been al- 
 ready observed, is peculiarly fitted for pleasant 
 rambles, and short picturesque rides. There 
 are also several places in its neighbourhood, 
 which may serve as good objects for still longer 
 excursions ; and of some of these it will be de- 
 sirable to give a somewhat detailed account. 
 
 Sidmouth is distant from Otterton four 
 miles — from Bicton House, the seat of Lord 
 Rolle, four and half — from Budleigh Salterton 
 seven — from Exmouth twelve — from Dawlish 
 
 sixteen — from Teignmouth nineteen from 
 
 Harpford through its beautiful wood four — from 
 St.Mary Ottery seven — from Honitonten — from 
 Salcombe two — the "Wild Glen, and village 
 of Branscombe six — from Beer seven — from 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 Seaton ten — from Coliton nine — from Lyme six- 
 teen —from Axrninster sixteen. 
 
 RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, EASTWARD. 
 SALCOMBE, 
 
 or the Salt Vale, now called Salcombe Regis, 
 is a small parish, east of Sid mouth, between 
 two and three miles broad from west to east, 
 that is, from Sidmouth town to a place in Brans- 
 combe, called Weston Mouth. The sea coast 
 of it is thus described — " The cliff beyond Sid- 
 mouth is of a red stone, beyond which there is 
 a narrow valley, at the upper end of which the 
 church of Salcombe is situated. Beyond this 
 valley rises another hill, having a high steep 
 cliff towards the sea, the lower part of which is 
 of red stone, and the upper part of freestone. 
 Dipping towards the sea, on Salcombe Head, 
 there is a quarry where stones are dug, as they 
 are likewise in a narrow vale, which runs up 
 between Salcombe Head and Dunscombe, the 
 next headland eastward. The stone here lies 
 near the surface in some places. The eastern 
 side of this hill seems to have been much 
 worked, and there is little doubt that the Sal- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 combe stone, of which so great a quantity was 
 used in building the cathedral of Exeter, was 
 dug on the side of this hill ; for there are very 
 few quarries in any other part of the parish. 
 
 The principal sorts of freestone found in 
 Devonshire, are dug in the adjoining parishes 
 of Salcombe, Branscombe and Beer. That at 
 Salcombe is a sandy grit, closely united, rather 
 coarser than the Portland stone, and very hard. 
 It works easily in the quarry. A proof how 
 well it bears the weatherr is to be seen at the 
 cathedral of Exeter, the outside of which is all 
 built of Salcombe stone, and though some of it 
 has been erected six hundred years, it is very 
 little, if at all, worn by the weather. The 
 Branscombe stone is not supposed to bear the 
 weather so well ; and the freestone of Beer is 
 of a much softer nature, and finer grit than that 
 of Salcombe. When he>vn out of the quarry, 
 the freestone of Beer cuts as soft as the Bath 
 stone, which it greatly resembles. 
 
 The principal village of this parish is Seed, 
 a long straggling place, which has been al- 
 ready mentioned as lying by the river Sid, and 
 containing Salcombe House, Hill's Cottage, 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 Sid Cliff, and the house called Sid Abbey. The 
 road from Sidraouth to Lyme passes through it 
 and falls into the road from Exeter to Lyme, a 
 little to the eastward of Sidford. The hill, 
 which begins at this junction, is called Trow 
 Hill, and on the top of it, towards the sea, lies 
 Trow, a village of six or seven houses. 
 
 Knole or Knowl, a house charmingly situ- 
 ated in a small luxuriant valley on the north of 
 Trow Hill, a good view of which is to be ob- 
 tained from a gate at the top, has long been the 
 property and residence of the Woolcotts. 
 
 Slacle House, placed at the head of the 
 beautiful and richly wooded vale of Dunscombe, 
 commands a delightful view of the sea : it was 
 built by the late William Leigh, Esq. and is now 
 the residence of his son. The estate formerly 
 belonged to the Michell's, of Salcombe ; it 
 would fully repay the visitor who admires mag- 
 nificent rock scenery, to walk to the opening of 
 Dunscombe valley — description would fall 
 short of the richness and grandeur of this spot, 
 and it must be viewed to be appreciated. 
 
 Salcombe church, a small edifice, but built 
 upon a handsome model, is dedicated to St. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Peter, whose image, with the insignia of the 
 keys, appears on the outside of the chancel 
 window. There is a room adjoining the church, 
 called the chapel, which was, probably, a place 
 of worship before the church was built. 
 
 In this church not many monumental in- 
 scriptions remain. 
 
 Over a pew in the middle aisle, opposite to 
 the pulpit, is a mural monument, which was 
 long since erected to the memory of the family 
 ofMichell, of Slade, in tjiis parish. On this 
 monument are the arms of Michell, impaling 
 those of Rowe, and the inscription has been 
 continued, and includes the date of the death of 
 Captain Thomas Michell, the last male of the 
 name, on the 8th of September, 1785, by his 
 only nephew, the late Sir Isaac Heard, Garter 
 Principal King of Arms. 
 
 This family of Michell, previously to their 
 removal to Slade, resided for nearly two cen- 
 turies in a mansion called " Sea-side House" 
 within the parish of Eranscombe, (now a farm- 
 house belonging to Lord Rolle,)its situation is 
 salubrious, beautiful, and luxuriant, and near the 
 sea. There is an interesting tradition in the 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 family, which has been conveyed to as by a res- 
 pectable authority, viz : — That when James, 
 Duke of Monmouth, landed at Lyme, in June 
 1685, a great nnmber of people followed him 
 and his party ; many from ignorance, many 
 from curiosity, and doubtless some, perhaps 
 many, from dislike to the government of King 
 James II. After the defeat of the Duke at 
 Sedgemore, the West of England was subjected 
 to the most wanton ravages of military tyranny, 
 under the orders of Feversham and his followers. 
 The savage, Kirke, became the executioner of 
 numbers, at and in the vicinity of Bridgewater ; 
 and the inhuman and infamous Jefferies fol- 
 lowed, to complete, by the rigours of the law, 
 the work of destruction. Hundreds of poor, 
 ignorant, and undesigning " rebels" (as they 
 were called) were condemned to death by terri- 
 fied juries, and their quarters hung up in ter- 
 rorem, in the different cross- ways. Pomfret, in 
 his poem entitled " Cruelty and Lust," has pa- 
 thetically described the monster Kirke ! 
 
 According to the tradition above mentioned, 
 a number of these unfortunate persons informed 
 against for having been seen among Monmouth's 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 followers, yet wholly innocent as to any overt 
 act of rebellion, or intention of committing any 
 offensive acts, were sheltered in a cavern, or 
 secret recess or recesses, on the sea-shore, 
 near to Sea-side House, the mansion of the 
 Michells, and supported with provisions by 
 John Michell, Esq. the great-grandfather of 
 Sir Isaac Heard, and his wife, during several 
 weeks : or, at least, until the fury of the judge 
 and executioners, and the rigour of the govern- 
 ment under James, had begun to subside. 
 
 The above-mentioned John Michell, (who 
 was a steady adherent to the royalist party), paid 
 ,£140. as a composition for his estate, as ap- 
 pears by a list of the nobility, clergy, and gentry, 
 who compounded for their estates in Devonshire, 
 in 1655. The estate was afterwards wrested 
 from him by the violence of the times, but re- 
 purchased — yet he met rather better treatment 
 than many others ; — for William Isack, of Git- 
 tisham, Esq. father of his wife Joan, was con- 
 sidered to be a strong adherent of the Crom- 
 wellian interest. This John Michell died in 
 1710, aged 80— his wife Joan, the sole daughter 
 and heir of the said William Isack, in Septem- 
 L 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 ber, 1730, aged 100— and Ursula Micbell, his 
 mother, whose family name was Drake, died in 
 1690, aged also 100. These three persons were 
 buried in Branscombe Church ; and their ad- 
 vanced ages may be adduced as some proof of 
 the salubrity of the air in which they resided. 
 
 Risdon says, " Salcombe is a place num- 
 " bered amongst those which King Canute be- 
 '* queathed to the church of St. Peter, in Exe- 
 "ter, to expatiate his father Swaine's barba- 
 " rous cruelty against the church in these parts." 
 A neat modern parsonage-house, situated near 
 the church, at the foot of a beautiful little hill, 
 has a peculiarly snug and comfortable appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The village itself consists of about eight 
 houses, including Coombe, a farm about two- 
 thirds of the way between the church and the 
 sea, and under delightful hanging woods, the 
 residence of Mr. William Follett. Few places 
 are more susceptible of improvement than this 
 charming spot. Nature has done so much, that 
 art has only to bestow a few embellishing 
 touches : there is much to adorn, but nothing 
 to create. 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 "England's Gazetteer," published in 1751, 
 under the article V Salcombe," says, " In the 
 " civil wars, here was a fort, called Charles 
 " Fort, bravely defended against the Parliament 
 " forces, by Sir Edmund Fortescue, though he 
 '* was at last forced to capitulate." 
 
 BRANSCOMBE 
 
 lies east of Salcombe. This is a most romantic 
 spot ; the lofty cliffs whi6h defend it from the 
 sea, are, in many parts "of it, parallelled at a 
 small distance, by inland hills, which abound 
 with orchards, hanging woods, and enclosures, 
 covered with grass or grain. Three vallies, 
 forming a sort of triangle, meet near the church, 
 which stands nearly in the middle of the parish. 
 Through each of these vallies rapid streams 
 descend, which uniting in the bottom, flow on 
 together to the ocean. Branscombeis separated 
 from Beer by a small brook. " It coasteth the 
 " sea," says Kisdon, " and is full of coombes 
 " and vallies." 
 
 In Weston, a village of four farm houses, all 
 but one of which are in ruins, John Stuckey, 
 Esq. some years ago erected a handsome man- 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 sion : the old mansion and estate descended to 
 him by inheritance ; by him it was bequeathed 
 to J. Bartlet Sluckey Bartlet, Esq. 
 
 Edge or Egge, in this parish, situated on an 
 oval hill, was the dwelling-place of Richard 
 Branscombe, in the reign of Edward III. It 
 soon afterwards came to £ir John Wadham, 
 the judge; who, though remarkable for fluency 
 of speech, never talked but with gravity and 
 discretion, and who tempered all his words and 
 actions with spirit and judgment: his reputa- 
 tion as a lawyer was very high. To his original 
 estates he made many additions, among which 
 ■was the rich manor of Silverton. He died in 
 the reign of Henry IV. and was most probably 
 buried in the family vault in Branscombe 
 church. The family of "Wadham, who derived 
 their name from the place of their origin and 
 habitation, Wadham, near Southmolton, pos- 
 sessed Edge for eight descents, in a direct line, 
 Jive of whom were knights. The last of the 
 family, Nicholas Wadham, of Edge, married 
 Dorothy, the daughter of Sir William Petre. 
 Having no issue, his sister's children became his 
 heirs ; but as he had made a very large addition 
 

SIDMOUTH. 
 
 to his patrimony, he determined to lay it out 
 in founding a college. To him, therefore, and 
 Dorothy his wife, Oxford is indebted for the 
 foundation and establishment of WadhamCollege. 
 Branscombe Church, dedicated to St. Wi- 
 nifred, supposed to have been a native of De- 
 vonshire, is larger than St. Peter's, at Salcombe. 
 It contains some monuments : on that erected 
 to the memory of John Wadham, " time," says 
 Prince, " has rendered somewhat imperfect, 
 " the following inscription : 
 
 " Here lieth intombed,^the body of a virtuous and 
 ancient gentlewoman, descended of the ancient house 
 of the Plantagenets, sometime of Cornwall, namely, 
 Joan, oneof the daughters and heirsunto JohnTregarthin, 
 in the county of Cornwall, Esq. She was first married 
 unto John Kellaway, Esq. who had by her much issue : 
 after his death, she was married to John Wadham, of 
 Merifield, in the county of Somerset, Esq. and by him 
 
 had children. She lived a virtuous and godly life, 
 
 and died in an honourable age, September .in the 
 
 year of Christ, 1581." 
 
 BEER 
 is a small place, lying between very steep hills, 
 about a mile from Seaton. Many of the houses 
 are built of free-stone, from the famous free- 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF 
 
 stone quarry. The Cove is well calculated for 
 fishing, and from its situation, capable of being 
 made one of the best fishing places in the king- 
 dom. Great quantities offish are caught and 
 brought in here ; but a much larger quantity is 
 sent off, by contract, to the markets of Taunton 
 and Bath, and some even to London. 
 
 JSovey, a very ancient seat in this manor, 
 was the inheritance of the Walronds, of Brad- 
 field, near Collumpton. It was the property of 
 the late Lady Rolle, the only surviving daughter 
 of William Walrond, Esq. and has been for 
 several years past occupied by N.T. Still, Esq. 
 A. B. the Resident Director at Mount Radford 
 College, Exeter. It is a very old irregular build- 
 ing of free-stone. "The chapel here," says Ris- 
 don, " should seem to be founded by the Wal- 
 ronds, as their arms are cut in the moor-stone 
 pillars, just at the bottom of the arches." " On 
 visiting Bovey some years since," says a gentle- 
 man, " I was pleased with the venerable appear- 
 ance of the house, and every object around it : 
 it was then the residence of the widow of Mr. 
 Walrond, just mentioned. There was something 
 unusually striking in the antique mansion — the 
 
I 
 

 ^q 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 old rookery behind it, the mossy pavement of 
 the court, the raven in the porch, grey with 
 years, and even the domestiss hoary in service 
 « — they were all growc old together." 
 
 The parish church is dedicated to St. Gre- 
 gory. It is an anc ent fee-stone building, 
 slated ; the tower low and heavy, containing 
 four bells. A handscme marble monument in 
 the church bears the fallowing inscription : 
 
 Sacred to the memory of William Walrond, Esq. 
 who died at Bo vey, in 1762, agea forty-five years; and 
 of his first wife and infant son : also of Sarah Oke, his 
 second wife, by whom he had issue, Sarah, Courtenay- 
 William, and Judith-Maria. Of these, the last, and 
 only surviving one, wife of John Rolle, Esq. M. P. for 
 Devon, erected this monument in respect of the best of 
 parents, and at the request of her mother, who departed 
 this life February the 1st, 1787, ? ;ed 67." 
 
 The vicarage-houso, near the church, is an 
 old building. In this paris'j is one dissenting 
 chapel. On an eminenc* ailed South Down, 
 is a most delightful anl c .tensive prospect by 
 sea, from Portland to t ie Mart Point ; — by land 
 of a great part of the cc itie of Dorset, Somer- 
 set, and Devon. The ; i employment of the 
 inhabitants here, and it Seaton, is fishing, in 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 which they are very expert. They are reckoned 
 together, in both parishes, about fifteen hundred, 
 in general strong and healthy. At the head of 
 Beer, a pure spring rises out of the flint rock, 
 and runs in a clear current through the town. 
 
 SEATON 
 is a small town, "lying full upon the sea," irregu- 
 larly built, and consisting chiefly of one street. 
 Its situation is low and marshy; its hedges are 
 weU wooded ; its roads are narrow, but good, 
 and give scope for very pleasant walks and 
 rides ; its beach, though not so fine as that at 
 Sidmouth, affords an agreeable promenade. 
 
 This place is memorable for the landing of 
 the Danish princes in the year 937 ; as also for 
 the attempt of the inhabitants of Colyton to 
 make a port there, which they gravely named 
 Colyton Haven, and procured a collection under 
 the great seal of England, for the levying of 
 money to effect their purpose : " Of this work," 
 says Risdon, " there remains no monument," 
 nor is the spot known where it was intended to 
 be. 
 
 Salcombe, Branscombe, Beer, and Seaton, 
 
mm 
 

SIDMOUTH. 
 
 are all on the coast, and lie to the south of the 
 road from Sidmouth to Lyme : the only places 
 to the north of it, which oui plan leads us to 
 point out, are Colyton and Shi te. 
 
 COLYTON, 
 
 nine miles from Sidmouth, and about a mile to 
 the north of Colyford, a small village, through 
 which runs the turnpike roaa from Sidmouth 
 to Lyme, is a small market town, situated on 
 the western side of the Coly, where it falls into 
 the Axe. It is a compact litt e place, and has 
 a good market-house, a school-house, and a 
 neat Presbyterian chap al. A large house, be- 
 come by the exchange of land? and inheritance 
 the property of Sir Wil iam dti la Pole, is the 
 most considerable build-, ng- in \he place. The 
 situation of Colyton is n ost delightful, lying in 
 a beautiful and fertile vallejl, through which 
 the Coly and the Axe roll theiriwinding streams 
 to the sea. The views from niany parts in the 
 vicinity of the town are extijemely beautiful, 
 being finely varied by a mixture of hill, vale, 
 river and sea. The en iosures are high edges, 
 planted in general with elm-trees. The houses 
 M 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 are, for the most part, built of free and flint 
 stone, and very neatly thatched. Colyton is a 
 good dairy parish, remarkable for its rich 
 batter and its " skim-milk" cheeses. The 
 town, in the time of William the Conqueror, 
 belonged to the crown. Richard I. gave it, 
 together with Whitford, to Thomas Basset, 
 nephew of Walter Dunstanvil. King John 
 granted an annual fair to continue eight days. 
 
 The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a 
 strong stone edifice. The tower, which al- 
 together looks handsome, consists apparently 
 of one tower built upon another; the upper 
 part is octagonal, raised on a large square 
 structure that divides the church from the 
 chancel. In this tower are six bells. On the 
 southern side of the chancel is an enclosed 
 burial-place, belonging to the De la Poles, 
 highly ornamented with statutes and other mo- 
 numental decorations. In an enclosed burial 
 place, the property of Sir George Yonge's fa- 
 mily, on the northern side of the chancel, there 
 is a small font for holy water. Under a stone 
 canopy, in a small northern aisle, is the image 
 of a girl, apparently about five years old. Over 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 her are the Royal and the Courtenay arms. She 
 is said to have been a granddaughter of Ed- 
 ward IV. by one of his daughters, who was mar- 
 ried to a Courtenay of Colcombe. Her death 
 being, as was reported, occasioned by a fish- 
 bone sticking in her throat, she is vulgarly called 
 " the little choke-a-bone." 
 
 A new chapel, belonging to Dissenters, of 
 Calvinistic sentiments, has been lately erected 
 at Colyton ; the pulpit originally in the church, 
 was formerly occupied by Dr. Manton, whose 
 ponderous volume of sermons on the 119th 
 psalm, is said to have had considerable influ- 
 ence in making the celebrated Lord Shaftesbury 
 an unbeliever. 
 
 Shute, a small parish, contains the village 
 of Whitford, on the western side of the Axe : it 
 consists of about twenty houses. A great part 
 of a very old seat called Shute House, was de- 
 stroyed by its late owner, and a handsome mo- 
 dern habitation erected upon a larger scale. 
 New Shute House, begun in 1787, is distant 
 from the old mansion two furlongs, south east. 
 It is a magnificent stone building, very plea- 
 santly situated under Shute Hill, the residence 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 of Sir William Templer Pole, Bart. The as- 
 pect is nearly south by east. It has a delightful 
 view in front, with a very handsome lawn, and 
 is about four miles from the sea. " The plan of 
 the house is a square of about sixty-eight feet, 
 with two handsome wings, connected with the 
 body by corridores. The principal rooms are, 
 a dining-parlour, forty feet by twenty three, 
 fifteen in height; a drawing-room, thirty-six 
 feet by twenty-three, of the same height; a large 
 breakfast-parlour, and a handsome library. The 
 entrance has a portico of the Doric order, with 
 columns; and the vestibule, fifteen feet wide, 
 leads to a very grand geometrical Portland- 
 stone staircase." 
 
 On Shute Hill is an ancient fire-beacon, in 
 good preservation. The church, dedicated to 
 St. Peter, is a small stone building, and contains 
 several monuments of the family of Sir John 
 William de la Pole, and also some of the Tem- 
 pler family. 
 
 Soon after crossing the river from Colyford, 
 on the right hand of the road, the traveller is 
 presented with a view ofStedcombe, the delight- 
 ful residence of — Hallet, Esq. The sweet se- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 elusion in which it stands, the bright verdure 
 and rich foliage with which it is surrounded, 
 and the air of substantial comfort which the 
 house affords, furnish altogether a train of plea- 
 surable sensations. "The hill ofStedcombe," 
 says Polwhele, "gradually rising from the ex- 
 tensive level of the marshes to a conical height, 
 suggests the idea of Mount Vesuvius. It is 
 richly wooded, and a stream of water runs at its 
 foot." Nothing is wanted to complete the har- 
 mony of the whole scene, but that the house 
 should be white. 
 
 RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, NORTHWARDS. 
 
 Between Sidmouth and Honiton, the only places are Sidford, 
 Sidbury, and Gittisham* 
 
 SIDFORD. 
 
 is a small village, about two miles from Sidmouth, 
 of the form of the letter L ; at the east 
 end of the longest part is a neat stone bridge 
 of one arch, over the river Sid, which rises in 
 this parish from five heads, and, after flowing 
 through the hamlets of Sandcome, Harcombe, 
 Levercombe, Lyncombe, and Buscombe, are 
 united in one stream, and falls, after a beautiful 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 serpentine course, into the sea at Sidmouth. In 
 this village, tradition records a house in which 
 Charles II. slept one night, after the narrow es- 
 cape he had of being discovered by a blacksmith 
 at Lyme, who was employed in shoeing the 
 horse on which he rode: this was just before 
 his escape to the Continent. Even loyalty will 
 perhaps, read with a smile, that the good lady, 
 who was at that time the mistress of the house, 
 never afterwards entered the room in which the 
 royal fugitive had slept, without making a low 
 courtesy. 
 
 SIDBURY 
 
 is a large parish, sixteen miles in circumference, 
 surrounded by and containing a multitude of 
 hills. The rides and walks in it are uncom- 
 monly various and beautiful. The town is, 
 upon the whole, a mean-looking place, where a 
 great deal of lace is made. It has a stone bridge 
 of one large arch,and two places of worship — a 
 church and a dissenting meeting-house ; both 
 are situated near Court Hall, which is the old 
 manor-house, and now the property of Robert 
 Hunt, Esq. lord of the manor, by whom it has 
 

 ~~;: ■ .Aft 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 been repaired and beautified, and divided into 
 two dwellings, both of which, as Mr. Hunt re- 
 sides at Woodhouse, are let. Woodhouse be- 
 longed, in the time of Richard II. to John de 
 Woodhouse, whose ancestors were called De 
 Eosco. A little way beyond Sidbury is Cofford 
 or Cotesf or d House, a very pleasant modernized 
 residence, the proptrty and winter abode of 
 the Dean of York. i?he church, dedicated to 
 St. Giles, is a uniform structure : it had for- 
 merly an organ, and the tower contains six 
 musical bells. 
 
 Under Castle Hill stands Castle House, 
 occupied by Captain Wood, which commands a 
 wonderfully fine and c ^tensive prospect, and is 
 itself a conspicuous object from Sidmouth 
 beach, Peak Hill, and a number of other places. 
 
 The parsonage honse, rebuilt by the Rev. 
 Henry Fellowes in the cottage style, with a 
 veranda, is delightfully situated on the side of 
 a hill, to the south of the church. 
 
 Near Sidbury is Sand, where a large and ve- 
 nerable mansion, now occupied as a farm-house, 
 is thus described by Risdon — " At Sand, the 
 Huish family have a most dainty dwelling." 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 Its situation is beautiful ; and many parts being 
 in a state of ruin, and overgrown with ivy, 
 have a truly picturesque effect. 
 
 Buscombe, a small hamlet in this parish, has 
 an uncommonly lovely situation, embosomed by 
 hills, and surrounded by rural beauty. It was 
 thus described a few years ago, by an eye wit- 
 ness. ** I found my friend and his family em- 
 bosomed in a vale, which, for the softness of 
 its air, and the richness of its prospect, cannot 
 be exceeded. Their habitation (which bears 
 the name of White House) was neal and com- 
 modious ; their view on the left extended to- 
 wards the sea — and on the right was terminated 
 by a rising hill ; whilst the declivity of the op- 
 posite mountain, intersected by enclosures, and 
 spotted with sheep, imparted a picturesque 
 scene to the eye of the beholder. Near the 
 door ran a rivulet, which by its murmurs 
 soothed the ear, and by its transparency grati- 
 fied imagination. At the distance of two fields 
 above the house, the sea beautifully unfolded 
 itself to view between the hills." 
 
 The execrable old road ascending Pin hill, 
 is now superseded by a new line, commencing 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 about half a mile beyond Cotesford House. It 
 is a fine broad and level road for about two 
 miles gentle ascent; and having gained the 
 summit of the hill, the scene must be witnessed 
 to be conceived. Truly may it be said, looking 
 down Sidmouth valley, Devonshire is indeed 
 the garden of England ! 
 
 The ride afterwards to Honiton lies over a 
 fine elevated and extensive down, called Git- 
 tishamhill; and once more — the varied, luxu- 
 riant and far-stretching prospect which breaks 
 upon the eye, at the Honiton end of the hill, 
 " beggars" all description. On the west end 
 of this down, and about two miles from Honiton, 
 is the village of Gittisham. 
 
 GITTISHAM, 
 
 or, as it is commonly called, Gitsam, is an ex- 
 tremely neat, healthy, and picturesque place, 
 delightfully situated; and though not large, 
 consisting, as has been well observed, of many 
 " trim cottages," the inhabitants of which are 
 in general " remarkably neat in their houses, as 
 well as their persons." A pleasant rivulet, 
 rising from various springs on the adjacent hills, 
 N 
 
THE ENVIRONS OP 
 
 runs by Coombe House and through the village. 
 
 Coombe House has been, ever since 1615, 
 the property and residence of the Putts : in that 
 year it was purchased by Nicholas Putt, Esq. 
 " who at that time possessed a large sum of 
 money, as well as several estates and manors m 
 Dorset, Somerset, and Cornwall." The house 
 is a very ancient edifice, without any attempt at 
 regularity ; its situation is truly delightful, and 
 it contains many pleasant and convenient rooms ; 
 its last improver was the present possessor, the 
 Rev. Thomas Putt, who has made it a most 
 elegant mansion. The parish church is a neat 
 stone structure. Henry Beaumont, a gentleman 
 distinguished in the records of charity, lies 
 buried in the south aisle — a white marble monu- 
 ment is erected to his memory, where he ap- 
 pears kneeling before the altar. Behind him 
 is Elizabeth his wife, in the same attitude : near 
 her is the figure of an infant, in swaddling 
 clothes ; above are the arms of the family, and 
 underneath a long epitaph, in English alexan- 
 drines, by which it appears that Mr. Beaumont 
 died Apritl, 1591. 
 
 Other magnificent monuments are to be 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 seen in this church, particularly two ; one to 
 the memory of Sir Thomas Putt, Bart, who 
 died June 25, 1686 ; and the other to the me- 
 mory of John Fiennes, Esq. a young gentleman 
 who died while he was upon a visit at Coombe 
 House. 
 
 There is a tradition relative to a spot in 
 this part of Devonshire, called The Ring in the 
 Mire, to the following purport: — It is said, 
 that Isabel de Fortibus, wife of the Earl of 
 Albemarle, and daughter of Baldwin de Ri- 
 pariis, the seventh Earl of Devon, determined 
 a controversy between the parishes of Honiton, 
 Far way, Sidbury, and Gittisham, relative to 
 their bounds, in the following singular way : — 
 Being a lady of great power and influance, she 
 rode up to the plain where the parishes meet, 
 and into a little miry place threw a ring, which 
 she took off her finger, and said that place 
 should be the bounds of the four parishes. 
 Thus it has remained ever since, and the spot 
 is still known by the name of The Ring in iht 
 l!dire. 
 
 HONITON 
 
 is a considerable market and borough town, 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 nearly three quarters of a mile long-, lying on 
 the great western road from London to Exeter. 
 It consists principally of one broad street, 
 running from east to west — and of another, not 
 so long, from north to south. Some distance 
 from the south end, and on the top of a hill, 
 stands the church. A stream of very transpa- 
 rent water flows through the town, into which 
 there are square dipping place before almost 
 every door. Many of the houses in Honiton 
 are good, and owing to three fires which it has 
 suffered, the last of which happened in 1797, 
 the greater part of it has an airy modern as- 
 pect. It is a great thoroughfare, and has 
 several good inns, particularly the Dolphin and 
 the Golden Lion. The Dolphin has been 
 erected since the last fire. The Golden Lion 
 has an antique appearance. The shops in 
 Honiton are, many of them, very good, and 
 well stocked. The thread lace, manufactured 
 chiefly in the neighbouring villages, is sold 
 here in great quantities: some exquisitely 
 beautiful patterns, being both broad and rich, 
 bear a high price. 
 
 We learn from Risdon, that Drogo, a 
 
SIDMOUTII. 
 
 Saxon, held this manor before the conquest ; 
 but that the Conqueror gave the manor and 
 town of Honiton to Robert Earl of Moreton, 
 his maternal half brother, whom he made also 
 Earl of Cornwall. It now belongs to Lord 
 Courtenay. 
 
 At the east-end of the town, facing the road 
 from Axminster, is a modern built house, called 
 Holy-shut Cot. Its gardens adjoin the Taunton 
 road, called Holy-shut Lane, from a spring of 
 water of that name, about fifty yards down. The 
 water of this spring is highly esteemed, as it is 
 supposed to surpass all in its vicinity in purity. 
 
 The parish Church, dedicated to St. Mi- 
 chael the Archangel, is very inconveniently si- 
 tuated on a hill, almost half a mile from the town. 
 It is built of stone, and supposed to have been 
 erected about 1482 : it is in the form of a cross. 
 The tower is square, and about sixty-three feet 
 high, with five bells. It possesses a good organ, 
 and a beautiful altar-piece of white stone. By 
 the church-door is a tomb stone, in memory of 
 Dr. Marwood, physician to Queen Elizabeth, 
 who died September 18, 1617, aged 105; and 
 on the pillars which support two of the aisles, is 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 this inscription : "Pray for the souls of John 
 Takell and Joan hys wyfFe." These two persons 
 are supposed to have built the said aisles. 
 
 The chapel of Allhallows, which stands 
 nearly in the middle of the town, is supposed to 
 have been the ancient parish church ; the pre- 
 sent building is a modern edifice. Honiton has 
 also two dissenting chapels, one belonging to the 
 Baptists, and the other to the Calvinistic Pres- 
 byterians. 
 
 The situation of this town is extremely plea- 
 sant, ; hi 'a richly cultivated vale, upon a rising 
 ground on the south side of the Otter. 
 
 Honiton is what is termed an " open bo- 
 rough;" it sends two members to iparliament. 
 Its election contests are often severe. The re- 
 turning officer is thcportreeve for the time being. 
 The population is about 5000. 
 
 RIDB FROM SIDMOUTH, TOWARDS THE 
 NORTH-WEST. 
 
 35xeter lies in this direction, fifteen miles 
 Ifttim Sidmouth : in the usual road to it lie 
 £faff>ford, Newton-Poppleford, and Clyst ; 
 «ifher of which will make the boundary of a 
 
SID MOUTH. 
 
 pleasant ride. St. Mary Ottery, whose beau- 
 tiful church is well worthy inspection, lies 
 three miles beyond Harpford, on the right 
 hand of the Exeter road, going from Sidmouth. 
 
 HARPFORD WOOD. 
 
 A little more than three miles from Sid- 
 mouth, at a farm-house called Boughwood, or 
 Bowd, is the entrance of Harpford Wood, 
 which measures, within the hedges, three hun- 
 dred and seventy acres. It is greatly and de- 
 servedly admired for the variety and beauty of 
 its views, and for the richness of its sylvan sce- 
 nery. It consists of ridges of hills, covered with 
 fine young timber, principally of beech and oak. 
 The roads through it are scarcely passable for 
 carriages, but every where adapted for the con- 
 venience and pleasure of horse and foot visitants. 
 As Lardram Bay is a favorite morning voyage, 
 so is this delightful retreat an excursion by land, 
 where numerous pic-nics are formed in the sum- 
 mer season, to the great advantage of the owners 
 of hack horses and donkies. 
 
 At the end of Ottery hill, which terminates 
 near the wood, are the remains of an ancient 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 fire-beacon ; the prospect from this spot is a. fine 
 panorama. 
 
 At the west end of this wood lies the village 
 ofHARPFORD, or, as itis commonly pronounced, 
 Harford. It is small but neat, and enjoys a 
 most delightful situation. On the east it looks 
 on the wood just described, and, on the west 
 and south, it commands many of the windings of 
 the Otter, as it flows through a rich and lovely 
 valley towards the ocean. 
 
 A very old building, near the church, erected 
 as appears by a stone in the front wall, in the 
 year 1571, is called in the old parish rates, 
 Court Place. The old county jail for felons, 
 makes a part of the buildings ; some of which 
 are still visible. The jail was removed from 
 thence to Bicton by the family of the Holies, 
 and thence to Exeter, where it now remains. 
 
 The church, a small low building, with a 
 tower and three bells, is dedicated to St. Gregory. 
 The vicarage house is a convenient modern edi- 
 fice, erected in 1768. 
 
 Leaving Harpford a little on the right hand, 
 and crossing the Otter, over a stone bridge of 
 five arches, the Factory, erected some years 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 ago, for spinning of wool, strikes the eye as 
 a very neat building. It stands on the left 
 hand of the road, on the banks of the river, and 
 is an ornamental feature in the beautiful sce- 
 nery with which it is accompanied. 
 
 NEWTON POPPLEFORD 
 is a long, mean-looking place, containing two 
 public houses, dignified with the name of inns. 
 Tradition says it was anciently a borough, 
 though the charter has been long lost. It still 
 retains its portreeve. About the middle of the 
 village is a chapel, lately repaired, dedicated 
 to St. Luke. It was formerly a chantry, 
 founded in the fourth year of Edward III. by 
 Hugh de Courtenay, Earl of Devon. Tradition 
 says it was built as an atonement for some 
 crime. The commissioners in 1649, under 
 the Commonwealth, remark — " Newton Pop- 
 pleford, fit to be united to Harpford. Service 
 every fifth Sunday at Newton." There is a 
 large fair for cheese and cattle held here in 
 October. 
 
 CLYST ST. MARY, 
 
 nearly twelve miles from Sidmouth, has nothing 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 to distinguish it but a fine situation ; it lies 
 upon the river Grindle, which washes the 
 western end of it. The length of the bridge 
 marks the extent to which this stream some- 
 times inundates the meadows on each side. 
 
 OTTERY ST. MARY, 
 
 seven miles from Sidmouth, is the principal 
 place to which the Otter, on which it stands, 
 communicates its name : it is a market town, 
 and though built chiefly on a gentle hill, lies 
 low with respect to the country through which 
 it is approached. Dr. Maton, speaking of his 
 ride to it from Sidmouth, says — " Taking leave 
 of the coast for the present, we proceeded to- 
 wards Exeter, through Ottery, The red 
 oxyde of iron continued to tinge the soil the 
 whole way, and added to the richness of the 
 surrounding scenery ; and the romantic wind- 
 ing of the river and the road, exhibited a novel 
 and agreeable effect. We descended into 
 Ottery under the umbrage of widely spreading 
 trees, the branches of which screened the town 
 from our view until we arrived close to it ; but 
 the venerable towers of the church sometimes 
 peeped through the foliage." 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 A clear stream runs through the town, and 
 there are many convenient dipping-places from 
 which the water may be easily taken : in the 
 middle of the town is a spring, which sparkles 
 with all the transparency of the Bristol waters, 
 and is said to possess their qualities, but it has 
 not their warmth. Another spring, rising near 
 a house called Paradise, has been used medici- 
 nally as a solvent for the stone, and it was 
 thought, by one gentleman, with some success. 
 
 The country about Ottery has all the features 
 and beauties of the Devonshire landscape : the 
 orchards and gardens, the verdure of the fields 
 and the richness of the hedge rows, at a little 
 distance, form, from the fine terrace in the 
 church-yard, a very interesting feature. 
 
 The houses in Ottery are strikingly various : 
 in Mill-Street is an old house, of a monasterial 
 air, which was once the residence of the cele- 
 brated Sir Walter Raleigh. Cromwell's Con- 
 vention-room is the largest of the parlours in 
 one of the old collegiate houses, just by the 
 church-yard. 
 
 These, and other edifices more or less an- 
 cient, are contrasted with the new brick houses 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 erected after the fire, and the factory, a new- 
 structure of considerable size. Of the fact con- 
 nected with Cromwell's convention-room, Echard 
 gives the following account; — " Aboutthe time 
 that Exeter was besieged, Cromwell came to 
 Ottery, to raise men and money from the town 
 and neighbourhood. For this purpose he held 
 a convention there, in a parlour now standing 
 westward of the church. The people of Ottery 
 refused to comply with his request, or rather 
 requisition. Cromwell was so much irritated 
 at their refusal, that he ordered his men to de- 
 stroy all the ornaments of the church. The 
 organ in the body of the church, and the organ 
 in the chapel (now the library), were both 
 dashed to pieces : and several fine monumental 
 figures decapitated." 
 
 The church was dedicated and given to St. 
 Mary in Roan by Edward the Confessor. " This 
 church," says Risdon, " is fair according to the 
 structure of those times ; whereof the windows, 
 little and low, are so bedecked with the armo- 
 ries of divers benefactors, more especially of 
 the founders, that instead ofluxfuit, it may be 
 verified, that they are umbrated thereby." 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 The two towers, on the north and south sides 
 are, " each of them, it is said, eighty feet high, 
 about half the height of those of Exeter ca- 
 thedral, from which they were copied." By 
 the style of the windows, it is supposed that 
 these towers were erected about the time of 
 Henry III. 
 
 This church has now a very handsome 
 altar-piece ; over which is inscribed Jacobus 
 Rex, 1688. On the sides of the pulpit, which 
 is of cedar, are admirably carved, (by William 
 Culne, a common carpenter born in Ottery), 
 the four Evangelists. In the body of the 
 church, between two pillars, under a pyramidal 
 arch, is the stone statue of a warrior, armed 
 cap-a-pie, with a lion at his feet — and opposite, 
 between two pillars, and arched in the same 
 manner, is laid a female figure. Heraldic or- 
 naments, now defaced by time, were once about 
 these figures. There is no inscription, and 
 tradition bestows upon them the names of Wil- 
 liam Grandison, father of the bishop, and Sibyl 
 his wife. In the chancel are several monumental 
 inscriptions, in memory of the now decayed 
 Haydon family, and others. The Calvinistic 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 Dissenters have a chapel, and a considerable 
 congregation in Ottery. 
 
 RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, WESTWARD, OVER 
 PEAK HILL. 
 
 To the westward of Sidmouth, between 
 that and Exmouth, lie the following places, af- 
 fording boundaries for longer or shorter ex- 
 cursions; — Otterton, Bicton, Woodbury, Bud- 
 leigh Salterton, and Littleham. Several of these 
 places can be seen from Peak Hill, particularly 
 Otterton and Bicton. 
 
 OTTERTON. 
 
 that is, a town upon the Otter, is now a poor 
 place, consisting principally of one street. The 
 male inhabitants of it are almost entirely far- 
 mers and their labourers, with a few necessary 
 mechanics : the females are almost wholly em- 
 ployed in making a coarse kind of thread lace. 
 The situation of the parish is both pleasant and 
 healthy. The cliffs bordering on the sea are 
 very high, and nearly perpendicular: the air 
 is dry and salubrious. A stone bridge crosses 
 the river ; the roads are very narrow, the en- 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 closures are numerous, and the orchards and 
 hedges very flourishing. Camden says,* " The 
 name of the river is derived from the plenty of 
 otters or water-dogs." Modern observation 
 does not confirm this account, whatever it 
 might have been formerly, the Otter is now 
 merely a trout stream. 
 
 The manor of Otterton is a very noble one. 
 From the conquest to the dissolution of abbies, 
 it continued in the hands of religious men. 
 William the Conqueror gave it to St, Michael 
 De Monte, in Normandy. Upon the surrender, 
 Richard Duke, a clerk of the augmentation- 
 court, procured it, and built a noble house upon 
 an ascent a little way from the river, which tu*ns 
 the mills below. The grant, dated in 1540, 
 gives to Richard Duke the manors of Otterton 
 and East Budleigh, with all their rights and 
 privileges, and royalties, and the patronage of 
 the vicarages of Otterton, Budleigh and Harps- 
 ford, for the sum of £1727. 4s. 2d. 
 
 In 1775 the Duke estate, in default of male 
 heirs, descended to four sisters, now all dead. 
 Soon after the estate was advertised for sale. 
 Lord Rolle was the purchaser, and is the present 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 possessor of it: lie lias taken down almost the 
 whole of the house. Close to its remains stands 
 the church, dedicated to St. Michael, a stone 
 building, with a slated roof; within, it is ex- 
 tremely neat, being- uniformly pewed with the 
 best wainscot, at the recommendation of Mr. 
 John Duke, about fifty years ago. The inhabi- 
 tants of Otterton house were for several ages, 
 much iuclined to the dissenting cause. 
 
 Having put up your horse at the public-house 
 in Otterton, it will afford a rich treat to the ad- 
 mirer of landscape scenery, to enter Otterton 
 Park, and follow the path on the bank of the 
 Otter — approaching the sea, cross a wooden 
 bridge, and return the opposite side of the 
 river, unless it is found desirable to extend the 
 ramble. In this case proceed towards the sea- 
 shore, and you will perceive about half a mile to 
 the westward, the retired and neat little water- 
 ing place, 
 
 EUDLEIGH SALT^RTON. 
 
 The Promenade, though short, is kept in ex- 
 cellent order, and a row of particularly neat 
 lodging houses ornament its side; there are 
 

 
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 ■i 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 many beautiful pebbles upon this beach, re- 
 markable for a flat oval shape, they decrease 
 in size as they approach the water's edge — 
 many are perfectly transparent. 
 
 At Otterton a new bridge is completed, cros- 
 sing which, at a little distance through the mea- 
 dows on the right hand, lies 
 
 BICTON, 
 
 the property and residence of Lord Rolle, who 
 has lately completed a noble mansion, which 
 may be seen from Peak Hill. It stands in a 
 beautiful park, well stocked with deer, and 
 distinguished for its noble and venerable groves 
 of beech and oak. It is remarkable, that the 
 tenure of Bicton is still to keep the jail of the 
 county. " This," it has been remarked, " is 
 perfectly right : the possessor of the manor of 
 Bicton has been always obliged (from the 
 time of Henry I.) to find a county jail " 
 
 The church of Bicton, dedicated to the 
 Holy Trinity, is thus beautifully described by 
 the historian of Devonshire. "It is a small, 
 but neat building. Its situation is most ro- 
 mantic. Placed in silence and solitude, it 
 P 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 stands embowered amidst the fine deep foliage 
 of forest trees, that surround it at a little dis- 
 tance, and interweave their branches, as if to 
 secure it from every prying eye. Whilst we 
 approach the church, we feel sensations of awe, 
 from its holy seclusion : but they are mixed 
 with ideas of fairy scenery. The spot is, in 
 itself, most enchanting. Thus encircled by 
 such a beautiful screen of woods — thus in- 
 sulated, and withdrawn from the world, we 
 fancy ourselves amidst the groves of Rousseau's 
 Ermenonville, and recalling his fine painting to 
 memory, can recognize, almost, its prototype in 
 the objects around us." 
 
 The present parsonage house, a convenient 
 brick mansion, was built about forty years ago : 
 it stands on a rising ground, about a quarter of 
 a mile from the church, and in full view of the 
 public road. 
 
 Bicton house contains a collection of select 
 pictures. 
 
 The ride may be extended by enjoying the 
 delightful views upon Woodbury Go mm on ; 
 this high ground commands most extensive 
 prospects, and the bracing air, mixed with the 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 aromatic odour of the wild thyme and heath, 
 cannot fail to exhilarate the spirits of the in- 
 valid. 
 
 BUDLEIGH. 
 
 There are two or three villages of this 
 name, at no great distance from each other. 
 The church, and a dissenting chapel, stand in 
 the principal one, denominated East Budleigh, 
 through which lies the road from Sidmouth to 
 Salterton, and to Exmouth. Sir W. Pole says 
 " Budleigh is a small market-town." The 
 church is dedicated to All Saints ; it is a hand- 
 some stone edifice, with a square tower eighty 
 feet high ; it has five bells and a clock. There 
 are several coats of arms in the windows, and 
 on the facing of the old seats. On one seat is a 
 representation of Bishop Blaze. In the church- 
 yard was a stone with this inscription, but 
 without a date : — 
 
 " Orate pro anima Ttadulphi Node" 
 Pray for the soul of Radulphus Node. 
 
 Tradition says this was the sepulchre of a 
 frian who broke his neck in attempting to fly 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 from the church tower with artificial wings ; 
 the inscription, it seems, is now obliterated. 
 
 TIDWELL HOUSE 
 is a large, square, and remarkably substantial 
 brick building, with a multitude of windows, at 
 a small distance from the road to Exmouth. 
 It had formerly lords so named. Joan, the 
 daughter of the last of that line, was the wife 
 of John de St. Clere. Gabriel St. Clere, one 
 of his descendants, after he had wasted his 
 estate by excessive hospitality, began to take 
 his house to pieces, and sell the materials ; af- 
 firming, that "neither he nor his posterity could 
 prosper, as long as one stone stood upon 
 another, of a house where so many sins had 
 been committed." One of this family, we are 
 told, was distinguished by the following act of 
 uncommon loyalty : when Henry II. was be- 
 sieging the castle of Bridgnorth, in the pos- 
 session of Hugh de Mortimer, Hubert de St. 
 Clere, 'perceiving the king aimed at from the 
 castle walls, stepped in before his sovereign, 
 received the arrow into his own body, and ex- 
 pired. The king not only interred the deceased 
 
SIDtoOUTH. 
 
 with all military honours, but took his young 
 and only daughter under his protection ; and 
 when she was marriageable, gave her to William 
 de Longville, a man of noble birth, and in high 
 favor with the king. With her, the inheritance 
 descended from her father, with large additions ; 
 but on these terms — '* that to perpetuate the me- 
 mory of the faithful Hubert, Longville should 
 bear both the name and surname of her father, 
 and be called Hubert de St.Clere." The present 
 house was built by Counsellor Walrond, about 
 seventy years ago, and was, in right of his wife, 
 the property of the late John Edye, Esq. of 
 Pinney, near Lyme. Of the springs at Tid- 
 well, Risdon gives the following account : 
 "The ponds at Tidwell, maintained by springs, 
 continually whelm and boil up, not unlike that 
 wonderful well in Derbyshire, which ebbeth 
 and floweth by just tides. These springs are 
 so warm, that whilst all the waters around 
 them are frozen, they are free from ice in the 
 coldest weather ; when abundance of wild fowl 
 flock hither, to the no little pleasure and profit 
 of the place." 
 
 Hays, situated on the western side of the 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 parish of East Budleigh, is celebrated as the 
 birth-place of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 The general history of this celebrated man 
 is too well known to be here recapitulated : the 
 peculiar severity, not to say injustice, of the sen- 
 tence by which he was at last executed, gives 
 him a claim to the compassion of all succeeding 
 ages, and serves to immortalize a name which 
 both by the pen and the sword, has become 
 dear to his country. 
 
 " The Aubrey Papers," published in 1813, 
 contain the following account : — 
 
 " Sir Walter Raleigh was a tall, handsome, 
 bold man — he had a most remarkable aspect, 
 an exceeding high forehead, long faced, and 
 sour eye-lidded, a kind of a pig-eye. He was 
 the first that brought tobacco to England and 
 into fashion. In Malmsbury Hundred, in 
 North Wiltshire, it came first into fashion by 
 Sir Walter Long. They had first silver pipes. 
 Common people used a walnut-shell and a 
 straw. I have heard my grandfather Lyte say, 
 that one pipe was handed from man to man 
 round the table. Sir Walter Raleigh, standing 
 in a stand at Sir Robert Poyntz's park at Acton, 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 took a pipe of tobacco, which made the ladies 
 quit it til! he had done. For a long- time it was 
 scandalous for a divine to take tobacco. I have 
 heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say, 
 that when they went to Malmsbury or. Chip- 
 penham market, they culled out their biggest 
 shillings to lay in the scales against the tobacco. 
 I have heard my cousin Whitney say, that he 
 saw Sir Walter in the tower : he had a velvet 
 cap, laced, a rich gown, and trunk hose. 
 
 " In his speech on the scaffold, he spake 
 not one word of Christ, but of the great and in- 
 comprehensible God, with much zeal and ado- 
 ration, so that my cousin Whitney concluded 
 he was an a-christ, not an atheist. 
 
 " Old Sir Thomas Mallett, one of the jus- 
 tices of the king's bench in the time of Charles 
 I. and II. knew Sir Walter, and I have heard 
 him say, that notwithstanding his so great 
 mastership in style, and his conversation with 
 the learnedst, and politest persons, yet he spake 
 broad Devonshire to his dying day. His voice 
 was small. " 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 Sir W. Raleigh's letter to Mr. Duke, in 
 
 Devon, writ with i s own hand. 
 " Mr. Dnke, 
 
 ** I wrote to Mr. Pr deaux to move you 
 for the purchase of Hays, a farm sometime in 
 my father's possession. I will most willingly 
 give whatsoever in your conscience you shall 
 deem it worth, and if at an) time you shall have 
 occasion to use me, you shall find me a thankful 
 friend to you and yours. I am resolved, if I 
 cannot entreat you, to build at Colliton; but 
 for the natural disposition 1 have to that place, 
 being born in that house, I had rather seat 
 myself there than any where else. I take my 
 leave, readie to countervaile all your courtesies 
 to the utter of my power. 
 
 " Your very willing friend, 
 
 " In all thav I shall be able, 
 « WALTER RALEIGH." 
 
 " Court, July 26, 1584." 
 
 From Tidwell House a pleasant ride takes 
 you to 
 
 LITTLEHAM, 
 
 a small village, two ruiles from Exmouth, and 
 in the parish of which Exmouth lies. Its church 
 

 
 
 
SIDMOUTfi. 
 
 is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and lies under 
 a hill called Westdown. " Here, in an aisle 
 belonging to the Drake family," says Prince, 
 " is this epitaph, on the tomb of Robert Drake, 
 who was noticed for his benefactions in time 
 of Charles I. 
 
 "Preachers and poor can say my death 
 Was ended in a lively faith ; 
 The yearly gifts that I then gave 
 Till time be ended they must have." 
 
 This Robert Drake, born at Sprathays, in 
 the parish of Littleham, was the third son of 
 Gilbert Drake, of that place, a younger branch 
 of the family of Ash. After having studied the 
 law at the inner temple, he married, and settled 
 at Daleditch, in East Budleigh. He died in 
 1628. 
 
 EXMOUTH. 
 
 is the oldest watering-place in Devonshire. 
 Prince calls it " a small hamlet." About a 
 century ago, one of the judges of the circuit 
 in a very infirm state of health, received so 
 much benefit from bathing there, that it was 
 brought into repute. It is ten miles south from 
 Exeter, and twelve from Sidmouth. It is 
 Q 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 sheltered from the north-east and the south- 
 east winds by some hills, which supply it with 
 excellent water. It is now a considerable 
 place, and can boast a great many new and 
 commodious houses. 
 
 At Exmouth, Risdon tells us, was born Sir 
 Richard Whitebourne, Knt. whose adventurous 
 voyages in discovering the commodities of 
 Newfoundland, and endeavours for the planta- 
 tions and profitable fishings there, have merited 
 the general commendation of his country, and 
 received honor of the king. From hence the 
 Earl of March, afterwards Edward IV. accom- 
 panied with the Earls of Sarum and Warwick, 
 set sail for Calais, anno 1459, by the assistance 
 of John Dynham, Esq. afterwards Lord Trea- 
 surer of England. 
 
 LYMPSTONE, 
 
 ten miles from Sidmouth, the road from which 
 runs through Otterton, and by Bicton Park, is 
 delightfully situated on the east side of the Exe. 
 It is very irregularly built ; good houses and 
 mean cottages, are in the middle of it, rather 
 closely huddled together. At the end of the 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 village is the church, which is seen to advan- 
 tage, as it stands at a little distance from the 
 road. Directly opposite the road are some fine 
 meadows, through which lies a pleasant rural 
 walk to the hamlet of Sowdon ; this path winds 
 delightfully by the side of willows, or amidst 
 clumps of lofty elms, to a charmingly neat and 
 rural spot, where are some decent lodgings, 
 with gardens and orchards about them. Fishing 
 and lace-making are the employments of the 
 inhabitants of this place. 
 
 The church is dedicated to St. Mary. It is 
 rather low in proportion to the tower, which 
 contains five musical bells. On the glass of a 
 window, in the north aisle, St. George is repre- 
 sented with this inscription : 
 
 -the holy Knight, 
 
 Who slew the dragon by his might. 
 This church is well seated, and has a hand- 
 some altar-piece. A neat Dissenting chapel 
 stands just within Woodbury parish ; the at- 
 tendants are chiefly from Lympstone, where the 
 minister resides. 
 
 WOODBURY, 
 
 so called from its ancient woodlands, is a parish 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 with eight villages, and still abounding with 
 oak, elm, and ash. Woodbury Castle, which 
 crowns the extensive common of that name, 
 gives a noble effect to the prospect. 
 
 Church Village is nearl in the centre of the 
 parish. The church, which was new built, and 
 dedicated to St. Swithin, in 1409, is an edifice 
 of durable stone, with a slated roof, and is 
 twenty feet high. The tower which is eighty 
 feet, is square, has two strong buttresses at each 
 corner, and on the top sixteen battlements, and 
 a weathercock. It contains six deep-toned 
 musical bells. In the church is one monument, 
 without an inscription, erected in memory of 
 the present Sir Wilmot Prideaux's ancestors, 
 who lived at Nutwell, the seat of Sir Francis 
 Drake, so distinguished in the naval records of 
 England. 
 
 TOPSHAM 
 
 consists chiefly of one street, about half a mile 
 long, one part of which i^ considerably wider 
 than the other. Many good louses are scattered 
 through the town, but upon the whole it has 
 but a mean appearance. The southern end is 
 by far the pleasantest part ; it is called the 
 
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SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Strand, and is inhabited mostly by people out 
 of trade. It commands a fine view of the river 
 and the opposite bank. A little further up is 
 the Quay, which is large, and now belongs to 
 the corporation of Exeter. The road from 
 Topsham to Exeter is very good, and rendered 
 extremely pleasant by several detached genteel 
 houses, and ornamented gardens and lawns on 
 each side. 
 
 The church has an antique appearance ; it 
 is a large but tasteless building, dedicated to 
 St. Margaret. 
 
 LYME, 
 sixteen miles from Sid mouth, is a small sea-port 
 town in Dorsetshire : it has long been known as 
 a watering-place. It is situated close to the 
 sea, at the mouth of a narrow valley, the sides of 
 which are high and steep hills : it is an old place 
 as the appearance of many of the houses suffici- 
 ently proves. The public room for the company 
 is lofty and spacious, and looks full upon the 
 bay on which the town stands. A public walk 
 is constructed near the sea, but the shore does 
 not admit of its at all rivalling the beach at Sid- 
 mouth ; and when the tide is out, the quantity 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 of mud which is left behind is grateful neither 
 to the optic or olfactory nerves. 
 
 The peculiarity of Lyme is the Pier, which 
 forms its port, and which is denominated the 
 Cobb. Within this solid enclosure of masonry, 
 vessels lie in perfect security, but the entrance 
 is narrow, and in stormy weather difficult to 
 hit. The walk upon it, however, which is 
 broad, and faced with durable stone, is, at all 
 times, when dry, and the wind not too boisterous, 
 extremely pleasant. 
 
 The liberties of a haven and borough were 
 granted to Lyme by Edward I. and from this 
 period it grew so prosperous, that in the reign 
 of Edward III. it furnished four ships and sixty- 
 two mariners, for the siege of Calais. The 
 corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, town- 
 clerk, and fifteen capital burgesses. It has 
 sent representatives to parliament ever since 
 the twenty-third of Edward I. 
 
 The siege of Lyme, during the civil wars, 
 was one of the most remarkable which took 
 place during that calamitous period. 
 
 Captain Thomas Coram, the patron and 
 contriver of the Foundling Hospital, was born 
 
SIDMOUTH. 
 
 at Lyme in 1668 : in his benevolent attention to 
 others, this singularly humane and memorable 
 man so entirely forgot himself, that in his old 
 age he was supported by a pension of somewhat 
 more than a hundred pounds a year, raised for 
 him at the solicitation of Sir Sampson Gideon 
 and Dr. Brocklesby. Upon Dr. Brocklesby's 
 applying to him, to know whether a subscription 
 being opened for his benefit would not offend 
 him? he received this noble answer : " I have 
 not wasted the little wealth of which I was for- 
 merly possessed in self-indulgence, or vain ex- 
 pences, and am not ashamed to confess, that at 
 this my old age I am poor." He died at his 
 lodgings near Leicester Square, March 29, 
 1751, eighty- three years old. " The memory 
 of the good shall be blessed." 
 
 Between Lyme and Colyton, about two miles 
 from the former place, lies Pinney, an estate 
 which belonged to the late John Edye, Esq. 
 who resided upon it — the grounds, especially 
 upon the coast, are exceedingly romantic and 
 picturesque. 
 
 AXMINSTER, 
 
 nine miles from Honiton, and five from Colyton, 
 
THE ENVIRONS OF 
 
 is a healthy clean town, in the road from Exeter 
 to London : it lies on a little hill by the river 
 Axe, "whence" says Risdon, "it was so called 
 without any addition, till King Athelstan's time. 
 But when at this place a minster was erected, 
 wherein seven priests should pray for the souls 
 of those that were slain, this place got that ad- 
 junct which it now holdeth." It anciently be- 
 longed to the kings of England. From the 
 heights in its neighbourhood the sea is to be dis- 
 covered. "From the hills about Stockland," 
 says Dr. Stukely, "I first had sight of the Sou- 
 thern Ocean, a most solemn view, a boundless 
 extent of water, thrown into a mighty horizon- 
 tal curve." 
 
 The church, some parts of which have the 
 appearance of great antiquity, has a very heavy 
 appearance, particularly on the inside, — it is 
 dedicated to St. Mary. There is a school-house 
 close by the church, the windows of which are 
 rounded in the Saxon style. The walk in the 
 church-yard is pleasant, between rows of flou- 
 rishing lime-trees. The Dissenters have a well 
 attended chapel in this town. 
 
 A durable sort of carpets, which somewhat 
 resemble tapestry, and are called Axminster 
 
SIDMOUTH 
 
 carpets, have long- been manufactured here, and 
 are generally esteemed for beauty and quality. 
 
 The following Lines on SEA BATHING, may not un- 
 appropriated close this small volume. 
 
 Freed from the couch of sickness, grief, and paiu, 
 Hither the fainting sufferer comes to lave, 
 In the cool freshness of the bracing wave, 
 His languid limbs : if so, he may regain 
 Of rosy health! and oh! if aught can save 
 From the dark precincts of the gloomy grave, 
 SlDMOUTH! 'tis thee, and all thy sylvan reign. 
 
 R 
 
GENERAL INFORMATION. 
 
 THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 
 
 Dr. A. HUTCHINSON, of the University 
 of Cambridge, (late of Exeter), is the Resident 
 Physician ; and there are many respectable prac- 
 titioners, as Surgeons and Apothecaries. 
 
 POST OFFICE. 
 
 The London Mail arrives at Sidmouth 
 every afternoon about four o'clock, which con- 
 veys the letters from London put in the pre- 
 vious evening; and it leaves Sidmouth every 
 morning about ten o'clock. All letters for the 
 London Mail must be in the office by a quarter 
 past nine, after which time a penny is charged 
 upon each letter. 
 
 Letters not sent away by Friday morning's 
 Mail, cannot arrive in Town till the Monday 
 
GENERAL INFORMATION. 
 
 following. The Blank Post day from London 
 is Monday. 
 
 The Exeter and Western Mail arrives a 
 little before ten in the morning. It leaves 
 Sidmouth with letters for the west at four in 
 the afternoon. The office closes at three 
 o'clock, after which time a penny is paid with 
 each letter. 
 
 Post Master— Mr. GEORGE TURNER. 
 
 COACHES. 
 
 Two Coaches leave Sidmouth for Exeter 
 every morning, precisely at eight o'clock, (Sun- 
 days excepted). One starts from the London 
 Inn, to Clench's New London Inn, Exeter: 
 and the other from the York Hotel, to the 
 Royal Clarence Hotel, in the Cathedral Yard ; 
 both Coaches leave Exeter at four o'clock pre- 
 cisely. 
 
 A Bath Coach is expected to run the alter- 
 nate days in the week. 
 
 CARRIERS. 
 
 To Exeter— Anthony Hooke, and Wench, 
 
 late Cockram) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 
 
GENERAL INFORMATION. 
 
 To HoNITON— S. Frost, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
 Saturdays. 
 
 To Lyme — Anthony Hooke — days uncertain. 
 To EXMOUTH— Robert Carter, Mondays. 
 
 PLEASURE BOATS ARE CHARGED AS UNDER. 
 Two hours' sail ------050 
 
 ToDawlish,Teignmouth,or Lyme 16 
 To Exmouth or Seaton - - - - 1 10 
 
 May be hired of Bartlets— Saunders — Heffers— 
 H. Conant — Radford — Silley — Boults, &c. 
 
 SADDLE HORSES 
 
 may be hired of the undermentioned, most of 
 
 whom have Cars or Flies at reasonable charges, 
 
 George Gullock—Puddicomb Sf Co.— -Call-— B. Butter— 
 
 Wakeham. 
 
 SEDAN, BATH CHAIRS, AND HAND PLIES, 
 
 MAY BE HIRED OF 
 
 Puddicombe $f Co.—Bartlet — Silley — Carslake fy Co. fyc. 
 
 BATHING MACHINES FOR GENTLEMEN, 
 
 Marmaduke Taylor, and Thomas Heffer. 
 
 FOR LADIES, 
 Windsor — Mutters — Barrett if Co. 
 
 POLLARD, PRINTER, EXETER. 
 
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— m LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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