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Totnes
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Totnes ( or ) is a market town at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about south of the city of Exeter and is the administrative centre of the South Hams District Council.
Totnes has a long recorded history, dating back to 907AD when its first castle was built; it was already an important market town by the 12th century. Indications of its former wealth and importance are given by the number of merchants' houses built in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Today, the town, with its population of some 8,000, is a thriving centre for music, art, theatre and natural health.
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Encyclopedia
Totnes ( or ) is a market town at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about south of the city of Exeter and is the administrative centre of the South Hams District Council.
Totnes has a long recorded history, dating back to 907AD when its first castle was built; it was already an important market town by the 12th century. Indications of its former wealth and importance are given by the number of merchants' houses built in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Today, the town, with its population of some 8,000, is a thriving centre for music, art, theatre and natural health. It has a sizeable alternative and "New Age" community, and is known as a place where one can live a bohemian lifestyle.
History
According to the Historia Regum Britanniae written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in around 1136, "the coast of Totness" was where Brutus of Troy, the mythical founder of Britain, first came ashore on the island. Set into the pavement of Fore Street is the 'Brutus Stone', a small granite boulder onto which, according to local legend, Brutus first stepped from his ship. As he did so, he was supposed to have declaimed:Here I am and here I rest. And this town shall be called Totnes. The stone is far above the highest tides and the tradition is not likely to be of great antiquity, being first mentioned in John Prince's Worthies of Devon in 1697. It is possible that the stone was originally the one from which the town crier, or bruiter called his bruit or news; or it may be le Brodestone, a boundary stone mentioned in several 15th century disputes: its last-known position in 1471 was below the East Gate.
Despite this legendary history, the first authenticated history of Totnes is in AD 907, when it was fortified by King Edward the Elder as part of the defensive ring of burhs built around Devon, replacing one built a few years earlier at nearby Halwell. The site was chosen because it was on an ancient trackway which forded the river at low tide. Between the reigns of Edgar and William II (959–1100) Totnes intermittently minted coins.
The name Totnes (first recorded in 979AD) comes from the Old English personal name Totta and ness or headland. Before reclamation and development, the low-lying areas around this hill were largely marsh or tidal wetland, giving the hill much more the appearance of a "ness" than today.
By the 12th century Totnes was already an important market town, due to its position on one of the main roads of the South West, in conjunction with its easy access to its hinterland and the easy navigation of the River Dart.
By 1523, according to a tax assessment, Totnes was the second richest town in Devon, and the sixteenth richest in England, ahead of Worcester, Gloucester and Lincoln.
Governance
Totnes' borough charter was granted by King John, probably around 1206; at any rate, the 800th anniversary of the charter was celebrated in 2006. Totnes lost its borough status in local government reorganisation in 1974. Totnes was served by Totnes electoral borough from 1295 until the reform act of 1867, but was restored by the 1884 Franchise Act. The constituency of Totnes was abolished a second time in 1983, and formed part of the South Hams constituency until 1997, when it was restored as the Totnes county constituency: as such it returns one MP to Parliament.
Totnes has a mayor who is elected by the sixteen town councillors each year. Follaton House, on the outskirts of the town, is the headquarters of the South Hams District Council. The town is twinned with the French town of Vire, after which Vire Island on the River Dart near the 'Plains' is named.
Geography
The town is built on a hill rising from the west bank of the River Dart, which separates Totnes from the suburb of Bridgetown. It is at the lowest bridging point of the river which here is tidal and forms a winding estuary down to the sea at Dartmouth. The river continues to be tidal for about above the town, until it meets Totnes Weir, built in the 17th century.
Today there are two road bridges, a railway bridge and a footbridge over the river in the town. Totnes Bridge is the nearest bridge to the sea and is a road bridge built in 1826-28 by Charles Fowler. At low tide the foundations of the previous stone bridge are visible just upstream—it was probably built in the early 13th century and widened in 1692. Before the first stone bridge was built there was almost certainly a wooden bridge here, and a tidal ford for heavy vehicles was just downstream. In 1982 a new concrete bridge was built about upstream as part of the Totnes inner relief road. Its name, Brutus Bridge, was chosen by the local residents. A further upstream, the railway bridge carries the National Rail London to Penzance Line over the river. Immediately upstream of the railway bridge is a footbridge, built in 1993 to provide access to the Totnes (Littlehempston) terminus of the South Devon Railway.
Economy
Totnes has a sizeable alternative community, and the town is known as a place where one can live a bohemian lifestyle. There are a number of facilities for artists, painters and musicians, and there is a twice-weekly market offering antiques, musical instruments, second-hand books, handmade clothing from across the world, and local organically produced products.
Emphasising the town's continuing history of boatbuilding, between 1998 and 2001 Pete Goss built his revolutionary but ill-fated 120-foot Team Philips catamaran here.
In March 2007 Totnes was the first town in the UK to introduce its own local alternative currency, the Totnes pound, to support the local economy of the town. Fourteen months later, 70 businesses within the town were trading in the "Totnes pound," accepting them as payment and offering them to shoppers as change from their purchases. The initiative is part of the Transition Towns concept, which was pioneered by Rob Hopkins, who had recently moved to Totnes.
Landmarks
The Norman motte and bailey Totnes Castle, now owned by English Heritage, was built during the reign of William I, probably by Juhel of Totnes. The late medieval church of St Mary with its high west tower, visible from afar, is built of rich red Devonian sandstone. A prominent feature of the town is the Eastgate — an arch spanning the middle of the main street. This Elizabethan entrance to the walled town was destroyed in a fire in September 1990, but was rebuilt.
The ancient Leechwell, so named because of the supposed medicinal properties of its water, and apparently where lepers once came to wash, still provides fresh water. The Butterwalk is a Tudor covered walkway that was built to protect the dairy products once sold here from the sun and rain. The town museum is in one of the many authentic Elizabethan Merchant's houses in the town, built around 1575.
Transport
The A38 passes about to the west of Totnes, connected to the town by the A384 from Buckfastleigh and the A385 which continues to Paignton. The town also lies on the A381 between Newton Abbot and Salcombe. Totnes railway station is situated on the London to Penzance Line, and has trains direct to London and Plymouth. Nearby, Totnes (Littlehempston) railway station is at the southern end of the South Devon Railway Trust which runs tourist steam locomotives along the line that follows the River Dart up to Buckfastleigh. Since the River Dart is navigable to seagoing boats as far as Totnes, the estuary was used for the import and export of goods from the town until 1995, and there are still regular pleasure boat trips down the estuary to Dartmouth.
Education
King Edward VI Community College is the local secondary school which shares its name with the former grammar school set up by King Edward VI over 450 years ago. At the western edge of the town is the Dartington Hall Estate, which includes the Schumacher College and Dartington College of Arts.
Notable people
Notable people from Totnes include:
- Oliver St John represented the town in both the Short and the Long parliaments. One of the outstanding political leaders of the Pariamentary cause in the English Civil War. His reputation was made when he acted as lead counsel for John Hampden in the Ship Money case.
- The explorer William John Wills of the Burke and Wills expedition fame was born in Totnes. A memorial to Wills was erected using money from public subscriptions in 1864. It can still be seen on the Plains. There were originally two gas lamps attached to the monument, but both have since been removed.
- Charles Babbage had a strong family connection with the town and returned to attend the grammar school for a period before going up to Cambridge.
- Admiral Sir Frederick Michell KCB (1788-1873) died in Totnes.
- Hebrew scholar, Benjamin Kennicott was also born in Totnes.
- William Stumbels, a clockmaker lived and worked in Totnes in the 18th century. (His workshop was possibly at No. 4 Castle Street, within the town walls.) Two of his clocks: a longcase (grandfather) and a turret clock are displayed in the museum.
- John Prince was vicar of Totnes in the late 17th Century, was author of The Worthies of Devon, a major biographical work. He was also involved in a scandal, the court records of which were made into a book and stage play in the early 2000s.
- Pop music prankster Jimmy Cauty (one half of The KLF) was born in Totnes.
- Novelist Mary Wesley, author of The Camomile Lawn, spent her final years in Totnes.
- Humorous poet Matt Harvey is a resident.
- William Brockedon, Artist and inventor, 1787-1854. Son of Philip Brockedon, Clockmaker.
- Joseph Mount, a musician who records under the name Metronomy, lived in Totnes for a while.
- The novelist Desmond Bagley lived in Totnes from 1964 to 1976.
- Historian James Anthony Froude, author of 'History of England From the fall of cardinal Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, was born in Totnes. His brother Richard Hurrell Froude was a theologian; he originated the Tractarian or Oxford Movement which created the High Church.
- Botanist Francis George Heath was born in Totnes.
- Margaret Isherwood, writer on religion and education, lived in Totnes. She wrote several books including Searching for Meaning and The Root of the Matter.
- Linguist Edward Lye, who wrote the first dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, was born in Totnes.
- Playwright Sean O'Casey lived in the town from 1938 to 1964.
- Critic, author and playwright Allen Saddler lives in Totnes.
- Vian Smith was born in Totnes, lived in the area for most of his life (excepting war service), and wrote extensively on Dartmoor.
- Rik Mayall previously lived in Totnes.
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