Salcombe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is another town named Salcombe, also known as Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth in east Devon.
| Salcombe | |
  Salcombe shown within Devon |
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| Population | 1,893 (2001 census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | South Hams |
| Shire county | Devon |
| Region | South West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| European Parliament | South West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Devon | |
Salcombe is a town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England.
The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, built mostly on the steep west side of the estuary and lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The town's extensive waterfront and the naturally sheltered harbour formed by the estuary gave rise to its success as a boat- and ship-building and sailing port and, in modern times, tourism especially in the form of pleasure sailing and yachting. There is also a crabbing industry.
Many of the houses in Salcombe are used as second homes by non-locals. Salcombe has some celebrity residents, including Sir Clive Woodward, Kate Bush, Sir Michael Parkinson, members of Led Zeppelin and Jonny Banfield. The local celebrity is the England prop Julian White who played mini and Under 16's for Salcombe. Properties with estuary or sea views can fetch more than a million pounds and some rent for as much as £7000 a week in the high season.
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[edit] History
There are a number of shipwrecks off Salcombe. One is of a Bronze Age ship, one of only three known in Britain, which had French made weapons and jewellry. The Salcombe Cannon Wreck is of a 17th century ship that contained 400 Moroccan gold coins and Dutch items. Also off Salcombe is HMS Untiring (P59) which is a Second World War submarine that was sunk in 1957 as a sonar target.
During the English civil war the town sided with the Royalists and held out against the Roundheads. The ruins of Fort Charles remain towards the south of the town. It held out from January to May 1646 and was the last Royalist stronghold. This fort was built for Henry VIII to defend the estuary. It was slighted on the orders of Parliament.
In the 19th century Salcombe was a major centre for shipping in the fruit trade. Salcombe vessels sailed to Iberia, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean as well as to the Azores and Newfoundland. The fruit cargos were oranges and lemons from the Azores, and pineapples from the Bahamas and West Indies. Other cargoes brought back included sugar, rum, cocoanuts and shaddocks. In addition wood such as ebony and mahogany was brought for furnishing ships. Salcombe and Kingsbridge were busy ship building places, producing the Salcombe schooner. This was a fast boat that could be sailed with few hands. However, almost half the fleet were lost with all hands. A mutual marine assurance association had been established in 1811 to insure Salcombe ships.
The Salcombe fleet also was involved in the coastal trade supplying coal from Wales and taking away cider, malt, grain and slates. A lifeboat station was established in 1869. A ferry to Brest was set up in 1870 but did nor last.
By 1871 the central part of Salcombe, excluding the outlying districts, numbered 776 people, with 34 shipwrights and 13 ships carpenters. There were also 5 sawyers, 3 block makers, 2 ship's riggers, 3 sail makers, a tin plate worker and 4 blacksmiths. However, in the 1870s the fruit trade declined due to outbreaks of orange and pineapple disease and because of the advent of steamships. Some work was found taking salt to Newfoundland and returning with cod but by 1914 there were only three or four locally owned trading ships in the estuary. At this time there was the start of pleasure sailing at Salcombe with the yacht club being founded in 1874. One of the boats raced was the Salcombe yawl for which an owners association has been set up.
A former radar station at Bolthead near Salcombe was set up to be used as the Regional Seat of Government in the event of attack during the Cold War. This has subsequently been dismantled.
Salcombe became an urban district following an Act of Parliament in 1972.
One of the most extraordinary cases in British criminal history took place in Salcombe. John Allen (originally Anthony John Angel) was convicted of murdering his wife Patricia and their two children 27 years after the event. They disappeared without trace in May 1975 and were never found. He claimed that she had walked out on him but his ex-lover, Eunice Yabsley, later claimed that she had seen scratches on his forearms. After falling out with him, she wrote a book "Presumed Dead" in 1992 and the police re-investigated the case. John Allen was convicted in December 2002.
[edit] Estuary
Salcombe and Kingsbridge estuary lies between Bolt Head and Sharpitor on the west and Portlemouth Down on the east, and runs inland for some 6 kilometres, with numerous side channels. The "estuary" is actually a ria or drowned valley caused by rising sea levels rather than a true estuary: its size is out of proportion to the few streams which discharge into it. It may have been carved out by glacial melt water at the end of the ice age[citation needed]
[edit] Bar
Towards the mouth of the estuary is the Bar, a spit of sand protruding from the east bank which is exposed at low spring tides. In this state of tide and with strong southerly winds the bar can make the entrance to the estuary nearly impassable.
It is believed that Lord Tennyson's famous poem "Crossing the Bar" was inspired by a visit to Salcombe during the 19th century. The poem begins with the lines,
| “ | Sunset and evening star and one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar, |
” |
The moaning refers to the noise of the water breaking over The Bar. In 1916 the Salcombe lifeboat, an open rowboat "The William and Emma", was capsized crossing The Bar resulting in 13 of the 15 crew's lives being lost. However another crew was soon formed and the station continues to this day. There is an offshore boat and an Atlantic 75 inshore boat "Joan Bate" (2003). The offshore boat has recently been replaced at Easter of 2008, with a the new Tamar class called "Baltic Exchange III".
[edit] Beaches
Further into the estuary on the east side are a series of popular sandy beaches: Sunny Cove (nearest the bar), the large Mill Bay, Cable Cove (the landing point of a cross-channel cable)[1], Small's Cove and Fisherman's Cove. Adjacent to Fisherman's Cove is a landing slip used by the ferry — open-topped clinker-built motorboats — from Salcombe directly across the estuary, communicating with the hamlet of East Portlemouth (and much used by tourists for access to the beaches).
Opposite the Bar on the west side of the estuary are the beaches of South Sands , a Blue Flag beach, and North Sands. A picturesque ferry operates between Salcombe and South Sands, with a Sea Tractor ferrying passengers between the boat and the South Sands beach.
North of North Sands Salcombe town begins, occupying the steep west side of the estuary opposite the beaches and East Portlemouth and extending north and west into the first of the estuary's many creeks: Batson Creek by Snapes Point. Others, including Southpool Creek and Frogmore Creek, branch off to the east and north east, while the main channel continues to Kingsbridge itself. A larger boat operates in the summer as a ferry between Salcombe and Kingsbridge when the state of the tide permits. Salcombe now also has spread down the west side of The Berry below the main road to Malborough.
[edit] Economy
Probably due to its popularity for pleasure sutch as sailing and yachting, Salcombe has the second highest property prices in the UK outside of central London (after Sandbanks, Poole). Many of the shops, bars and restaurants in the town, especially towards the waterfront, cater for a predominantly well-off, fashionable and nautically-inclined clientele, with prices to match. There are many clothes shops and art galleries. Salcombe has hotels and bed and breakfast establishments as well as self contained apartments and houses.
Salcombe has a number of boatyards and marine stores, while boats are stored on the carpark by the fishing quay during the winter. There is a sailing school based on the ex-Mersey ferry "Egremont" moored in the estuary. There is also a power boat school and SCUBA diving is popular. The regatta week is one of the main feature of the summer season. There are races for dingies and yachts as well as crabbers in addition to other activities. Salcombe Estuary Rowing Club is a member of the Cornish Pilot Gig Association and takes part in races around the south west.
[edit] Facilities
Because of the narrow streets and the priority given to pedestrians, a park and ride scheme operates during the summer from the outskirts of Salcombe. Near Salcombe primary school is a swimming pool. The rugby club is a centre of activities during the winter. A locally-flavoured pantomime is put on near Christmas.
There is a marine museum in Salcombe that has information on the fruit schooners and other items of interest. By South Sands is Overbeck's a house and gardens belonging to the National Trust. In the house are inventions of Otto Overbeck.
Salcombe is a good place for walking and is on the South West Coast Path. It is also the terminus of NCR 28 from Okehampton, part of the National Cycle Network.
There is a golf course nearby at Thurlestone and various tourist attractions in the district.
[edit] References
[edit] Gallery
 Salcombe showing the church |
 Marine Hotel |
 Fake gun battery |
 From the water |
 Normandy pontoon |
 Ruins of Fort Charles |
[edit] External links
- Salcombe history Tourist information
- Local church
- Tourist information
- Salcombe Online Tourist information
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