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Watersmeet House & romanticism
Warersmeet House was built in 1832 as a fishing lodge by the Reverend W.S.Halliday, the son of a rich businessman. The stone for the house was quarried at Watersmeet, above the East Lyn River. The disused quarry can still be seen today.
Reverend Halliday was a devotee of the Romantic School of poetry and part of a poem by Wordsworth, written for his sister Mary, is quoted over the door of Watersmeet House.
The poet Shelley lived in Lynmouth for a while and Coleridge is said to have been inspired to write “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” while walking the cliffs in North Devon.
Despite its tranquil appearance today, Watersmeet was a site of industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Just across the East Lyn River from Watersmeet House is a mine adit (horizontal shaft), the remains of an unsuccessful attempt to mine iron ore. The mining venture was funded by wealthy Victorian landowners who invested large sums of money in mineral exploration of the area.
One of Britain’s first hydro electric power stations was situated a short distance up the East Lyn from Lynmouth. It supplied electricity to Lynton and Lynmouth until it was destroyed by the 1952 floods.
The floods also destroyed the disused factory buildings of the Lynrock mineral water works. The site near Lynrock Bridge is marked by a wooden plaque and old stoneware bottle by the stream.
There are two lime kilns a little way up the East Lyn River from Watersmeet House. These were used to burn limestone brought over from South Wales by boat. The resulting lime was spread on local fields to counteract the acidity of Exmoor’s moorland soil.
Many of the Watersmeet paths began as tracks associated with the woodland industry. Every 25 years or so, the oak was coppiced. The stems were cut down as part of a cycle and allowed to regrow. The cut stems were put to various uses – charcoal and limestones burning, as pit props in South Wales and as fencing and hurdles. Charcoal was also carried by mule to Lynmouth and shipped to South Wales for smelting metals.
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The Lynmouth Floods – a night of disaster
Tragedy struck Lynmouth and the surrounding area on August 15, 1952 when after an exceptionally wet early August, nine inches of rain fell on the already saturated soil of Exmoor in 24 hours.
A forty foot wall of water floorded down the East and West Lyn rivers and into Lynmouth. Giant landslips carried hundreds of trees into the river. Houses and bridges were swept away and 34 people lost their lives.
As a result of the floods, a number of lessons were learned about the siting of bridges. The present Lynrock Bridge, for example is designed to float away in the event of a serious flooding, while the Chiselcombe Bridge, built in 1956, is higher than its predecessors.
'Countisbury' is thought to means “camp on the headland” and comes from the spectacular Iron Age fort on Wind Hill about half a mile west of the Sandpiper Inn. It is said to be the site of a battle, where Odda’s Saxon army decisively defeated Danish invaders led by Hubba in 878.
There are two other Iron Age earthworks on Myrtleberry Cleave which have now been cleared of trees and bracken. The remains of another one are visible on the commanding heights of Trilly Ridge in Horners’ Neck Wood above Watersmeet.
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The National Trust has owned this area since 1934, gradually acquiring woodland, coastline and valley to protect the whole landscape. The acquisitions have been made possible through gifts of land or money, grants and bequests. You can support our work - donate now!
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