Local historian: How Exmouth became a fashionable seaside resort in the 18th century

Ed: This is the fifth part of Mike Menhenitt's 'Walking Through Exmouth History' series. Use the links below to read previous articles:

Part One: The beginnings of Exmouth, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age

Part Two: Exmouth in the Iron Age - and the arrival of the Celts

Part Three: Exmouth historian: Roman coins and Viking raids

Part Four: The impact of the Norman conquest, and how places in Exmouth got their names

Until the middle of the 18th century the sea covered most of the present town which was called Chickstone, a subdivision of Littleham on which part of Exmouth is a parish now. It was referred to as 'a port of Exeter'.

Exmouth was the name given to all the small ports and villages along the Exe Estuary, they all being at the mouth of the Exe.

Mona Island (Pratteshide) as mentioned last time was accessed from the sea via a creek and as more and more shipping used the estuary it was proving difficult to use.

What the town needed as it started to develop was a new ferry landing stage. It ceased to be used in 1759, and the ferry was moved to The Point and a Passage House was built there in 1835.

The town really developed from the area around Pratteshide and Chapel Street which takes its name from a small chapel that existed for the use of the villagers at that time.

Try to imagine the sea coming all the way to Exeter Road and up to Rolle Street, areas that we now walk on!

Fishing went on at Parkers Place, which is now Dominos on The Strand. Until the town was developed it was served by a road that ran along the foreshore of the now Exeter Road down Gipsy Lane, up over Marpool Hill and into the town by way of Long Causeway, North Street, Margaret Street, Fore Street and back into Chapel Street. The road to Budleigh was by way of Long Causeway. The Strand was a sandy shore which sheltered behind The Point.

Late 18th century growth, and 'taking the waters'

The latter half of the 18th century saw great development as Exmouth grew from a small village and arguably started to become a resort.

In the 1750s Sir John Colleton built a raised wall to prevent the sea from flooding the lower part of the town. The top of this bank was gravelled and allowed the gentry and the well to do to walk on it.

This is now called The Parade and later on houses were built on it and their front gardens are now where the present day shops are. At the end of this wall a new quay was constructed called Manchester Quay near the present Manchester House where shipping could unload.

To cater for the merchants and gentry who wanted to take the waters at Exmouth a new coach service from Southernhay in Exeter commenced in 1768.

The popularity of taking the waters at Exmouth became fashionable after a senior judge had visited the town for his health and on returning to London pronounced himself much better of health having swum in the sea at Exmouth.

In 1770 Robert Wood built an Assembly Room and Bowling Green at the eastern edge of The Strand which accompanied the Globe Inn that had been built around 1740. The Strand itself was created about 1790 and a year later the first house on The Beacon was built. Lady Glenorchy had a chapel constructed in 1777.

The new Passage House that had been built in 1835 was proving vulnerable to the weather and tides. It was damaged in 1796 and 1815 and finally washed away in 1817 when a new more substantial one was built.

The inhabitants of Exmouth primarily earned their living from fishing and pilotage of the ships up the estuary. The population of the town grew from 650 in 1650 to 1900 by 1793 and to 6500 by 1871.

In 1790 The Parade as we know it was constructed and in 1811 William Thomas Hull enclosed about 50 acres of marshland by constructing the long bank that the railway was eventually to run along and this bank is still there today.

It sounded the final death knell for Mona Island that was now completely cut off. The photograph above below shows how the topography of the town has changed from its early days to the 19th century. Next time we will see the town grow even more with the coming of the railway and the building of the docks.

If you would like to know more, a good starting point is the library on Exeter Road. There are many books in existence on all aspects of the history of Exmouth and these can often be found not only in good bookshops but also on line.

The Exmouth Museum staff are always happy to help and at the museum there is plenty of history to see and read about and a comprehensive library of newspaper cuttings relating to events and people in Exmouth. Please visit the Exmouth Museum website at exmouth museum.co.uk or contact [email protected].

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