Clovelly
| Clovelly | |
|---|---|
| Population | 1,616 |
| OS grid reference | SS315245 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BIDEFORD |
| Postcode district | EX39 |
| Dialling code | 01237 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Clovelly is a village on the North Devon coast, England, about 12 miles west of Bideford. It is a major tourist attraction, famous for its history and beauty, its extremely steep car-free cobbled main street, donkeys, and its location looking out over the Bristol Channel. Thick woods shelter it and render the climate so mild that even tender plants flourish. As of the 2001 Census, Clovelly had a total population of 1,616.[1]
Access
The village itself is not accessible by motor vehicle and space at the harbour is extremely limited. Visitors usually park in a municipal car park above the town, at the end of the B3237 road; service buses make calls at the car park also. There is a visitor centre (consisting of a barrier to the village, a cafe and gift and guidebook shop) at the car park and a number of tourist-oriented shop units. Visitors can enter the village through the visitor centre. A taxi service operates in summer using Land Rover vehicles, between the car park and the harbour. There is a public road down to the harbour (followed by the Land Rover taxi), although parking at the bottom is all private, and there is a sign warning visitors against going down that road. Clovelly Visitor Centre car park is served by Stagecoach Bus service 319 between Barnstaple, Bideford and Hartland.
The estate is run by the Clovelly Estate Company, under the leadership of Jon Rous and Jessica Braund.
Entrance fee and controversy
The visitor centre has been operational since 1988, before which there was no entrance fee to access the village, instead a modest fee to park in the car park. As of summer 2010, the entrance fee is £5.95 for adults and £3.75 for children. The fee covers all-day car parking, entrance to the museum and fisherman's cottage in the village, a 15-minute film show telling the story of Clovelly, and use of the facilities in the visitor centre.
Visitors are told that revenues raised from the entrance fee are used to fund the constant maintenance of the village's cottages and cobbled street. However, there are discrepancies to these claims, and indeed to the justification of charging a fee to walk down the village street. The street is owned and maintained by Torridge District Council, therefore the claim that funds from the village are used to maintain the street are questionable. Additionally, critics of the post-1988 management claim that the Clovelly Estate Company has no legal basis in imposing a charge for visitors simply wishing to walk down the street (and not to visit or make use of other facilities such as the museum or film show), because it is a public street owned by the council. Likewise, visitors are stopped from walking down the road to the harbour in order to avoid using the visitor centre and paying for admission. This practice is legally unenforceable as it is a public road and any person may therefore use it free of charge.
The village
Clovelly used to be a fishing village and in 1901 had a population of 621. It is a cluster of wattle and daub cottages on the sides of a rocky cleft; its steep main street descends 400 feet (120 m) to the pier, too steeply to allow wheeled traffic. Sledges are used for the movement of goods. The quaint street is lined with houses, a small number of shops, a cafe and a public house. All Saints' Church, restored in 1866, is late Norman, containing several monuments to the Cary family, Lords of the Manor for 600 years. Unusually, the village is still privately owned and has been in the Rous family since 1738. The scenery is famous for its richness of colour, especially in the grounds of Clovelly Court and along The Hobby, a road cut through the woods and overlooking the sea. The South West Coast Path National Trail runs past the village and the section from Clovelly to Hartland Quay is particularly spectacular.
Famous residents
The novelist Charles Kingsley lived here as a child from 1831 to 1836, while his father, the Reverend Charles Kingsley served first as Senior Curate then as Rector. Later, in 1855, his novel Westward Ho! did much to stimulate interest in Clovelly and to boost its tourist trade.
Clovelly is also described by Charles Dickens in A Message from the Sea and was painted by Rex Whistler, whose cameos of the village were used on a china service by Wedgwood.
The surgeon Campbell De Morgan (1811–1876), who first speculated that cancer arose locally and then spread more widely in the body, was born here.
Clovelly is mentioned in passing by Rudyard Kipling in Stalky & Co. as being located to the west of the boys' academy.
Clovelly is in an advert where a woman is seen rolling down the hill and out onto the pier on a trolley: John West Tuna, BMW, John Smith Beer
Turner painted the Hobby Drive
Deliveries by sledge
The impossibility of getting vehicular access to the main street has led to deliveries being made by sledge. This is not done as a tourist attraction but as a matter of practicality. Goods being delivered are pulled down the hill from an upper car park. Refuse is pulled down the hill to a waiting vehicle at the harbour.
See also
References
- ^ Key figures for Clovelly Bay Office for National Statistics Retrieved 2008-10-20
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Further reading
- Sheila Ellis, Down a Cobbled Street: The Story of Clovelly, 1987
- Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, 1855
External links
- World of Boats (EISCA) Collection ~ Clovelly Picarooner, Sunshine
- Clovelly - official site
- Genuki Clovelly
- Picarooner Boat Register
