140 D~~TMOt7TH. DEVONSHIRE.
DART.l\IO U TH .. DARTMOUTH, originally called" Lud-hill," is an ancient mu engagement in the Channel on 14th May, 1293, when the nicipal borough, seaport and market town in South Devon, combined fleet of French, Flemish and Genoese was beaten oj! with a good harbour, capable of holding more than 500 sail with great loss; two ships from this port also took part in the of merchant ships and is seated on the west side of the expedition of Edward 1. to Scotland in 12g8: and in 1347, Dart, which rises in the north of Dartmoor and after passing during the war with France, 31 ships were provided for the, Totnes, where it is navigable for small vessels, is joined at a investment of Calais: in 1404 the town was attacked by the distance of seven miles from its mouth by the river Hare French, who were, however, repulsed, and their leader,. bourn. The town is in the hundred of Coleridge, Torquay DuChatel, slain; and on the attempted invasion by the, division of the county, petty sessiomil division of Paignton, Spanish Armada, in 1588, two vessels, the" Crescent " and union and county court district of Totnes, rural deanery of the" Harte," were fitted out, and the former is said to have Ipplepen, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter. engaged one of the enemy's ships. On the breaking out of The borl;lUgh is in the three parishes of TOWNSTAL, ST. the Civil War, Dartmouth at tirst declared for the Parlia SAVIOUR'S and ST. PETROX, 4- miles south-west from Brix: ment, and in 1643, after a month's investment, surrendered ham, 28 east from PlymPlymouth; the river is also marks :-" Upon a long hill stands Dartmouth, which, by crossed at Sand Quay by a floating bridge, worked by steam reason of its commodiousness as a harbour, defended by twGo power. castles, is a town well stored with merchant.s and with too In January, 1883, the Dartmouth Harbour Commissioners best ships." began the construction of an embankment, which extends The harbour lights at Kingswear and Dartmouth are from Ferry Slip to the Gas Works, a distance of 600 yards, under the direction of the Harbour Commissioners. with a roadway 50 feet wide and a pontoon opposite the There are two quays i the New Quay, or New Ground, i6 Great Western Railway Company's property i the total esti a large open space, with convenient landing place, prome mated cost was upwards of £25,600. nade and seats, relieved by two avenues of trees and fronted Part of the western shore of the river, devoted to ship by a row of shops, near the centre'of which is the" Castle," a. building, has a large yard in which 200 hands are employed. commodious and first-class family hotel. The other quay is at There is a coastguard station and a small prison, now used Bearscove, on which the Custom House is situated; and is as a lock-up, but the borough prisoners are sent to the flanked on the south side by the ruins of Bearscove Castle. county prison at Exeter. In 1675 Dartmouth gave the title of baron to Charles Fitz The town is mostpicturesquely and romantically situated, charles, natural son of Charles Il. by Catherine, daughter its chief portion lying in a deep valley, while the surround of Thomas Pegg esq. of Yeldersley, but this title, together ing houses are built on slopes of precipitous hills, from 200 with those of Viscount Totnes and Earl of Plymouth, became to 300 feet in height: some of the houses are of considerable extinct on his death 17th October, 1680. In 1682, Decem age, giving the place, which is best seen from the river, ber 2, the title of Baron Dartmouth was bestowed upon much the appea1"dnCe of a foreign town. Admiral George Legge, afterwards created 5th September,. Thetown was made corporateby Royal Charter, dated I4th 1711, Earl of DartmouLhand Viscount Lewisham, and these April, 1342 (IS Edward IlL), subsequently confirmed and titles are still held by the Legge family. enlarged by Richard n. 14th December, 1378, and 15~h Dartmouth has four churches. St. Clement's, the parish November, 1394; by Henry VII. 10th December, 1487; church of Townstal, about a mile north-west of the town, Henry VIII. 10th May, 15IO; Edward VI. 8th August, is an ancient building of stone, in the Early English style, 1547; Mary, 6th November, 1553; Elizabeth, 9th November, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, aisles, south porch 1558, and by James I. 1604-5. Leland affirms that the pri and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing vilege of mayoralty was given to the town by King John, 4 bells; the three first are most beautiful bells, respectively and although this is disputed it appears certain that the in inscribed, in Old English characters :-" Vox Augustini habitants claimed to have been a free borough in the reign sonet in aure Dei: " "Santa Katerina ora pro nobis i" and of Henry I. 'The charter of James I. continued in force "Sit nomen Domini Benedictum;" the tenor was cast by until the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 Thomas Wroth in 1700: in the south transept is the recum (5 & 6 William IV. c. 76), when the Corporatiun was re bent effigy of a civilian, c. 1310-50, in a long garment with modelled and now consists of a mayor, 4- aldermen and 12 sleeves, titting closely round the neck and reaching to the councillors, under the style of the" Mayor and Corporation feet: the church has undergone a thorough restoration and of the Borough of Clifton-Dartmouth-Hardness," the names the greater part of it has been rebuilt: there are 350 sittings. of three adjacent vills or manors. The Corporation act as The register dates from the year 1653. The living is a the Urban Sanitary Authority. Dartmouth first returned vicarage, with the parochial chapelry of St. Saviour's an members to Parliament in 1298, and subsequently III 1340, nexed, tithe rent-charge £150, joint net yearly value £150,. from which date two members were regularly returned until including 72 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Sir the Reform Act of 1832 (2 and 3 William IV.c. 45) when the Henry Paul Seale bart. J.P., D.L. and held since 1884 by the representation was reduced to one member, and the borough Rev. Joseph Samuel Exell M.A. of Dnrham University. The was finally disfranchised by the "Representation of the great tithes are held by the Corporation. People (Scotland) Act, 1868." The church of St. Saviour, situated in the centre of the. The Port Sanitary Authority, recently constituted, con town, and erected towards the end of the 14th century, is a. sists of 10 members, 5 of whom are elected by the Urban spacious cruciform building, partly in the Decorated style, Sanitary Authority of Dartmouth, I by the Urban Sanitary and consists of chancel with aisles, nave, aisles, transepts,. Authority of Totnes, and 4 by the Rural Sanitary Authority vestry, south porch, and an embattled western tower with of Totnes. pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells, the first three of The history of Dartmouth rivals in antiquity that of which were cast by W. Pannell, of Cullompton, in 1826 i the Totnes, and the Saxon Chronicle records the murder here, in 4th and 7th date from 1732 ; 5th 1825; 6th 1742 ; and tenor 1°49, of Earl Beorn, who was slain, it is related, by Sweyn, 1854: the chancel is paved with Pennant stone, and the sun of Godwin, and buried in the church; William the Con sacrarium with Devonshire and Italian marbles: the com queror, according to early writers, embarked from this port munion table of oak has ricWy carved supports, with figures in 1099, on his way to the relief of "Mans, and in the reign of of the Evangelists, and the railings inclosing the sacrarium Richard I. on the organization of the third Crusade in 1189, are of old oak removed from the roof: the oak choir stalls, a part if not the whole of the English squadron, consisting designed by Mr. J. D. Sedding, architect, have finely carved of 100 large vessels and many smaller ones, sailed from ends: the oak roof is relieved by carved and gilt bosses, and Dartmouth in April, IIgO, for Marseilles and Messina : King those of the adjoining aisles are also of oak, massively con John visited the town in the summer of 1205, remaining structed : under the chancel is a crypt, with a stone stair from June 18th to June 22nd, and in 1214, having concluded case leading thereto i it is now used to contain the water a truce after his defeats in France, he landed here on the tanks and boiler used in heating the church: the church re 15th October. In 1292-3 Dartmouth appears to have fur tains a very fine oak rood screen of the 15th century, and an nished six ships for the king's service, and took part in an elaborately carved stone pulpit, bothilluminated in gold and
