Sidmouth, Devon

Description
Sidmouth, a town and a parish in Devonshire, with a junction station on the L. & S.W.R., 168 miles from London. Acreage of parish, 1563; population, 3758. The town has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It stands at the mouth of the river Sid, in a vale inclosed by lofty hills, terminating in the precipitous cliffs of Salcombe and High Peak, about 500 feet high, at the centre of the great sea-encurvature extending from the Isle of Portland on the E to Start Point on the W, and 6 miles SSE of Ottery St. Mary. Sidmouth was so important as a seaport in the time of Edward III. as then to send two ships to the siege of Calais, became so far blocked as to be accessible from the sea only by flat-bottomed boats and small fishing craft, rose into consequence in recent times as a sea-bathing resort, gave the title of Viscount to the family of Addington, was the deathplace in 1820 of the Duke of Kent, witnessed in 1827 the commencement of an abortive project for giving it a harbour by means of a tunnel and a pier, enjoys a remarkably pure and mild climate, enjoys also picturesque and romantic environs replete with objects interesting to loungers, artists, botanists, mineralogists, and geologists; has an esplanade protected by a wall 1700 feet long constructed to stop encroachment by the sea, is a seat of occasional petty sessions, publishes two newspapers, has a charming appearance with many fine residences, and has several hotels, numerous good lodging-houses, a bathing establishment with hot and cold baths, coastguard and lifeboat stations, an assembly-room, a literary institute, two banks, two churches, an endowed school, two other public schools, markets on Thursdays and Saturdays, and fairs on Easter Monday and the third Monday of Sept. New baths were opened on the Esplanade in 1895. Many women and children are engaged in making Honiton lace. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, and Unitarian chapels, and a Roman Catholic convent. The manor was given by William the Conqueror to St Michael's Abbey in Normandy, passed to Sion Abbey, and belongs now to the Balfour family. The living of St Nicholas is a vicarage, and that of All Saints is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Exeter; value of St Nicholas, £220 with residence; of All Saints, £180 with residence. St. Nicholas Church was rebuilt in 1861, and has a memorial window to the Duke of Kent, presented by the Queen in 1866. All Saints' Church was built in 1837, and is a building of stone in the Early English style; connected with this church is an iron mission-hall.