Exmouth, East Devon

Exmouth History
Do you have anything to add please, Info or photos? Send details to Greg Caygill or Tel 01395 271717 email Greg

The Blue Plaque Trail
Welcome to Historic Exmouth the first fashionable seaside resort in Devon

Exmouth is one of Devon’s oldest seaside resorts. Much of Exmouth’s legacy has come about due to its strategic and scenic location at the mouth of the River Exe, its mild climate and 19th century fashion for seaside living.

As a Millennium project Blue Plaques have been fixed to various buildings around the town to commemorate the town’s famous former residents, their homes and other historic locations. The plaques have been fixed by the Exmouth Society with the support of Exmouth Town Council.
We hope this trail, which is approximately 2 miles in length will allow you to enjoy Exmouth’s fascinating heritage.

1	Dolphin Hotel 2 Morton Rd	Sub. Lt. Warneford V.C. Naval Air Service 1st World War V.C. hand dropped bombs and destroyed Zeppelin.
2	Manchester House Imperial Rd	One time home of Mary Ann Clarke, mistress to the Duke of York.
3	Thomas Tucker The Strand	history of the shop.
4	Pilot Lights Tower St	home of Nancy Perriam, sailed with husband in Nelson’s fleet and acted as powder monkey in battle.
5	Mona Island Exeter Rd	Pratt’s landing place for ancient ferry Exmouth to Starcross circa 12th C.
6	Glenorchy Church Exeter Rd	brief description of foundation by Viscountess Glenorchy.
7	Sir John Colleton Library Exeter Rd	It was Sir John Colleton who introduced a new species of flowering shrub to the country from S.Carolina.- Magnolia Grandiflora Exmouthiensis. This has been adopted as the flower for Exmouth and the local shopping centre was named after it as The Magnolia Centre. Sir John had a mansion called Elm Cottage, which was sited in Exeter Road in the vicinity of where the Library now stands.
8	Conrad Martens Library Exeter Rd	artist on the Beagle with Charles Darwin, subsequently settled in Australia.
9	Primrose Cottage North St	last remaining thatched cottage in Exmouth town centre.
10	Temple Winds Chapel Hill	started as a pharmacy in early 19th century and continued as such until the 1960s.
11	Assembly Rooms The Beacon	was the centre of social life in Exmouth in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
12	Manor Hotel The Beacon	history of hotel and reference to performance at hotel by Franz Liszt.
13	Nelson House The Beacon	home of Lady Nelson in her latter years.
14	Deer Leap The Esplanade	19th century bath house.
15	Lt. Richard Sandford 15 The Beacon See photo below	1st World War V.C. submariner took part in St George’s Day raid on Zeebrugge.
16	Byron Court 10 The Beacon	one time home of Lady Byron.
17	Royal Beacon Hotel See photos below	The Beacon – visited by the King of Saxony in 1844.
18	Beacon Hill House The Beacon	home of Richard Perring, inventor of improved manufacturing technique for ships anchors.
19	Dolforgan Court Louisa Terrace	home of Charlotte Ann Hume Long founder of Exmouth’s first hospital in 1884.
20	Gunfield Gardens Carlton Hill Exmouth Fort (photo page).	garrisoned in Civil War controlling sea approach to beseiged Exeter.	old photo about 1870 with soldiers & cannons
21	Maer Bay	Court Douglas Avenue – intended home for General Gordon.
22	Barn Hotel Foxholes	Arts and Crafts house designed in 1896.

15. Lt. Richard Sandford
The Beacon by the seafront

1st World War V.C. submariner took part in the St George’s Day raid on Zeebrugge.

17. Royal Beacon Hotel on The Beacon - it was visited by the King of Saxon in 1844. Below photo of the Ex-Major Cllr. Ron Mudge (2000) at the presentation of the Plaque in 2000.
The then present Mayor Ron Mudge unveiled the Plaque

Copy of the Plaque

For more information about Exmouth’s rich history copies of Exmouth Town Trails produced by
Exmouth Museum are available from Exmouth Museum, the Tourist Information Centre, Olde Exmouth in Church Street, and The Bookshop, Rolle Street.

Web Editor: Greg Caygill. greg@webwest.co.uk

Homepage

History Pages
	History Start

	Blue Plaque Trail commemorate the town’s famous former residents, homes and other historic locations.

	ALL Old Photos, with previews

	Old Town photos: (bold open new window)
	Phear Park Celebration Dinner 1911 The Strand c. 1928 The Strand c. 1940s The Parade Old. Rolle Street Old. Old Water Mill

	Old Sea/river photos:
	Manchester Quay, boats! Plantation Walk c1910 Exmouth Fort. The Esplanade 1913. Beach & Steamboat. Orcombe Point 1929. Queens Drive 1906. Kelly's Butchers Cart. Boats, c.1840. William Daniell's voyage 1813. Docks slip

	Other old photos:
	Telegraph Railway Station. B. Griffen's Old House

	Other pages:
	A-La-Ronde Sixteen sided, Byzantine style, thatched house

	A Steel Turret from WW2 on the Seafront

Remembrance Sunday

Other info

On the Seafront, at the centre of the Esplanade is the Diamond Jubilee Memorial Clock Tower built in 1897. Surrounded by floral displays

Exmouth was a fishing village and grew to being an being an important port in the 1100's. Later it turned into a busy tourist town.

In 1844, The King of Saxon visited The Royal Beacon Hotel on The Beacon.

Sir Walter Raleigh sailed on many of his voyages from Exmouth Marina and Lord Nelson's wife lived in the town on the Beacon. She is buried in Littleham Church.

The town became very popular during the Georgian period and the town has many examples of Georgian architecture.

At the start of the 20th century Exmouth was a small compact town hugging the Exe Estuary. The population then was just under 10,000

Exmouth's Flower

Magnolia Grandiflora Exmouthiensis.
The flower for Exmouth
It was Sir John Colleton who introduced a new species of flowering shrub to the country - Magnolia Grandiflora Exmouthiensis. This has been adopted as the flower for Exmouth and the local shopping centre was named after it as The Magnolia Centre. Sir John had a mansion called Elm Cottage, which was sited in Exeter Road in the vicinity of where the Library now stands.

The coast from Exmouth provides a walk through time of 185 million years of the earth's history and stretches from Orcombe Point at Exmouth in Devon to Dorset.
Dorset and Devon World Heritage Site

Beautiful old photo's from books by George Pridmore who helped herewith permission to use some of his photos. He saldy died in 2002. His books are available in the shops still.

Your help needed to find people, and other requests
Read your emails, also some Interesting history and people looking for information. Can anyone help?