Part 13
#Modbury# (1242) is a small market-town 12 miles south-east of Plymouth, once the principal residence of the Champernownes, who made it famous as a musical centre in Tudor times.
#Moreton Hampstead# (1541), a picturesque little town on the eastern border of Dartmoor, with an important cattle-market. (pp. 151, 222.)
#Mortehoe# (788), a small but growing watering-place near Ilfracombe, with an interesting church, and not far from Woollacombe Sands and the dangerous headland of Morte Point. (pp. 60, 173.)
#Newton Abbot# (16,951), in very beautiful country six miles from Torquay, has large markets for cattle and for dairy-produce, and wharves on the Teign for trade in timber and coal. The parish church has fine screens and many monuments. Both Charles I and the Prince of Orange were entertained here at Forde House. (pp. 26, 161, 195, 197, 203, 205.)
#Okehampton# (2569), on the north-west edge of Dartmoor, has large markets for cattle and agricultural produce. In the neighbourhood are the very picturesque ruins of a Norman castle and other attractions both for antiquarians and naturalists. (pp. 140, 151, 188, 210.)
#Ottery St Mary# (3495), a market-town south-east of Exeter, in the beautiful valley of the Otter, is famous for its noble church, the finest in Devonshire, and containing many very interesting and beautiful features, and also as being the birth-place of the poet Coleridge. (pp. 170, 171, 173, 176, 178, 195, 200, 221.)
#Paignton# (8385), a rapidly-growing watering-place on Torbay, with a fine situation, a bracing climate, and good sands (pp. 73, 175, 176.)
#Plymouth# (107,636), very finely situated at the mouth of the river Plym, at the head of Plymouth Sound, a parliamentary, municipal, and county borough, the chief seat of trade, commerce, and manufactures in Devonshire, is one of the most famous seaports in the kingdom. Described in Domesday Book as Sutton, and occasionally known as Plymouth as early as the fourteenth century, it did not definitely receive its present name until the reign of Henry VI.
Its spacious docks, Millbay, the graving-dock and the floating basin, can accommodate the largest merchant-ships. In Sutton Pool and the Catwater, in the Hamoaze--the estuary of the Tamar, the Lynher and the Tavy--and at the head of the Sound, in the shelter of the breakwater, a very large number of vessels find safe and convenient anchorage. At its numerous quays, connected with the Great Western Railway, to which company the docks belong, are landed passengers and mails from the United States, from Australia and New Zealand, from the West Coast of Africa and the Cape, from India and the East, as well as merchandise from all parts of the world, especially from France. Next to Newlyn, it is the most important fishing-station on the south coast of England. Further details will be found in the chapters on shipping and fisheries. Two of its most remarkable monuments, both on the Hoe, are a copy of Boehm's fine statue of Drake, and part of the old Eddystone lighthouse, re-erected as a memorial to Smeaton.
Plymouth has had a stirring history. In mediaeval times, especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it suffered much from the attacks of the French, who, in 1403, under du Chastel, are said to have burnt 600 houses. Its most important periods are those connected with the defeat of the Armada, with the Civil War, and with the French war that ended with the battle of Waterloo. It was in the Catwater that the English fleet lay at anchor, while Drake and his fellow-captains waited on the Hoe, the famous ridge between Millbay and Sutton Pool, until the Spanish ships had passed. More or less closely blockaded from 1642 to 1646 by the Royal forces, and many times desperately assailed, Plymouth was the one town in the whole west of England that was never lost to the Parliament. In the Napoleonic war the town was the scene of great activity, fitting out many naval expeditions against the French, and receiving many captured ships.
Many famous names are associated with the town. It was from here that the Black Prince set out for France and the victory of Agincourt. Here, in 1470, landed the Duke of Clarence, in the hope of enlisting recruits for the Lancastrian army. Here, too, came Margaret herself, with Prince Edward, just before the final overthrow at Tewkesbury. It was at Plymouth that the Princess of Aragon landed, on her way to marry Prince Arthur. From Plymouth sailed Drake and Hawkyns on their filibustering expeditions, and to this port they came back loaded with Spanish gold. Here, too, came Drake, after his voyage round the world. From here Sir Humphrey Gilbert set out on his last voyage, and from here sailed Captain Cook. In the streets and on the quays of Plymouth Benbow and Rodney, Howe and Jervis, Collingwood and Nelson, were, in their time, familiar figures. (pp. 48, 78, 79, 82, 83, 86, 101, 114, 123, 128, 130, 131, 132, 134, 136, 140, 142, 144, 146, 147, 148, 151, 153, 159, 160, 199, 204, 205, 206, 207, 210, 212, 215, 217, 222.)
#Plympton# (4954), a parish north of Plymouth, comprising two separate villages which grew up round the castle and the priory. Until the fifteenth century the Prior of Plympton controlled the affairs of Plymouth. (pp. 108, 114, 172, 183, 190, 212, 223.)
#Plymstock# (3195), a parish to the east of Plymouth, with large quarries, and with extensive fortifications for the protection of the harbour.
#Powderham# (233), a village on the west side of the estuary of the Exe, where, in a very beautiful park, stands Powderham Castle, chief seat of the Courtenays, Earls of Devon. (pp. 187, 192.)
#Princetown#, in the western part of Dartmoor, is the site of a famous convict prison, originally built, in 1809, for the reception of French prisoners of war. The convicts have brought much land into cultivation, and there are also large granite quarries in the neighbourhood. (pp. 96, 151, 155, 205.)
#Salcombe# (1710), a small port at the mouth of the Kingsbridge estuary, with an exceptionally mild climate, and with other attractions as a watering-place. (pp. 82, 132, 149, 191, 222.)
#Seaton# (1325), a pleasant watering-place near the mouth of the Axe, in the chalk cliffs, close to Dorset. (pp. 66, 80, 114.)
#Shute# (461), a scattered parish, containing the former seat of the De la Poles, has many monuments to them in its church.
#Sidmouth# (4201), a fashionable watering-place, very pleasantly situated at the mouth of the Sid, between Exmouth and the border of Dorset. Its equable climate is perhaps its chief attraction, but it was an important harbour before its sheltering cliffs were destroyed by landslips. Queen Victoria spent some years of her childhood here. (pp. 68, 80, 130, 163.)
#South Molton# (2848), a very ancient market-town in the south of Exmoor, has corn-mills and a very fine church-tower. (pp. 172, 212.)
#Tavistock# (4728), close to the border of Cornwall, with the ruins of a great abbey, round which the town grew up, was formerly very famous as a mining-centre, and was one of the Stannary Towns. Sir Francis Drake was born here, and the statue of him by Boehm, of which there is a copy on Plymouth Hoe, is one of that sculptor's finest works. (pp. 112, 118, 120, 122, 138, 151, 171, 183, 197, 204, 205, 212, 213.)
#Teignmouth# (7366), an ancient sea-port, a modern and very popular watering-place and a market-town at the mouth of the Teign, has a good harbour, sheltered by the Den, once a mere sandbank, but now a promenade and pleasure-garden. The wooden bridge over the river is one of the longest in England. (pp. 26, 69, 71, 129, 132, 140, 150, 207, 221.)
#Tiverton# (10,382), an old market-town where the Loman joins the Exe--hence the name, Two-ford-town--was formerly noted for its woollen trade, but now for its lace-factory. The church contains many interesting monuments. (pp. 111, 114, 146, 163, 166, 172, 176, 190, 200, 202, 205, 210, 212, 222.)
#Topsham# (2790), once a famous port, is now a market-town and fishing station on the estuary of the Exe. (pp. 22, 130, 132.)
#Torcross#, a small fishing-village and watering-place at the south end of the Slapton Sands. The bay being very exposed, the fishermen train Newfoundland dogs to swim out to boats in rough weather, and take the "painter" ashore. (p. 129.)
#Torquay# (33,625), one of the best-known towns in Devon, is a large and fashionable watering-place, very celebrated for its mild and equable climate, standing on the south slopes of the northern headland of Torbay. From the well-sheltered little harbour the town rises in a semicircle, so protected from rough winds that palms, myrtles, aloes, agaves and other sub-tropical trees flourish here freely in the open air. Near the town is Kent's Cavern, in which have been discovered many most interesting remains of extinct animals and of pre-historic man. (pp. 11, 73, 94, 95, 123, 127, 128, 132, 151, 153, 188, 210, 212.)
#Torrington# (3241), a market-town on the Torridge, south of Bideford, with important fairs and cattle-shows, and with factories of gloves. The storming of Torrington by Fairfax in February, 1646, was the death-blow to the cause of King Charles, and practically ended the Civil War in Devonshire. (pp. 118, 148, 149, 191, 210, 218.)
#Totnes# (4035), one of the oldest municipal boroughs in England, at the head of the navigable portion of the river Dart, is one of the chief market-towns of the South Hams, with a ruined castle and other remains of fortification, some picturesque old houses, a fine church with a specially good stone rood-screen, and a granite obelisk in memory of the Australian explorer Wills, who was born here. (pp. 23, 112, 139, 175, 188, 191, 194, 210, 212.)
#Westward Ho!# a watering-place on Northam Burrows on the shore of Barnstaple Bay, with a good climate, and with many attractions for the marine zoologist, was named in honour of Kingsley's great romance. (pp. 62.)
#Widecombe-in-the-Moor# (657), a village in the centre of Dartmoor, with an annual fair for the sale of sheep and ponies, with many very interesting prehistoric remains in the neighbourhood, and a very fine church tower. (pp. 167, 173.)
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.