My Adventures 3: South West Coast Path: County Gate to Lynmouth 20th September 2021

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www.visitlyntonandlynmouth.com

On Monday the 20th September 2021 I awoke in County Gate Car Park after a good nights sleep in the car. I really didn't want to wake up just yet, but I needed to get started as I needed to drive home after todays walk. So out of the car I got and I was greeted with the views across Exmoor covered in a blanket of mist.

I nip across to the toilet before getting a cup of tea made and the bacon rolls cooking.

The sun rises and quickly starts to burn away the mist.

I pack everything away, pull my boots on and throw my rucksack on and set off on Day 2 of the SWCP.

I walk up the road a short way crossing the county border above into Devon from Somerset.

I take the path on my left and start the steep downhill to the Coastal Path. My legs are still heavy and like lead from yesterdays walk.

At the bottom of the path is a short steep path down some steps to Sisters Fountain.

This is a natural spring which was enclosed in the stonework in the nineteenth century and named after the daughter (or daughters, or nieces, depending upon who's telling the tale) of the first owner of the Glenthorne estate.

There is a legend that Jesus drank here, as a youth, when he passed this way with his uncle, the Phoenician tin trader Joseph of Arimathea, on their way to Glastonbury. Joseph is said to have struck the ground with his staff, prompting the flowing of the holy water.

I bend down and cup a small amount of water to drink, now with my heavy rucksack and lead like legs I struggled to get back up!

I follow a narrow path uphill marked for Wingate Coombe until a I reach a track with two Boars heads upon stone pillars.

These mark the entrance to the Glenthorne Estate.

The country house at Glenthorne was built in 1829-1830 by the Reverend Walter Halliday. It was built in the Tudor Gothic style, with a conservatory and a three-stage service tower, with a carved boar's head above the door and a now-illegible Latin inscription.

Walter Halliday was the younger son of a naval surgeon and banker from a long-established Scottish family, Simon Halliday, who amassed a great fortune during the Napoleonic Wars. As befitted younger sons of the time, whose elder brothers were expected to inherit both wealth and its incumbent responsibilities, Walter had taken holy orders when his sibling died; but nonetheless, he took seriously the terms of his inheritance, requiring him to set up a country estate in the family's name, and set about finding the perfect place to do so.

As a great admirer of the Romantic movement, his thoughts followed Coleridge, Wordsworth and Shelley down to this part of the South West coast, as did his fortune shortly afterwards, establishing the estate here at Glenthorne.

Walter was childless when he died in 1872, however, and a quirk of inheritance law meant that although Glenthorne passed to his nephew, William Halliday Cosway, the rest of the wealth returned to Scotland, although it remained available to him as a sum which could be invested in capital projects.

Changing his name to William Halliday to match his inheritance (he was Walter's sister's son), he duly set about investing this money in the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway. This was in partnership with Sir George Newnes, editor of Strand magazine and, in this role, the original publisher of Sherlock Holmes.

Ben was William Halliday's son, who inherited the estate when William died in 1898 (on the same day that the first train arrived in Lynton on the new railway), and he too set about capital improvement at Glenthorne. Although tidal, the sea is deep at Glenthorne, and Ben's idea was to make it possible for ships to bring in coal from South Wales to fuel a power station which would provide an income for local workers.

The ensuing battle between Halliday and Newnes became the stuff of local legend, involving tragedy and romance. However, in 1910, Ben Halliday's career moved abruptly into politics, when, with the support of the Luttrell family of Dunster (, he became Liberal MP for Bridgewater. He was one of Lloyd-George's coalition government's key workers for reform, and a leading light of the Women's Suffrage movement, which gave women the vote for the first time in British history.

I follow the path round pass a house and take a path on my left on the bend that climbs upwards.

The Paths climbs up above Glenthorne Estate.

Can't quite work out what this tree looks like. Any ideas?

First views across to Foreland Point.

The path crosses two streams in Wingate Combe, continuing on through a wooded slope.

I pass Pudleep Gurt a gully on a steep slope, I follow the path along.

The path joins the cliff edge again with sea views, I decide to stop at the bench here and boil myself a cup of tea and take in the views.

Well I glad I stopped there for tea for immediately afterwards around the corner was a steep climb up!

Looking back down, still a long climb up yet!

I walk the path along Glenthorne Cliffs.

I cross a stream at Chubhill Combe and pass another gully.

View down towards Foreland Point Lighthouse just out of sight.

The path reaches a gate and a track, I follow the track down here at Coddow Combe.

Down the bottom is a signpost one for the Lighthouse and up for the Coastal Path. No surprise there!

I start the steep climb upwards passing a few people walking down.

A view back to the path down from Coddow Combe.

Foreland Point is Devon's most Northerly point.

A view to Lynmouth, the end goal comes into sight!

I follow the path on towards Lynmouth. Just two miles now, but 2 miles on the South West Coastal Path seem so much longer!

I now walk across Countisbury Common and the church of St John The Evangelist comes into view.

Parish Church of St John. 18th and 19th Century rebuilding of an earlier church. Nave rebuilt and porch probably added in 1796. Nave also probably further remodelled in the mid 19th Century. The tower is dated to 1836. In 1846 the chancel was rebuilt and vestry and north aisle were added at the expense of the Revd Walter Stevenson Halliday of Glenthorne.

Parish church of St John the Baptist. Rebuilt and enlarged at various times between 1796 and 1846. It contains a post-Reformation chancel screen upon which a late 17th Century classic pediment is superimposed.

St John the Evangelist. Very high up, with views on all sides, at the start of the path to Foreland Point. Tower rebuilt in 1835, with obelisks and balls instead of pinnacles. Nave 1796, chancel 1846. North arcade also 1846, with one octagonal pier and low arches. The furnishings are still pre-ecclesiological, with texts under Perpendicular arches on the east wall flanking a Perpendicular east window with stained glass only as coloured borders. One reset medieval bench end (chancel south wall) with crowned swan and arms. The only other feature of real interest is the screen with big long balusters, a fully developed cornice and a broken pediment above, all well carved, about 1700.

I leave the church and start my decline down into Lynmouth.

A military gun site, part of the 2nd World War Coastal defence system, survives only as two concrete bases on the cliff edge. There is a stone hut nearby.

The 2nd Devon Artillery Corps was formed in 1880. No 10 Company was formed in Lynmouth on 10 May 1990. In 1902 they were redesignated 2nd Devon RGA (Royal Garrison Artillery) Volunteers. Shortly after 1900 they constructed the gun platforms at Countisbury for practice firing. The fact that no attempt was made to screen these from the sea emphasises that these were never intended to be defensive works. Roger Ferrer believes the guns were kept in the vicinity of what is now Rock House, Lynmouth, and were hauled up the hill with horses when needed and that the HQ was in Barnstaple. In 1911 they were again redesignated: No 1 Heavy Battery RGA, Lynmouth. At the outbreak of war "125 men of the Ilfracombe and Lynton Territorial Battery assembled at Barnstaple and left for a secret destination" (Newspaper report). (By Comparison, only 12 Territorials went from South Molton). The guns were also taken to Barnstaple and the horses were transported by boat to Barnstaple and then to Dover. It seems the gun platforms may have seen some use later, as Roger Ferrer has a note from Wally Gilson saying "During the 1940 war, in the beginning period, targets were towed on the sea for practice".

The path joins the road for a short distance and then zig zags down a hillside into Lynmouth.

The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge 700 feet (210 m) below Lynton, which was the only place to expand to once Lynmouth became as built-up as possible. The villages are connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, which works two cable-connected cars by gravity, using water tanks.

Lynmouth was described by Thomas Gainsborough, who honeymooned there with his bride Margaret Burr, as "the most delightful place for a landscape painter this country can boast".

I have a walk around the town visiting a few of the great shops here.

I stop for a drink in The Ancient Mariner pub, awesome pub full of Maritime knick knacks everywhere!

A half of Sandford Orchards Devon Red and a half of Sanford Orchards Devon Mist. Cider is a must when in the West Country!

I left the pub pass the Lynmouth Flood museum.

1952 Lynmouth flood

On 15 and 16 August 1952, a storm of tropical intensity broke over South West England, depositing 229 millimetres (9.0 in) of rain within 24 hours on an already waterlogged Exmoor. It is thought that a cold front scooped up a thunderstorm, and the orographic effect worsened the storm. Debris-laden floodwaters cascaded down the northern escarpment of the moor, converging upon the village of Lynmouth. In particular, in the upper West Lyn valley, a dam was formed by fallen trees and other debris; this in due course gave way, sending a huge wave of water and debris down that river. The River Lyn through the town had been culverted in order to gain land for business premises; this culvert soon choked with flood debris, and the river flowed through the town. Much of the debris was boulders and trees.

Overnight, over 100 buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged along with 28 of the 31 bridges, and 38 cars were washed out to sea. In total, 34 people died and a further 420 were made homeless.

Similar events had been recorded at Lynmouth in 1607 and 1796. After the 1952 disaster, the village was rebuilt, including diverting the river around the village.

A conspiracy theory has circulated that the 1952 flood was caused by secret cloud seeding experiments conducted by the RAF. Weather historian Philip Eden has described this theory as "preposterous".

The small group of houses on the bank of the East Lyn River called Middleham, between Lynmouth and Watersmeet, was destroyed and never rebuilt. Today, a memorial garden stands on the site.

A memorial hall dedicated to the disaster is on the front toward the harbour; it contains photographs, newspaper reports and a scale model of the village, showing how it looked before the flood. A further photo and information display is found in St John the Baptist parish church.

Lynton is a small Victorian town perched 500ft above the town of Lynmouth with the Cliff Railway providing useful transport between the twin towns. Lynton has a selection of independent shops, galleries, tea-rooms and cafés. Many of the buildings date from the late 19th Century, most notable is the Town Hall which was given to the people of Lynton in 1900 by the publisher, Sir George Newnes, also the financier of the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. The Lyn and Exmoor Museum is a charming small museum housed within St Vincent’s Cottage, the towns oldest surviving domestic dwelling, and along with maritime exhibits and natural history collections it also boasts its very own ghost. Lynton has several hotels and guest houses and provides an excellent base to explore Exmoor. Just half a mile walk to the western end of the town is the stunning and famous Valley of the Rocks, also noted for its herd of wild feral goats!

In the 19th century, the high cliffs separating Lynton from Lynmouth were a major obstacle to economic development. The twin villages mainly relied on sea transport because land travel was extremely difficult over Exmoor. Coal, lime, foodstuffs and other essentials arrived at Lynmouth in sailing vessels, but this freight had to be carried by packhorses or in horse drawn carts up the steep hill to Lynton. The cliffs also posed problems for the growing tourist industry. From the mid 1820's holiday makers began to arrive at Lynmouth on paddle steamers from Bristol, Swansea and other Bristol Channel ports... but a daunting hill faced those who decided to walk up to Lynton. Ponies and donkeys could be hired at 6d a time, but the steep gradients severely tested the unfortunate animals. Other tourists travelled up Lynmouth hill in carriages, but the horses that pulled them had a very short working life.

I walk pass the harbour to the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.

I pay my £3 fare up and save my legs the climb up to Lynton. I saw this on a walking program and so wanted to ride this up anyway!

The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway is the UK's only fully water powered railway and Silver winner of Devon's Large Attraction of the Year 2020.

It was in December 1881 that a novel solution to the problem was first given a public airing. The Lynton and Lynmouth Recorder received a letter, signed only with the non-de-plum Pro Bono Publico, proposing: A tramway between the two towns to be worked by a stationary engine at Lynton, the motive power being taken from the river Lyn, put in tanks on rolling carriages and these let down the tramway under proper control. The weight of the water going down would, with the application of simple machinery, bring up anything that might be desired up from Lynmouth. The letter offered a solution to the problems of transporting both freight and people up and down the cliff, but such a scheme would require a large capital investment, so for some years it remained nothing more than a talking point.

Late in 1885, a major project was proposed which included the construction of a solid pier, an esplanade and ‘a lift from the said pier or promenade to Lynton’. The pier, to extend 112 yards into the sea, was intended to enable the resort to attract a bigger share of the growing steam-excursion traffic. Many of the paddle steamers had not been calling at Lynmouth where passengers had to be ferried ashore in small boats, instead visiting Ilfracombe where tourists could easily disembark at the deep-water pier. The construction of an esplanade, which survives today, was to start from a point near the Rhenish Tower and provide access to the pier. The proposed ‘lift’ would make it possible to carry up to Lynton the large numbers of people that would be landed from the steamers at the new pier.

Blasting operations soon took place on the cliff. By December The North Devon Journal could report: “The excavations for the purpose of a hydraulic lift between Lynton and Lynmouth is steadily progressing. Many thousands of tons of material have been removed from the hillside”. The Cliff Railway was finally opened on Easter Monday (the 7th April) in 1890. A large crowd gathered at the Lynton station to see Mrs Jeune, Lady of the Manor of Lynton, perform the official ceremony. George Newnes conducted her to a raised dias under the wall of the reservoir from which the cistern of the car would be filled. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from Bob Jones' little daughter, Mrs Jeune pulled a lever releasing the first car which glided forward on its first journey, while the second car simultaneously started on the upward track.

The train works by balancing the weight of two cars, one at the top and one at the bottom, which dock at each station and use brakes to clamp onto the rails. When each car is ready to depart the drivers release the brakes, and then the lower car discharges water from its tanks until the top car is heavier.

I arrive in Lynton and have a look about the town.

Set amongst the spectacular scenery of an area known as England’s Little Switzerland is Lynton, a small Victorian town with a selection of shops, tea-rooms and cafés. The town boast few buildings of particular note but the Town Hall is worth a second glance, as is the strangely named Valley of Rocks Hotel. The Lyn and Exmoor Museum is housed in St Vincent’s Cottage. It has some interesting exhibitions of Exmoor life, including information about the local lifeboat and the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway.

Both Lynton and Lynmouth owe a great deal to Sir George Newnes, a publisher who lived at Hollerday House on Hollerday Hill above Lynton. This mansion unfortunately burned to the ground in 1913 in mysterious circumstances. The house was built. The steep gradient between the two villages had always been a deterrent to visitors and a hard climb for the locals. In 1887 Newnes and Thomas Hewitt began to lay a 900 foot twin track up the steep gradient. The unique water operated cliff railway was opened in 1890 and, apart from needing new track in 1908, operates now as it always has.

In the early days of motoring the railway transported cars up the gradient. A few years later Newnes became involved in a project to build a light railway linking Lynton and Barnstaple. Although the project was plagued with difficulties, they persevered and the first train ran on 11 May 1898. There were initially four locomotives and sixteen coaches and the average speed was about 12 mph. The route crossed Chelfham Viaduct, the largest narrow gauge railway viaduct ever built in Britain.