Story Telling from Dartmouth
Dartmouth’s relationship with Agatha Christie is well known, her holiday home of Greenway House being a mile or so up the Dart from the centre of town. However, there are a number of other writers who Dartmouth can claim to have an association with.
Geoffrey Chaucer is the earliest writer of note traced to Dartmouth. In the Canterbury Tales he wrote: “a Shipman was ther, wonynge fer by weste, for ought I woot, he was of Dertemouthe”. This fictional ‘shipman from Dartmouth’ was apparently based on John Hawley whom Chaucer had met in 1373. John Hawley was one of the richest and most successful of King Richards ‘privateers’, commissioned by the king to ‘keep the seas’. Two of Hawley’s ships even formed a part of Richard II’s escort to France for his marriage to Isabella of France in 1395.
Flora Thompson (1876 – 1947) was an English novelist and poet best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside: Lark Rise to Candleford. She spent her last 17 years in Dartmouth and her house, The Outlook, was situated on Above Town which meant she would have enjoyed the stunning view we can still share walking there. Flora is buried in Longcross Cemetery, Dartmouth, and touchingly her tombstone is in the shape of a book.
Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, wrote A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724), and included a detailed description of Dartmouth:
“From hence we went still south about seven miles, (all in view of this river) to Dartmouth, a town of note, seated at the mouth of the river Dart, and where it enters into the sea at a very narrow, but safe entrance; The opening into Dartmouth Harbour is not broad, but the channel deep enough for the biggest ship in the royal navy; the sides of the entrance are high mounded with rocks; without which just at the first narrowing of the passage, stands a good strong fort without a platform of guns, which commands the port.
The narrow entrance is not much above half a mile, when it opens and makes a basin, or harbour able to receive 500 sail of ships of any size, and where they may ride with the greatest safety, even as in a mill-pond, or wet-dock.”
The writer and poet, Robert Graves, lived in Galmpton close by Dartmouth between 1940-46. One of his best known works is I, Claudius which was made into a TV series in the 60’s starring Derek Jacobi. At the end of the war Graves returned to his home in Deia, Mallorca where he remained until his death.
In 1903, John Masefield (Poet Laureate) visited friends in Fuge, Strete just a short drive from Dartmouth. In 1911 he wrote Jim Davies, a thrilling tale for children of smugglers set in the Gara Valley, with many references to locations in the area around Strete. In fact his visits to Snails Castle, Strete, were a strong inspiration
for many of his literary works.
Christopher Milne, THE Christopher Robin, moved to Dartmouth in 1951 where he opened The Harbour Bookshop. As he put it himself, he had a “love-hate relationship with my fictional namesake that has continued to this day.” He actually wrote a book about his childhood, The Enchanted Places, which “combined to lift me from under the shadow of my father and of Christopher Robin, and to my surprise and pleasure I found myself standing beside them in the sunshine able to look them both in the eye”.
Joslin Fiennes wrote ‘Dartmouth: An Enchanted Place‘ which looks at our beautiful coastal area, “through the eyes of the artists who dress it up and the voices of the historians and writers who write it down. It is about the people who made a unique place and those who have preserved it.”
Nevil Shute Norway was an engineer turned novelist, who based two of his books in the Dartmouth area: Most Secret and Lonely Road. He also took part in the D-Day rehearsals at Start Bay in April 1944 which he wrote about in his Second Front article.
Local Poet, Kevin Pyne, was born in Dartmouth and for many years was a ferryman on the river Dart. His first published volume of poetry, Further Up the River, has been inspired by his experiences of observing the ever-changing life on the river along with his love of the people and history of the Westcountry.
Philip Hill writes books heavily influenced by his extensive travels of all seven continents and more than 130 countries. He divides his time between Kingswear, Bath and a remote Greek Island.
John Flavel (c. 1627–1691) was an English Puritan Presbyterian minister and prolific author. He lived in Dartmouth from 1656, with a short time spent in Slapton, and is buried in Dartmouth graveyard. The Flavel Church was named after him, and in more recent times the Arts Centre built behind the church also took his name.
Percy Russell (1890-1964) was a hobbyist historian who wrote a number of books about the local history of the areas he lived in. He moved to Devon when he retired, and lived at ‘Waterside’ in Dartmouth. The life and history of his new home became the subject of his Dartmouth: a History of the Port and Town, published in 1950.
Arthur Howe Holdsworth (1780-1860) wrote Gomerock Castle, or the Grave of the Unknown. He was elected member of Parliament for Dartmouth for two separate periods: 1802-1819 and 1829-1832. He lived at Mount Galpin in the parish of Townstal and Widdicombe in the parish of Stokenham.