Sidmouth in East Devon is one of my very favourite seaside towns, and we call in there whenever we are within striking distance. There are many beautiful Georgian and Regency buildings along the seafront, which nestles between two large red sandstone cliffs. The one in the centre of the picture is Salcombe Hill Cliff, while beyond it is Salcombe Mouth. There have been some serious cliff-falls in recent months. This is all part of the Jurassic Coast which runs some 95 miles from the Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in the east to Exmouth in the west.
It always puzzled me that the sandy part of the beach is red - as might be expected - but much of the beach is covered in flints. There is in fact a thin layer of chalk sitting on top of the red sandstone, but this cannot be seen from the ground. Over the years the flints have washed out to cover the sandy beach underneath.
Prior to the early 1800s when the seafront was built, Sidmouth had a small ship-building industry and was an important fishing town. As well as having fishing boats for local waters, Sidmouth sent larger boats as far away as Newfoundland, and traded the catch with Catholic Spain and Portugal, returning home with wine. My source is a book published by Sidmouth Museum.
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