Later a dam was built (modern Foss Street) across the tidal
creek to power two grain mills, thereby joining together the two
villages of Hardness and Clifton which now form the modern town. By
the 14th century
Dartmouth had grown considerably and the
Dartmouth
merchants were growing rich on the wine trade with English-owned
lands in Gascony. In 1341, the king rewarded the town a charter of
incorporation, and in 1372 St. Saviour's Church was consecrated and
became the town church.
In
1373 Chaucer visited the area, and later wrote of a "Shipman of
Dartmouth," one of the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. The Shipman
was a skilled sailor but also a pirate, and it is said that Chaucer
based the character on the colourful John Hawley (d.1408) – the
leading merchant and fourteen times Mayor of Dartmouth, who was also
a privateer in the Hundred Years War.
During the wars with
France, the danger of attacks from across the Channel led to the
construction
by John Hawley
of
a fort at the mouth of the river.
This was completed around 1400, and was provided with a moveable
chain connected to another fort on the Kingswear side of the river
to prevent river-borne attacks on the town. The fort was one of the
first in the country to have provision for gunpowder artillery, and
has been altered and adapted many times as weapons technology has
progressed.
When a 2000-strong Breton force landed at Slapton in 1404 in
an attempt to capture nearby Dartmouth and avenge English
privateer’s actions in France, Hawley quickly organised an army of
untrained locals and defeated the well-armed knights at the Battle
of Blackpool Sands, the knights being weighed down by their armour
and unsupported by their archers. Hawley's brass lies in St.
Saviour's church in the chancel which he built, and after his death
his house was used as the Guildhall for almost 400 years.
When under threat from the Spanish Armada in 1588,
Dartmouth sent 11
ships to join the English fleet and captured the Spanish flagship,
the Nestra Señora del Rosario, which was anchored in the Dart for
over a year while its crew worked as slaves at Greenway House.
Greenway was the home of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his half-brother,
Sir Walter Raleigh. Both were great explorers and adventurers, and
although Gilbert failed in his quest to find the North West Passage,
in 1583 he claimed
Newfoundland
for England. Today, Greenway is also well known for another of its
owners – the
Devon born author, Agatha Christie.
The rich fishing from the cod banks in this area gave the town
a further period of prosperity. The surviving 17th century
Butterwalk, Quay and many 18th century houses around the town today
are the most obvious results of this prosperous trade. In 1620 the
Pilgrim Fathers, bound for
America, berthed the Mayflower and Speedwell ships at Bayard’s Cove
for repairs. Contact with these new colonies expanded, and by the
18th century locally-made goods were traded with
Newfoundland,
while the salted cod was sold to
Spain
and Portugal in exchange for wine.
During the English Civil War Dartmouth was also involved, and
the Castle played a significant part. Royalists besieged and
captured the castle and held it for three years. However, when the
Parliamentarians under Sir Thomas Fairfax attacked and took the
town, the Royalists surrendered the castle the next day.
Dartmouth's
most famous former resident is Thomas Newcomen (1663 – 1729) who
invented the first practical steam engine in 1712. It was soon used
in the coalmines of the midlands and proved to be one of the key
inventions of the Industrial Revolution, being cheaper than James
Watt’s later improved version. However, during the resulting
Industrial Revolution hand weavers lost their jobs, railways were
slow to reach
Dartmouth
because of the difficult terrain, and steam ships replaced the
sailing ships traditionally built in the town. When the Newfoundland
trade also collapsed in the mid-19th century, the town faced a
serious economic downturn.
However, the economy gradually recovered in the second half
of the 19th century. In 1863 the Royal Navy decided to
train naval cadets on the Dart and stationed the ships "Britannia",
then the "Hindustan"
in the river for the purpose. In 1864 the railway arrived in
Kingswear, and was often used to transport coal for steam
ships. Both events boosted the economy. The ships were replaced by
the new Naval College in 1905, and the Navy still trains its
officers there.
From the early 20th
century the town began to benefit from the growth in the tourist
industry. People came by railway, the higher ferry was introduced
into service, and visitors enjoyed trips on steamers along the Dart.
During the Second World War American troops took over the Naval
College and made it their base for planning the D-Day rehearsals.
The countryside inland from Slapton was evacuated to enable practice
attacks on the nearby beaches and the river filled with landing
ships. On June 4th 1944 a fleet of 480 landing ships, carrying
nearly half a million men, left for Utah beach.
Since the war some
of the town's oldest industries have vanished. Shipbuilding lasted
until the 1970's, but has now stopped. Crab fishing still
flourishes, but there are few commercial ships. Today, most of the
local economy relies on the thriving tourism industry, with a heavy
emphasis on yachting and the sea.
USEFUL
LINKS
The Dartmouth
Directory
(www.dartmouth.org.uk)
Discover Devon
(www.discoverdevon.com)
DESTINATIONS UK