Salcombe Hotel: Salcombe Harbour Hotel in Devon
Salcombe Harbour Hotel, Salcome Marine Hotel Luxury Spa Hotel in Salcombe South Devon UK
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Salcombe: a Brief History
Until about 100 years ago Salcombe earned its living from the estuary and the sea. Fishing, seafaring, boat and later shipbuilding with smuggling and probably some piracy were the principal occupations. The oldest local settlements were not built at the water's edge but at some distance inland. The reason was that danger came from the sea. The name Salcombe first appears in writing in 1244, centuries after most of the other neighbouring settlements were identified. It fell within the boundaries of the parish of Malborough on the edges of two 'manors', Batson and West Portlemouth.The manor was the smallest of the administrative units into which England was divided by William I after he conquered the country in 1066. While Salcombe itself may be a latecomer, man has lived around the area from time immemorial. Archaeologists have identified Stone Age settlements on the cliff tops on both sides of the mouth of the estuary and a recently discovered shipwreck has demonstrated the existence of cross channel trade some 3500 years ago.
As relations between England and Spain deteriorated in the 1550s, culminating in the 'Spanish Armada' campaign of 1588. It has been stated, but not confirmed, that when the Armada finally appeared in local waters on July 31 1588 the villages round the Salcombe Estuary had fitted out 16 small ships to support the English fleet.
Boats were built locally since pre-historic times. Presumably at some time boats became small ships but in the 1790s the town began to develop into a more significant ship-building and ship owning centre. Nearly 300 sailing vessels and a handful of steamers were built in Salcombe and around the Estuary during the nineteenth century, almost all for local owners. The port and trades prospered until about 1875 when competition from iron and later steel steamers began in earnest. Lack of capital, limitations of space and a shortage of locally available materials made it quite impracticable for Salcombe to compete with. The collapse of ship building and owning was not the end of the town. Visitors in small numbers had been attracted to the neighbourhood since the late 1700s. Large houses were gradually built at the various viewpoints along the cliffs and foreshore to the south of the town. Woodville (now Woodcot) in the prime position in Cliff Road dates from 1797. Ringrone House followed in 1839. It still exists, now totally invisible within the structure of the Salcombe Harbour Hotel to which it was converted in the 1890s.
The removal of the noisy and smelly shipyards from the waterfront and the redevelopment of a prime location made it an attractive place to visit. The arrival of the railway at Kingsbridge in 1893, connection to Salcombe by steam ferries and, in 1909, by motor buses made the town more accessible to visitors. In 1895 roads were laid out on the higher ground to the west of the present town centre by the newly established South Devon Land Company and building plots for development were gradually sold off.
Extracts from work by Tim Bass, Chairman of Salcombe Museum
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