What to See in England
By Gordon Home

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Public Domain Books

Dartmouth, Devon

=How to get there.=–From Paddington. Great Western Railway. =Nearest Station.=–Dartmouth (by steam ferry from Kingswear). =Distance from London.=–229 miles. =Average Time.=–Varies between 5-1/2 to 7 hours.

                     1st       2nd        3rd
=Fares.=–Single  34s. 6d.  21s.  6d.  17d. 3d.
          Return  60s. 3d.  37s. 10d.     ...

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Royal Castle Hotel,” “Raleigh Hotel,” etc. =Alternative Route.=–None.

There is scarcely a more romantic spot in the whole of England than Dartmouth. Spread out on one of the steep slopes of the Dart, it overlooks the deep-set river towards the sea and inland towards Totnes. Steep wooded banks rising out of the water’s edge give the windings of the estuary the feeling of solemn mystery which is not obtainable from meadows or ploughlands. In the midst of scenery of this character–and it must have been richer still a few centuries back–the inhabitants of Dartmouth made history.

Perhaps the earliest mention of Dartmouth is by Chaucer. Among his Canterbury Pilgrims he says:–

  A schipman was ther, wonyng fer by weste;
  For ought I wost, he was of Dertemouthe.

Whether this particular “schipman” was given over to piracy it is not possible to say, but the nature of their splendid harbour, which they protected with a great chain drawn across the narrow outlet to the sea, led the Dartmouth men into a trade which to-day goes by that name. Thus in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and even in more recent times, these lusty sailors gained a livelihood by periodical harryings of the opposite coast of Brittany, suffering in the chances of such warfare the disadvantages of sudden incursions of the Bretons, which, despite the chain and the two little castles at the mouth of the inlet, were sometimes so successful that when the Frenchmen retired there were a good many heaps of smoking ashes where comfortable homes had stood. Despite the varied turns of fortune’s wheel, there are still many fine old gabled houses in Dartmouth, with overhanging upper stories rich in carved oak.

The church of St. Saviour contains a finely carved pulpit, and is full of indications of the wealth and importance of Dartmouth in the past.

Though a chain is no longer used to close the entrance to the Dart, the remains of the two little towers are still to be seen.

[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd. THE BUTTER MARKET AT DARTMOUTH.

Although the town possesses many fine old seventeenth-century houses, these in the Butter Market are the finest examples.]

Continue...

Preface  •  Ham House and Petersham  •  Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle)  •  Harrow  •  Holwood House, Keston  •  Chigwell, Essex  •  Waltham Abbey and Cross  •  Downe  •  Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts  •  Epping Forest  •  Hampton Court  •  Rye House, Broxbourne  •  Hatfield House, Herts  •  Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta  •  The Oldest Brass in England  •  St. Albans  •  Stoke Poges Church, Bucks  •  Windsor  •  Jordans and William Penn  •  Knole House and Sevenoaks  •  Greenstead Church  •  Chalfont St. Giles  •  Westerham  •  Guildford, Surrey  •  Gad’s Hill  •  Ightham Mote, Kent  •  Penshurst  •  St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion  •  Rochester Cathedral  •  Tunbridge Wells  •  The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey  •  Eversley  •  Farnham, Surrey  •  Hindhead, Surrey  •  Shottermill  •  Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex  •  Chawton the Home of Jane Austen  •  Selborne  •  Elstow  •  Lewes, Sussex  •  Bodiam Castle, Sussex  •  Colchester, Essex  •  Layer Marney  •  Battle Abbey  •  Cambridge  •  Arundel Castle  •  Olney, Bucks  •  Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great  •  Canterbury and Its Cathedral  •  Reculvers  •  Oxford  •  Midhurst  •  Pevensey Castle  •  Savernake Forest  •  Ely Cathedral  •  St. Ives, Huntingdonshire  •  Winchelsea and Rye  •  Blenheim Palace  •  Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland  •  Peterborough  •  Southampton  •  Helmingham Hall  •  Stonehenge, Wiltshire  •  Netley Abbey  •  Salisbury and Its Cathedral  •  Sandwich, Kent  •  New Forest, Hampshire  •  Osborne House  •  Carisbrooke Castle  •  Lutterworth  •  Compton Wynyates  •  Kenilworth Castle  •  Belvoir Castle  •  Bath  •  Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers  •  Warwick  •  Gloucester and Its Cathedral  •  Norfolk Broads  •  Norwich Cathedral  •  Lichfield  •  Sherborne and Its Abbey Church  •  Newark  •  Wells and Its Cathedral  •  Stratford-On-Avon  •  Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk  •  Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire  •  Corfe Castle  •  Lincoln and Its Cathedral  •  Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson  •  Glastonbury Abbey  •  Walsingham, Norfolk  •  Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset  •  Newstead Abbey  •  The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances  •  Tintern Abbey  •  Chesterfield, Derbyshire  •  Dukeries  •  Haddon Hall, Derbyshire  •  The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor  •  Raglan Castle  •  Dovedale  •  Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire  •  Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop  •  Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire  •  Ludlow and Its Castle  •  Shrewsbury  •  Buxton and the Peak District  •  Tewkesbury  •  Exeter and Its Cathedral  •  Market Drayton, Salop  •  Chester  •  Exmoor  •  Knutsford  •  Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset  •  Cleeve Abbey, Somerset  •  Hawarden  •  York Minster  •  Coxwold, Yorkshire  •  Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey  •  Knaresborough, Dripping Well  •  Fountains Abbey  •  Ripon Cathedral  •  Dartmoor  •  Haworth  •  Rievaulx Abbey  •  Brixham, Devon  •  Conway Castle  •  The Doone Valley, Exmoor  •  Llandovery, South Wales  •  Dartmouth, Devon  •  Richmond, Yorkshire  •  Tintagel  •  Whitby  •  Carnarvon Castle  •  Plymouth  •  Durham and Its Cathedral  •  Raby Castle, Durham  •  Snowdon  •  Harlech Castle  •  Grasmere and Rydal Mount  •  The Lake District  •  St. Davids Cathedral  •  Furness Abbey, Lancashire  •  Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow  •  The Isle of Man  •  Brantwood  •  Fowey  •  Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall  •  The Lake District  •  Keswick  •  Alnwick Castle  •  Lanercost Priory, Cumberland  •  Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.]  •  St. Ives, Cornwall  •  Bamborough Castle, Northumberland

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What to see in England;: A guide to places of historic interest, natural beauty or literary association,
By Gordon Home
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