Dartmouth, Devon

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Map sources for Dartmouth, Devon at grid reference SX877514

The town seen from the River Dart

Dartmouth is a town in Devon in the south-west of England. It is a major tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes.

Historically, Dartmouth was of great strategic importance as a deep-water port for sailing vessels. The port was used as the sailing point for the crusades of 1147 and 1190, and a creek close to Dartmouth Castle is still named for the vast fleets which assembled there (Warfleet Creek). It was a home of the English navy since the reign of Edward III and was twice surprised and sacked during the Hundred Years' War, after which the mouth of the estuary was closed every night with a great chain. The narrow mouth of the Dart is protected by two fortified castles, Dartmouth Castle and Kingswear Castle.

In 1373 Geoffrey Chaucer visited and among the pilgrims in his Canterbury Tales

A schipman was ther, wonyng fer by weste;

For ought I wost, he was of Dertemouthe.

Notwithstanding Dartmouth's connections with the crown and respectable society, it was a major base for privateering (state sanctioned or licenced piracy) in medieval times.

The town is dominated by the Royal Navy Officer Training college (Britannia Royal Naval College) and all officers of the Royal Navy, as well as many foreign navies, are trained there.

The Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta takes place annually over three days at the end of August.

Originally Dartmouth's only wharf was Bayard's Cove, a relatively small but picturesque area protected by a fort at the southern end of the town. Bayards Cove has been used in several television productions, because of its 18th century buildings; photographs are on show in the Dartmouth Arms public house. The made up embankment which today extends the whole length of the town's river front is the result of nineteenth century land reclamation, started in earnest when the town played host to a large number of prisoners of war from the Napoleonic wars which formed a captive workforce. Prior to this, what is now the town centre was almost entirely tidal mud flats.

Part of the town's river front

Henry Hudson put into Dartmouth on his return from America, and was promptly arrested for sailing under foreign flag. The Pilgrim Fathers put into Dartmouth's Bayard's Cove, en-route from Southampton to America. They rested a while before setting off on their journey in the Mayflower and the Speedwell on the 20th August 1620. About 300 miles west of Land's End, they realised that the Speedwell was unseaworthy and returned to Plymouth. The Mayflower departed alone to complete the crossing to Cape Cod.

Thomas Newcomen, the inventor of the steam pumping engine was born in Dartmouth in 1663. The location of his house in Lower Street is marked with a plaque, although the building itself was demolished (and reconstructed on Ridge Hill) in the nineteenth century to make way for a new road which was named after Newcomen. An eighteenth century working Newcomen engine is on display in the town.

The Royal Avenue Gardens

The town contains a number of historic buildings, the most obvious of which is the Butterwalk, built 1635 - 1640. Its intricately carved wooden fascia is supported on impressive granite columns. Charles II held court in the Butterwalk whilst sheltering from storms in 1671 in a room which now forms part of Dartmouth Museum. Much of the interior survives from that time, as does at least one ghost. The Royal Castle Hotel was built in 1639 on the then new Quay. The building was refronted in the nineteenth century, and as the new frontage is itself listed, it is not possible to see the original which lies beneath. A claimant for the oldest building is a former merchants house in Higher Street, now a Good Beer Guide listed public house called The Cherub, built circa 1380. Agincourt House (next to the Lower Ferry) is also 14th century.

The town was an ancient borough, granted by Edward III, known formally as Clifton-Dartmouth-Hardness, and consisting of the three parishes of St Petrox, St Saviour and Townstall, and incorporating the hamlets of Ford, Old Mill and Norton. [1] It was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The town returned two members of parliament from the thirteenth century until 1835, after which one MP was elected until the town was disenfranchised in 1868. It remained a municipal borough until 1974, when it was merged into the South Hams district, and became a civil parish with a town council.

The remains of a fort at Gallants Bower just outside the town are some of the best preserved remains of a civil war defensive structure. The fort was built by Royalist occupation forces in c1643 to the south east of the town, with a similar fort at Mount Ridley on the opposite slopes of what is now Kingswear. The parliamentarian General Fairfax attacked from the North in 1646, taking the town and forcing the Royalists to surrender, after which Gallants Bower was demolished.

In the latter part of World War II the town was a base for American forces, and one of the major departure points for Utah beach in the D Day landings. Much of the surrounding countryside was closed to the public while it was used by US troops for practise landings and manoeuvres.

No railway has ever run to Dartmouth, but the town does have a railway station, although it is now a restaurant. The original plans for the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway line took the line across a bridge and into the town. Opposition from local seamen and merchants saw the route diverted to Kingswear on the opposite side of the river, but this occurred after the station had been built at Dartmouth. The railway terminated at a station called "Kingswear for Dartmouth" (now on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway) and a ferry took passengers across the river to the station at Dartmouth, which had a dedicated pontoon. It is believed to be the only place in the world with a purpose built railway station which has never seen a train.

The town was home to the civil engineer and mathematical genius George Parker Bidder (1806 - 1878), who is famous for his work on railways over much of the world, as well as the docks of the East End of London. Bidder served on the town council, and his expertise was instrumental in draining the area which is now the centre of the town, but was then part of the river Dart. He also undertook pioneering work on steam trawling whilst living in the town. Bidder died at his home at Paradise Point near Warfleet Creek and is buried at nearby Stoke Fleming.