Sidmouth

“ Coming into Sidmouth, you see at once that you are arrived in a Superior Place, and, before you are perceived, make haste to brush the dust off your boots, put your headgear straight, and, in general making yourself look as respectable as may be possible to a rambler in the byways, step forth with a jaunty air ”

“ Bullion without birth, money without manners are in process of revolutionising some aspects of Sidmouth, and it is quite in accord with the general trend of things that the newest, the largest, the reddest, and the most insistent of the hotels should have shoved a great hulking shoulder up against the pretty, rambling, white-faced cottage in Woolacombe Glen, where some earliest infant months of Queen Victoria were passed, and that it should have exploited the association by calling itself the “Victoria.” ”

“ Westcote is philosophical over both Sidmouth and Seaton: 'In former times, very famous ports (and every place and man hath but his time) .' Sidmouth was an important fishing town several hundred years ago; it is now a popular watering-place, set among high red cliffs, amidst very pretty scenery, and favoured with a great deal of sunshine. Leading inland are very high and steep hills, different in shape from most of the hills in the neighbourhood, for they are neither rounded, pointed, nor sloping, but have a curious square, rather flat-topped look, and scarped sides. ”

“ To enjoy it fully one must be able to hug the cliffs closely. Soon the coast line begins to trend south-westward, and Sidmouth, one of the prettiest spots of all Devon, is reached. On the western side stands High189 Peak, with its lofty cliffs, rearing themselves 500 feet above sea level, and between is the valley of the Sid, with swelling uplands all around. Unfortunately for yachtsmen who love the picturesque, and for whom comparatively quiet Sidmouth would have attractions, there is no harbour. ”

“ Before Torquay, Teignmouth, Exmouth, and other places had begun to develop, Sidmouth was a place of fashion, and the signs of that early favour are still abundantly evident in the town, which is largely a place of those prim-frontaged, white-faced houses we associate with the early years of the nineteenth century. It belongs, in fact, to the next period following that of Lyme Regis, and has just reached the point of being very quaint and old-world and interesting, as we and ours will have become in the course of another century. ”

“ It has a bold and open shore, and many of its newest houses are built near the beach, which is protected from the encroachments of the sea by a natural rampart of shingly pebbles, that rises in four or five successive stages from near low-water mark, and terminates in a broad and commodious promenade about one-third of a mile in length. Sidmouth has two suburbs, respectively called the Western Town and the Marsh. It has a weekly market on Saturday, and two annual fairs—the one on Easter Tuesday, the other on the Wednesday after September 1. ”

“ Sidmouth continued to grow in favour for years afterwards, and only began to experience neglect when the opening of the railways to the West discovered other beautiful spots in Devonshire. Next to the Royal association already recounted, Sidmouth most prides itself on the fact that in 1831 the Grand Duchess Helene of Russia for three months resided at Fortfield Terrace. ”

“ The bathing is good, the climate warm. Formerly of some importance, the harbour can no longer be entered by large vessels, and goods are transhipped into flat-bottomed lighters for conveyance ashore. Fishing is extensively carried on and cattle fairs are held. In the 13th century Sidmouth was a borough governed by a port-reeve. ”

“ In the effort to strengthen his Ministry Perceval persuaded Lord Sidmouth to enter the Cabinet, but only on condition that the orders should be left an open question. Sidmouth plainly said that he would rather give up the orders than face an American war. [221] He also asked that the license system should be renounced. Perceval replied that this would be a greater sacrifice than if the licenses had never been granted. [222] Lord Sidmouth was not a great man,—Canning despised his abilities, and the Prince of Wales called him a blockhead ”

“ The last of the coast towns in this region is one of the best centres in south-east Devon for a detailed exploration of the countryside. That is, the best if a coast town must be chosen. To the writer's mind a better plan is to make a break from this established usage and get quarters in one of the quiet old places about eight or ten miles inland, such as Ottery or Axminster. But Sidmouth is an exceedingly pleasant spot, in which one need never feel dull or bored, and in which the vulgarities one associates with the "popular" watering place are entirely absent. ”

“ On the shore hereabouts, all sorts of marine curiosities can be picked up, such as petrified wood, madrepores, jaspers, agates, and a variety of shells.
Near Sidmouth is a very interesting house, which is thrown open occasionally to public view by the proprietor. In the garden are glass houses, in which oranges, vines, pines, and the most beautiful orchids grow, with pineries, and ferneries, and formerly there were aviaries, and a menagerie of curious animals, and in the cottage are preserved a number of rare things. ”

“ There can be little question but that, of all the west country which lies aloof from the moor, this south-east corner of Devon, watered mainly by the Otter and familiar to many strangers who visit the watering-places of Seaton, Sidmouth, or Budleigh, is the most beautiful in general landscape. The contour of the hills is more varied and effective, nor have they been denuded of timber about their more conspicuous portions as in most other parts of the county. ”

“ We had reason to know he had heard the report before he left Holyhead, and it was determined, as the best medium line that could be adopted until I could hear from him, that I should proceed for twelve hours to Lord Anglesea's. Accordingly, I wrote to Lord Sidmouth and Bloomfield to acquaint them with the communication I had received respecting the Queen, to account for the delay in my not proceeding to Ireland, and desiring Lord Sidmouth's advice as to what I had best do, and that he would make all the arrangements which might be necessary under existing circumstances. ”

“ The village of Budleigh-Salterton lies about half-way between Sidmouth and Exmouth, and at a short distance to the westward of the mouth of the river Otter. It is pleasantly situated by the sea-shore; and the beauty of the country in its vicinity, and the convenience afforded for sea-bathing, have caused it of late years to be much frequented as a watering-place.
Of the many watering-places with which the requirements of fashion have sprinkled our southern coasts, there are few which can boast of a more delightful situation than the subject of our present engraving. ”

“ So annoyed was he at 'the disgraceful events which have occurred at Guildhall within the last three or four days,' that he wrote to Lord Sidmouth on 21 Dec. 1817 announcing his intention to resign 'as soon as the convenience of government in regard to the due selection and appointment' of his successor would allow (Pellew, Life of Lord Sidmouth, iii. 236–7) . His health now became completely broken, and his absence from court more frequent. ”

“ A tablet to his memory was placed in the Old Meeting House, Sidmouth. One who knew him describes him as ‘a most lovable man in all respects.’ He married, 6 July 1790, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Lawrence, a Shropshire landowner, and widow of Samuel Lowe; she died at Bath 25 Nov. 1831. By her he had one son, Edmund, and a daughter, Emma. Butcher is known among topographers by his account of Sidmouth, and among poets by a few hymns of great merit. His hymn ‘From north and south’ won the warm commendation of Mrs. Barbauld. He published: 1. ”

“ Lord Sidmouth, then far advanced in life, when he saw those remarks in the diary, naturally felt offended, but he bore the offence with dignity, merely saying, as he closed the volume, "Well, Wilberforce does not speak of me as he spoke to me, I am sorry to say." Of Wilberforce, no one can desire to doubt the general honesty ”

“ Why, confound the purblind, batlike stupidity [44] of it! red brick is not wanted at Sidmouth, where the cliffs are the very reddest of all Devon. We need not give the old builders of white-faced Sidmouth any credit for artistic perceptions, for they could not choose but build in the fashion of their age, and everywhere alike, after our own use and wont ”

“ Before it is faced the hill-climbing powers of the car should be carefully considered, for the gradient at one point is at least one in five, and is extremely steep for a considerable distance. But from this height the blue bay and red rocks of Sidmouth look very lovely through the trees, and at the top of the hill there are colours enough on a sunny day to repay us for much climbing: [38] pale blue hills and a dark blue sea, and a wide expanse of varying greens, and to the left a red cliff, and to the right, perhaps, a patch of brilliant heather. ”

“ The old town of Sidmouth is now buried under the shingle, the cliffs that protected the harbour having been entirely washed away. At Dawlish, again, rather more than fifty years since, a mass estimated at 4000 tons fell bodily into the sea. Nor is the erosion the [81] work of natural forces alone. ”

“ They walked along the Roman Road [Pg 464] to Lyme Regis in the east, and along the Roman Road again to Sidmouth in the west, returning in the dark, tired and hungry; and sometimes they went into the roadside public-houses because of the warm, comfortable smell they had, and because they liked to listen to the slow, burring voices of the labourers as they drank their beer and cider and talked of the day's doings. ”

“ I am trying with Lord Sidmouth to get him a place among the newspaper gentry to see the ceremony. It is seriously worth while to get such a popular view of the whole as he will probably hit off.
I have another view for this poor fellow. You have heard of the Royal Literary Society, and how they propose to distribute solid pudding, alias pensions, to men of genius. It is, I think, a very problematical matter, whether it will do the good which is intended; but if they do mean to select worthy objects of encouragement, I really know nobody that has a better or an equal claim to poor Hogg. ”

“ Lord G—— told me he would write to you to offer his name likewise, if it strikes you that the object I allude to is worth pursuing, and if our names are likely to be of any use to you for the purposes above mentioned. Town is thin; few people, and less news; but an increasing report among Sidmouth's friends that he is in too bad health to continue, and that he must resign.
The Radicals, as you see, are all trying to make out a mob case for Sir R. Wilson, but the army, I am told, is well pleased at his dismissal. ”

“ It would seem that the appetites of the shoal were satisfied by the catch of eleven people—for, so far as can be ascertained, there were ten people in the second boat, and certainly these creatures gave no further signs of their presence off Sidmouth that day. The coast between Seaton and Budleigh Salterton was patrolled all that evening and night by four Preventive Service boats, the men in which were armed with harpoons and cutlasses, and as the evening advanced, a number of more or less similarly equipped expeditions, organised by private individuals, joined them. ”

“ The summer of 1862 was spent with Miss Marryat at Sidmouth, and, wise woman that she was, she now carefully directed our studies with a view to our coming enfranchisement from the "schoolroom." More and more were we trained to work alone ”

“ The foundation of the Sidmouth Peerage is traceable to one of those fortunate turns which have much to do with worldly success. It is related that while Lord Chatham was residing at Hayes, in Kent, his first coachman being taken ill, the postillion was sent for the family doctor; but not finding him, the messenger returned, bringing with him Mr. Addington, then a practitioner in the place, who, by permission of Lord Chatham, saw the coachman, and reported his ailment. His lordship was so pleased with Mr. Addington, that he employed him as apothecary for the servants, and then for himself ”

“ And all persons are hereby cautioned upon their allegiance not to receive or harbour the said Arthur Thistlewood, as any person offending herein will be thereby guilty of high treason.
Sidmouth.
The above-named Arthur Thistlewood is about forty-eight years of age, five feet ten inches high, has a sallow [Pg 6] complexion, long visage, dark hair, (a little grey) , dark hazel eyes and arched eye-brows, a wide mouth and a good set of teeth, has a scar under his right jaw, is slender made, and has the appearance of a military man ”

“ There are three water-colour landscapes by him in the print room at the British Museum, including a view of Sidmouth Bay. Some of his works were engraved, notably 'Partridges,' in mezzotint by Richard Earlom. He is sometimes stated to have been a brother of Valentine Green [q. v.] ”

“ Sir Sidney, who had spoken French from a child with the fluency of a native, told the man that he had a particular reason for wishing to visit one of the English ships lying off the harbour, and that he would give a handsome reward to be conveyed aboard. The poor fisherman consented on condition that the stranger would wait till it was later, and meanwhile invited him to his cottage to take rest before starting. Sir Sidney accepted his offer, and followed him to a cottage, where a poor old woman, the fisherman's wife, spread a cloth and laid before them a good supper. ”