The chapel on the tor

Video 2 of Torbay Council's renovation of Chapel Woods and the 13th century Chapel project. Other videos at barrie-james.co.uk.
An example of the many brilliant topographical views made conveniently accessible by UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology: Barrie James's movie commissioned by Torbay Council of the progress of woodland management work at the hitherto-obscured site of the 13th century St Michael's Chapel, at the summit of a crag of limestone above Torre Station, Torbay.

Latin at Anstey's Cove

Pursuing the reference in Harper's 1907 The South Devon Coast to the Latin sign that adorned Mr Thomas's tea-house, formerly at Anstey's Cove, Torquay: here's a transcript and a bit more about its background.

The Secret of the Desert: across Arabia by chariot-boat-tank

I wrote previously about the author Edward Douglas Fawcett, after seeing Kevin Dixon's Torquay’s Other History post The Science Fiction of Edward Douglas Fawcett, and linked to his 1893 novel Hartmann the Anarchist; or The Doom of the Great City. As an update, I just found among the growing collection of digitised works at the British Library another of his SF works, the 1895 The Secret of the Desert, or How We Crossed Arabia in the “Antelope“.

Coast: Brixham to Paignton - part 2

Continuing from Coast: Brixham to Paignton - part 1: the walk from Churston Cove, a rocky bay of almost Mediterranean appearance, to Paignton via a succession of headlands and increasingly commercialised bays.

Coast: Brixham to Paignton - part 1

I think I'm beginning to run out of local coastline to explore... On Friday I filled in one of the remaining gaps, and walked the South West Coast Path from Brixham to Paignton. It's a route that takes in wooded clifftops and a series of coves, from the rugged and highly secluded, to the most accessible and commercialised.

Devon: its Moorlands, Streams & Coasts

An out-take from The Dread Wrecker Featherstone: Lady Rosalind Northcote's 1908 Devon: its Moorlands, Streams & Coasts, an illustrated account of the landscape and history of Devon. It has extremely pleasant colour plates, from watercolours by Frederick John Widgery, who specialised in coastal art of Devon and Cornwall. The scenes range over the whole of Devon, but here I've selected a local sample from East Devon round to Torbay.

Fêtes champêtre at Watcombe

Torquay, The Giant Rock at Watcombe, Francis Bedford, c.1880
National Media Museum Collection, Inventory no: 1990-5037_B1_0068
copyright-free image reproduced under conditions of The Commons, Flickr

Expanding on an aside in the previous post Ice cold in Shaldon (if you missed it, read it for context) I just collated some further detail on what sounds a brilliant event in the Valley of Rocks, Watcombe, Devon, in the days before its overgrowth with woodland. This was an open air concert party - a fête champêtre organised by the Torquay Choral Society in the early 1850s - that made use of the Valley as a natural amphitheatre.

Musical Fête Champêtre at Watcombe, near Torquay
Colebrooke Stockdale, 1852

The Torquay Choral Society's Fete at Watcombe

This picturesque fete took place on Wednesday, the 28th ult, in the neighbourhood of Torquay, Devon. The site may be described as a grand amphitheatre, formed by a gigantic land-slip. On the north stands a towering precipice of conglomerate, like a bold sea-worn promontory, fissured by the storms of centuries. Beneath and around, the green-sward clothes the debris of the rocky avalanche which has rolled downward to the beach, between a second range of precipices and bold swelling hills.

The company included not only the elite and a vast assemblage of all classes from the immediate neighbourhood, but nearly an equal number from distant tows. A special train from Plymouth and Exeter brought more than seven hundred persons, whilst great numbers arrived by later trains.

For the performance of music in the open air the form of the ground was admirable. "Here," says the programme, "has Nature in her mighty workings displayed a sylvan dell, whose rocky sides faintly echo the tones which float upon the air." Ably did the Choral Society avail themselves of these advantages. Vocal or instrumental - whether in glee or madrigal or the full-toned choruses - the whole was admirable. "Foresters sound the cheerful Horn" and the "Huntsman's Chorus" were especially effective, and in character with the scene. "Hail, smiling Morn" and "Now is the month for Maying" rolled back the hours, and made the season young again. At sunset, the choir performed in admirable style the bold characteristic music of the Witches in "Macbeth," by Locke; followed by "God save the Queen," in full and enthusiastic chorus. "Good Night" formed the finale.

The scene was truly exhilarating; there were between 6000 and 7000 persons present: hosts of lovely children, with garlands on their heads, joined in the merry dance; others tripped it round the Maypole; and beneath a rock was formed the al fresco orchestra; whilst aloft upon the rocky point were performed hundreds around a gay flag.

Our Illustration is from a Sketch by Mr. Colebrooke Stockdale, who obligingly acted as honorary secretary to the Choral Society; the musical performances being ably conducted by Mr. Melhuish.
- The Illustrated London News, Aug 14, 1852, Volume 12, page 108

The next year, a repeat event was advertised in the Trewman's Flying Post of August 25, 1853. They knew how to do anouncements in those days ...

GRAND GALA

and

MUSICAL FETE CHAMPETRE

THE COMMITTEE of the TORQUAY

CHORAL SOCIETY in Anniversary of Last Year's

Fete have the honour to announce that a

GRAND MUSICAL FETE CHAMPETRE

will be held at WATCOMBE, near TORQUAY, on

THURSDAY, the 1st SEPTEMBER, 1853, commencing

at Half-past One o'clock precisely.

THE SPLENDID AND RENOWNED BAND OF

THE ROYAL MARINES

(By the kind permission of Col. Coryton) and the

TORQUAY SUBSCRIPTION BAND

will attend and perform choice selections of appropriate

and popular Music.

THE UNITED CHOIRS OF THE PLYMOUTH

PHILHARMONIC AND TORQUAY CHORAL

SOCIETIES

will sing MADRIGALS, CHORUSES, GLEES, &c.,

after which

HIGHLAND GAMES AND SPORTS

will take place, for which Prizes will be given.

Around the GARLANDED MAY-POLE Children will

twine the VARIED COLOURED WREATH  in a DANCE

of OLDEN TIMES.

At Half-past Four o'clock precisely, Choice Refreshments

consisting of Tea, &c., will be provided by Mrs. GRIFFITH'S

of Torquay, under the Superintendence of appointed

Stewards. At 7 o'clock

THE GIANT'S ROCK WILL BE BRILLIANTLY

ILLUMINATED, AND

A SPLENDID BALLOON WILL ASCEND.

None but those who have visited this locality can imagine

the surpassing beauty which nature has here displayed.

In this wild and romantic Coombe, gigantic Rocks

raise their bold heads high into the air, while at their feet

large masses lie scattered in strange fantastic forms-

the verdant slopes descending to the pebble'd shore

"where ebbing waters musically roll."

How beautiful this will appear when thousands are

assembled, studding the vale in picturesque groupes-

listening to the rise and fall of sweet harmony as the

echoes reverberate through this unrivalled Coombe- the

merry children, as in olden times, sportively gamboling in

the mazy dance - in the distance beholding the azure

bosom of the ocean, dotted with white sails, all combining

to form a scene of rare beauty and sublimity.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

Tickets for the Fete, 1s. each; Children and Schools

half-price; ditto ditto with Refreshment, 2s. each; to be

obtained of the principal Book and Music-Sellers in

Exeter, Plymouth, Teignmouth, Totnes and Torquay.

W. COLEBROOKE STOCKDALE, Hon, Sec.

Torquay, 18th August, 1853.

Excursion Trains will run. Conveyances to and from

the Station.

N.B. Parties intending to be present are urgently

requested [in consequence of the large attendance

anticipated] to procure their Tickets on or before Tuesday

30th inst., which will materially assist the arrangements

and prevent any disappointment.

By order of the Proprietors, no Booths or Stalls of any 

kind will be permitted on the ground.

Trewman's Flying Post carried a review on September the 8th, 1853. It was generally complimentary about the event, but with the odd sour note. One was a problem with the SPLENDID BALLOON:

The inflation of a large balloon commenced, but before it was completed the "monster" broke from its fastenings and was destroyed.

The other, more significant, was that:

The number of persons present cannot have been far short of 8,000, although, we hear, scarcely one-third of them paid for admission to the fete, the rest, to their discredit, taking advantage of a misunderstanding which exists as to the ownership of the ground, and refusing to "fork out" their "siller". We regret to state that the consequence of this disgracefully mean conduct has been that the society will sustain a loss from the undertaking.

Even without making a loss, the infrastructure for running such an event in a out-of-the-way location must have been daunting - not least, how to arrange toilet facilities for several thousand people. The Torquay Choral Society seems to have been stung by the whole experience, and didn't try this location again. A quick skin of news archives shows they moved future fetes to Luscombe Park, private grounds where presumably questions of admission fee were clear-cut.

Here's another nice image of the Valley of Rocks, from Besley's Views in Devonshire (c.1861).

Footnote: the quotation in the advertisement - "where ebbing waters musically roll" - comes from "To Miss Talbot" (in various later anthologies rebadged as "A Calm Evening" and "An Evening Walk") a now-obscure poem by the bluestocking and probably lesbian writer, poet and translator Elizabeth Carter, from her 1776 collection Poems on Several Occasions (page 70).

How ſweet the Calm of this ſequeſter'd Shore,
Where ebbing Waters muſically roll:
And Solitude, and ſilent Eve reſtore
The philoſophic Temper of the Soul.

- Ray

Ice cold in Shaldon

Google Earth image: right = north. Torquay (left) to Teign estuary (right)

View Babbacombe to Shaldon walk in a larger map  

As I decided at the end of Teignmouth and Shaldon: revisit, yesterday I walked the 6-mile section of the South West Coast Path from Babbacombe to Shaldon. It's extremely handy for access from here: Torquay, Teignmouth and Topsham are all on the same direct train route. A promenade walk and quick bus ride at the Torquay end gets you to Babbacombe, and the ferry across the Teign connects Shaldon to Teignmouth. The forecast said warm but not intolerably so (20°C), with a bit of a breeze and some showers likely, so it looked just the day for it.

The walk starts along the clifftop promenade at Babbacombe Downs; on a clear day there's a fine view of the walk ahead, and right across Lyme Bay to Branscombe (as well as of the landslip and semi-demolished Ridgemont House - see An afternoon in Torquay #1). At the northern end, a small service road takes you to the upper depot of the Babbacombe Cliff Railway, and you join the South West Coast Path there.

Click to enlarge

Babbacombe Downs	Oddicombe Beach below
Babbacombe Cliff Railway	Babbacombe Cliff Railway

A short section along suburban roads - via the Model Village, St Marychurch Road and Petitor Road - takes you to the Coast Path proper. An initial section by Torquay Golf Course leads to the first main segment of the walk, a winding (both horizontally and vertically) woodland path that passes the tops of two popular coves with red Permian cliffs, Watcombe and Maidencombe. It's lovely and (to me) very familar terrain typical of English south coast clifftop/landslip: a tumbling woodland of sycamore, elder, ferns, the odd Buddleia, and a lot else I don't recognise (Clare's better at botany, but she doesn't like the heat, and - it turned out sensibly - declined this walk). As the path rises, you get good views back to Babbacombe Beach and the headlands of the Torquay peninsula.

Click to enlarge

Ridgemont House	Torquay Golf Course, St Marychurch beyond
The start of the woodland section	View back to Babbacombe Beach
Torquay peninsula: (from nearest) Long Quarry Point, Black Head, Hope's Nose, and Ore Stone	approaching Watcombe

Shortly, you get a glimpse of Watcombe Head, the promontory above Watcombe Beach, before the path crosses the metalled road down to Watcombe Beach. The next ascent takes you over to the well-known 'Valley of Rocks'. This is a remarkable place, and one hard to do justice in photographs: a deep and wide glade with steep walls in places, and strange ivy-covered rock formations. On its northern side, the Coast Path follows a railed ascent - the Goat Path - to a viewpoint where you can see across the sea of treetops to a crag, Giant Rock, above the valley.

Click to enlarge

Looking down to Watcombe Head	Road down to Watcombe Beach
Woods - what I imagine as "tulgey"	More up
Strange excavation - Valley of Rocks	Rock tump - Valley of Rocks
Valley of Rocks	Ascent out of Valley of Rocks ...
... and up Goat Path	Looking back from viewpoint
View over Valley of Rocks	Close-up of Giant Rock

The Valley of Rocks interested me as a very odd landscape; I couldn't work out its origins, which vaguely recalled landslip, but didn't seem quite right. Googling when I got back revealed that it's in part down to quarrying of stone and terracotta. The Torquay Pottery website explains the detail - GP Allen's discovery in 1865 of terracotta in the grounds of the nearby Watcombe House, that led to a century of Watcombe Pottery (rather pleasant and distinctive work quite unlike the stereotypical knick-knacks you associate with seaside resorts). But, contrary to some accounts, the great majority of its striking terrain is natural, pre-dating any quarrying; Watcombe was one of the Devon locations regularly described as "sublime" (that is, beautiful but scary, within aesthetic classifications), and a popular venue for strolls and carriage drives; it was the venue for a couple of fêtes champêtre organised by the Torquay Choral Society (see the following post, Fêtes champêtre at Watcombe, for more on this).

You can find old prints and the occasional photo of the Valley of Rocks before the woodland cover obscured the view, and it looks amazing. (It seems quite a common phenomenon in southern England for change of land use, such as urbanisation or end of grazing, to bury scenic locations as has happened here - I've previously mentioned Pulpit Rock and Hadfield's Lookout in the Isle of Wight, and Sherbrook Chine near Budleigh).

Giants Rock, Watcombe - Valley of Rocks, c.1850
Devon Local Studies collection P&D08515

Torquay, The Giant Rock at Watcombe, Francis Bedford, c.1880
National Media Museum Collection, Inventory no: 1990-5037_B1_0068
copyright-free image reproduced under conditions of The Commons, Flickr

A later aerial photo shows considerably more forest cover, though the underlying landscape is still clearer than nowadays.

Watcombe Head, Watcombe Beach and Smugglers' Hole, Watcombe, 1930
EPW033421, Britain from Above - permitted weblog use

From the viewpoint above the Valley of Rocks, the Coastal Path continues toward a second cove, Maidencombe. The woodland thins out, and there are two options - a higher route following the John Musgrave Heritage Trail, or the more strenuous Coast Path proper that skirts the cliff edge. Maidencombe Cove I didn't think much of: the huge display boasting of good water quality has a tiny disclaimer about this declining under certain conditions when there was urban runoff. It must have been such a day, because right next to the cafe steps there was a damp cascade with horsetails, that was giving off a strong smell of sewage. I got a quick ice cream and carried on toward the final stretch, which goes through the Labrador Bay RSPB Reserve.

Click to enlarge

Out of the woods ...	... the path runs between cllifftop and fields
	Looking back Bell Rock arch
Maidencombe Beach	2.5 miles to Teignmouth

Did I mention that it was hot? It had been distinctly close in the woodland section, but once out into the full sunshine, I become well aware that the forecast was well off the mark with 20°C. It must have been 25°C or more; there wen't many other walkers on this section, and most of them looked very uncomfortable. What had looked like a gentle home stroll rapidly turned into a succession of slow climbs - five paces, rest, five paces, rest - and descents, with Shaldon Ness getting no closer. On the third exhausting ascent up the side of a parched field, down to my last inch of tepid water and starting to get thigh cramps, I had a strong twinge of worry as it occurred to me that it's perfectly possible to get heat stroke even on an English coast walk only half a mile from the main road. Fortunately I spotted a sheep trough with a ball-valve inlet that dispensed clean-looking water. I didn't risk drinking it, but I filled my empty water bottles and doused it over myself at intervals. It was a relief to come over the final rise and see Shaldon Approach Golf Course, the Ness and Teignmouth below, and the J2O with ice at the Ness hotel was bliss.

Click to enlarge

Maybe 2 miles to go	Another ascent ...
Looking back and down	The final climb, I hope
Teignmouth in sight	View down to Ness Cove
Teignmouth from Ness summit viewpoint	J2O with ice and a slice of orange

The official South West Coast Path site is inconsistent on the matter of this section, which took me about 4.5 hours. One page calls the Babbacombe to Exmouth walk as "easy", though with "tiring ascents and descents" between between Torquay and Shaldon;  another calls the Labrador Bay section "challenging". I'd call it challenging, especially at 25°C. It wasn't as difficult as the Lyme Regis Undercliff or the Beer to Sidmouth sections, but it's still hard work for the occasional walker. A very interesting section of the coast, though.

- Ray