Entry from White's Devonshire 1878:
AXMOUTH is a parish and a pleasant village, on the English Channel, at the mouth of the river Axe, 3 miles S. by E. of Colyton, and 6 miles W. by S. of Lyme Regis, and S.S.W. of Axminster. Its parish is in Axminster union, county court district, petty sessional division, polling district and hundred, Exeter archdeaconry, and Dunkeswell rural deanery. It had 702 inhabitants (360 males, 342 females) in 1871, living in 134 houses, on 4723 acres, including 190 acres of water. The parish is bounded on the sea coast by lofty and rugged cliffs, which are crowned by chalky crags, in some places assuming the appearance of shattered turrets, pinnacles, &c.; and in others overtopped by luxuriant plantations. The manor of Axmouth was given by the Earl of Devon, in the reign of Henry II. to Montebourg Abbey, in Normandy ; but Henry V. gave it to Sion Abbey. Edward VI. granted it to Walter Erle, Esq. In 1679, it was sold to Sir Walter Yonge, who sold it in 1691 to Richard Hallett. William Trelawny Hallett, Esq., is now lord of the manor, and owner of a great part of the parish, and of the mansion called STEDCOMBE HOUSE, but E. L. Ames, Esq. has an estate here. There is a pleasure fair on Shrove Tuesday in each year.
The range of cliffs extending from Axmouth to Lyme Regis is noted for several remarkable LANDSLIPS. By one of these convulsions, which commenced on Christmas-day, 1839, 45 acres of arable land were lost to cultivation at Bindon and Dowsland; two cottages situated in the lower-region of the cliff were destroyed; and a great chasm was formed, more than 300 feet broad, 160 feet deep, and three-quarters of a mile long. Two of the coast-guard, standing on Culverhole beach, on the night when this great landslip occurred, ' observed the sea to be in an extraordinary state of agitation ; the beach on which they stood rose and fell; amidst the brefdrers near the shore something dark appeared to be rising from the bottom of the sea, amidst the deafening noise of crashing rocks.' On February 3,1840 there was another landslip at Whitlands, much smaller than the former. By taking a central position on the undercliff between Pinhay and Whitlands, and looking inland, the visitor sees the precipitous yet wooded summit of the mainland, and the castellated crags of the ivy-clad rocks on the terraces immediately below, and the deep dingle at the bottom; and by turning towards the sea, he beholds the whole range of the great bay of Dorset and Devon, skirted by coast scenery of the finest character.
In the early part of the 17th century, large sums were expended by the Erle family in an unsuccessful attempt to construct a new haven at Axminster. During the present century, piers have been constructed at the mouth of the Axe, where vessels of 100 tons burden can now discharge their cargoes in safety.
The CHURCH (St. Michael) is an ancient structure, consisting of short chancel, aisle, nave, porch (now used as a vestry), and western tower containing three bells. There is a fine Anglo-Norman doorway, and the chief alterations made to the original late Norman structure are a rebuilt chancel and the Perpendicular west window. In the interior are several monuments of the Eries and the Halletts, and in a recess on the north side is an antique recumbent figure of a man with a dog at his feet. The living is a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £22 19s. 2d., in the patronage of W.T. Hallett, Esq., the impropriator of most of the great tithes; these were commuted in 1846 for £309, and the vicarial for £175. The Rev. Samuel Clement Davis, M.A. is the incumbent. The vicarage house was built in 1816-6. The INDEPENDENT CHAPEL was built in 1861. NATIONAL SCHOOLS, with teachers' residence, for the parishes of Combe Pyne, Rousdon, and part of this parish, have been recently erected by Sir Henry Peeke, who principally supports them, and provides the children with a substantial hot dinner daily. In 1726 William Searle left a yearly rent-charge of 32s. for schooling poor children of Axmouth.
POST OFFICE at Mr. Timothy Beer's. Letters via Axminster are received at 9.30 a.m. and despatched at 4.6 p.m. Seaton is the nearest Money Order Office. Seaton and Colyton, on the London and South Western Railway, are the nearest Railway Stations.
Ames Mr Edward Levi, Clevelands
Bagwell John, tailor
Bartlett Wm.carpenter & vict.Ship Inn
Beer Mrs Mary Ann, vict.Harbour Inn
Beer Tim. boot & shoe mkr. & postmtr
Bole Robert, blacksmith
Bond Francis, blksmith. & gen. smith
Buck Miss Louisa, Nat. schoolmistress
Burgess Wm. National schoolmaster
Butt Mr William, Borough house
Chappell Miss Alice, Bindon
Chappell Mr James, Bindon
Chappell Thos. Dare, yeoman, Bindon
Coles Joseph, farmer
Coles William, farmer, Glebe
Crichard James, wheelwright
Dampier William, butcher |
Davis Rev. Samuel Clement, M.A. vicar, The Vicarage
Froom William, farmer, Bosshill
Gage Miss Mary, .National infant schoolmistress
Game Thomas, farmer
Gratton. George, farmer, Charlton
Hallett Colonel Clement Trelawny, Haven cliffe
Hallett William Trelawny, Esq. J.P. Stedcombe house
Harris Robert, farmer, Whitlands
Jefford John, boot and shoe maker and parish clerk
Kibbey John, farmer, Crabhayne
Knight Mr James, Southcott villa
Leigh Misses, Brook house
Love Bryan, farmer, Hawksdown
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Lumbbard William, farmer, Bullmoor
Munro Henry, farm bailiff to Mr L. Ames
Norman William, farmer, Haven farm
Pady Robert Baker, lime merchant
Quick Matthew, grocer
Real James, boot and shoe maker
Real John, boot and shoe maker
Real John, jun. grocer
Restrick Levy, shopkeeper
Richards John, farmer, Stedcombe farm
Richards Simon, farmer, Coombe
Selway William, farmer, Higher Brooklands
Sloman John, farmer, Dowlands
Smith John, farmer, Low. Brooklands
Spiller Charles, farmer, Hay
Templeman Robert, farmer, Coombe |
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