Hawkins and his tenants would have been responsible for the plasterwork and internal decoration in their own houses although the similarity of style between the plasterwork in all the houses does suggest it was completed by the same workmen at roughly the same time. There is a wonderful example of 17th Century puritan plaster ceiling in the room above our shop known as the 'Jesse' ceiling which can be viewed by prior arrangement with the Town Council. Contact us for details.
Charles II held court in the Butterwalk, in rooms that now form part of the Museum, whilst sheltering from a storm in 1671 and much of the interior survives intact along with a ghost or two!
Dartmouth has a history of settlement going back to prehistoric times. In early times, when marauders of all sorts ravaged the coast, towns were placed some distance inland, safe from raids, and so it was that the first occupancy was at Townstal, at the top of the hill.
As trade grew in the 11th Century and the danger from attack lessened, two fishing hamlets sprang up at the mouth of the River Dart. One called Hardness, and the other called Clifton-Dartmouth. These were the humble beginnings of the Dartmouth of today.
Much of the lower part of the town, from the river bank inland as far as the Guildhall, has been reclaimed from the river in various stages since medieval times. There are clues to this in some of the street names, such as Ford, King`s Quay, Fosse Slip, etc. The Butterwalk originally backed directly onto the water where boats could tie up and unload. The importance of Dartmouth as a port is evident when you consider the number of visits by Royalty since Rufus sailed from there to Normandy in the last years of the 11th century.
King John stayed in the town for a period of three days in June 1205 and again in October 1214, when he reputedly "gave privilege of Mairalte to Dertmouth". There is nothing in existence to confirm this but King John’s head does appear on two ancient seals currently on display in the town museum. One seal is that of the Mayor –and the other is that of the Borough.
Other Royal visitors include Charles ll; Victoria; Edward Vll; George V; Edward Vlll (as Prince of Wales); George Vl; and Elizabeth ll, together with their families. In current times, most of the Royal Family have visited quite frequently as part of their duties with regard to the Britannia Royal Naval College.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, Dartmouth probably rivalled the Cinque Ports in importance. Dartmouth has always provided ships and men to fight for the sovereign of the day, (e.g. 37 ships sailed from the port in 1190 to join the Crusades) and this was rewarded in 1341 by Edward lll, when he granted Clifton Dartmouth Hardness full Borough status.
The siege of Calais in 1347 saw Dartmouth ranked as the third port in the kingdom, Dartmouth finding 31 ships and 757 men, while Plymouth only found 26 ships and 603 men. The town`s high status was confirmed in 1390, by its appointment as the sole port for the export of tin. Dartmouth provided two ships to join the fleet against the Armada in 1588.
In 1373 the poet Chaucer visited the town, and much later wrote of a "Shipman of Dartmouth," one of the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. The importance of Dartmouth at the time is hinted at in the title used by Chaucer; he would not have used the place name in a poular work if readers were not aware of its existance.
The Pilgrim Fathers had intended Dartmouth to be their final departure point in their voyage to the New World and the ‘Mayflower’ and the ‘Speedwell’ duly left from Bayards Cove in 1620. Unfortunately the Speedwell very soon began taking on water and it became necessary to put into Plymouth for repairs. Repairs were either not possible or impracticable because the Mayflower eventually sailed on alone with its cargo of settlers.
During the English Civil War, Dartmouth was decidedly on the side of Parliament. After a month-long siege, it fell into the hands of the Royalist army, but was regained by Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1646.
In more recent times, the port of Dartmouth has continued its naval connection as the home of naval officer training – initially in the vessels ‘HMS Britannia’ and 'Hindustan' on the River in 1863 and since 1905 at Britannia Royal Naval College on land. It was thought, probably quite correctly, that the relatively isolated position of Dartmouth would assist the learning of the students (away from the
distractions of more obvious port towns like Plymouth or Portsmouth). The present buildings are the work of architect SirGeorge Aston Webb who was also responsible for Admiralty Arch and the East front of Buckingham Palace. The foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII in March 1902.
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During the Second World War on 13th February 1943 The Butterwalk was severely damaged in a German bombing raid and was subsequently restored to its present state with the work being completed in 1954. Over four hundred ships were assembled in the port in readiness for the D-Day landings in 1944.
Famous Dartmouth People
Thomas Newcommen
Thomas Newcomen was born here in Dartmouth in 1663 and established himself as an ironmonger. Some of his best customers were Cornish tin mine owners, who faced problems with flooding as mines became progressively deeper. The standard methods to remove the water - manual pumping or teams of horses hauling buckets on a rope - were slow and expensive, and they sought an alternative.
Contemporary engines worked by using condensed steam to make a vacuum, but whereas Thomas Savery's pump of 1698 had just used the vacuum to pull the water up, Newcomen created his vacuum inside a cylinder and used it to pull down a piston. He then used a lever to transfer the force to the pump shaft that went down the mine: it was the first practical engine to use a piston in a cylinder. Casting the cylinders and getting the pistons to fit was pushing the limit of existing technology, so Newcomen deliberately made the piston marginally smaller than the cylinder and sealed the gap with a ring of wet leather or rope. However, to avoid infringing Savery's patent Newcomen was forced to go into partnership with him.
His first working engine was installed at a coalmine at Dudley Castle in Staffordshire in 1712. It had a cylinder 21 inches in diameter and nearly eight feet long, and it worked at twelve strokes a minute, raising ten gallons of water from a depth of 156 feet; approximately 5.5 horse power. The engines were rugged and reliable and worked day and night, but were extremely inefficient.
Newcomen engines were extremely expensive but were nevertheless very successful. By the time Newcomen died on 5 August 1729 there were at least one hundred of his engines in Britain and across Europe. A surviving, working example of one of his engines is on display in the Tourist Information Office in Dartmouth and a plaque marks the spot where the house he was born in was situated.
Other famous people associated with Dartmouth (in no particular order)
Jack Russell, (1795 -1883) - Hunter, dog breeder and ordained minister.
Christopher Robin Milne, (1926 - 1996) Son of A.A. Milne and the model for Christopher Robin, the companion of Winnie the Pooh moved to Dartmouth in 1956 and opened a book shop in the town.
Agatha Christie (1890 - 1976) Crime writer and creator of such famous characters as Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, was born in Torquay and spent the last years of her life at her home in Greenway, nr Dittisham, Dartmouth.
Flora Jane Thompson (1876 – 1947) Novelist and autor of the trilogy Lark Rise to Candleford, which has recently been dramatised by the BBC.
John Hawley (1340 - 1408) If there is one figure who stands head and shoulders above all others in the story of Dartmouth in the Middle Ages it is John Hawley. Wealthy merchant and landowner, local politician, skilful mariner, privateer, battle hero, and pirate!. His maritime exploits are legendary, yet he was a pillar of civic society; elected mayor of Dartmouth 14 times, he also served twice as the town's Member of Parliament. He was a man of many talents, a local hero who exerted great influence in the town through most of his adult life until his death in 1408. Hawley was granted his first privateer licence in 1379 during his third term as mayor at a time when the war with France was hotting up.
In 1374 Edward III ordered special measures to be taken for the defence of the strategically important port of Dartmouth against attack from the sea, but it wasn't until 1388 in the reign of Richard II that John Hawley, who was mayor again by this time, instructed the burgesses to begin the building of a coastal fort at the entrance to the port. It was completed by 1400, and a chain was laid across the river to Godmerock on the opposite side. This could be raised to prevent enemy ships from reaching Dartmouth. The fort pre-dates what we now know as Dartmouth Castle which wasn't started until 1481 in the reign of Edward IV.
Early in 1403 Hawley took part with others in a number of raids on Flemish and Dutch shipping, prompting the Count of Flanders to retaliate by seizing English merchandise in Flemish ports. To appease the Count, the king summoned Hawley and 17 other privateers to Calais to answer charges against them, but they failed to turn up. Before the king could take further action events in the West Country took a dramatic turn. In August of that year William du Chatel, leader of the Bretons at the time, made a retaliatory strike on Plymouth, attacking and burning the town in the night. The king them commissioned the foremost seamen of Dartmouth, Hawley, John Corp, and Edmund Arnold, to make war on the Bretons.
It was assumed that Dartmouth would be the most likely target of any further incursion by the Bretons, and sure enough the attack came in April 1404. Instead of making a frontal assault on Dartmouth, du Chatel with a supporting cast of 300 ships, 2000 knights and assorted crossbowmen landed round the coast at Blackpool Sands near Slapton, hoping to take the town from the rear. Hawley, having decided to remain at the fortalice to defend against a frontal attack, dispatched an army to confront du Chatel on the sands. The ensuing victory against strong, well armed opposition by a rag-tag army that had never fought on land before so pleased King Henry that he ordered a Te Deum in Westminster Abbey in celebration. The king's pleasure after Hawley's success on the battlefield was to prove short-lived. By 1405 Hawley was engaging once again in privateering, often involving attacks on parties friendly to Henry IV who was threatening to arrest any seamen accused of wrongfully seizing merchandise. In December 1406 Hawley was imprisoned briefly in the Tower of London until he pledged to compensate some merchants of Barcelona. He was released after three of his loyal west country supporters put down a surety of £3000. Even in the last year of his life at the age of 68, Hawley was listed among several shipowners as being responsible for the illegal capture of 17 ships.