A Brief History of Seaton

The area around Seaton has been settled for more than 6,000 years the area having been farmed since 4000BC with archaeological excavations revealing Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age remains.

The natural harbour of the River Axe estuary was at that time a much wider and deeper inlet, the mouth of the Axe being nearly half a mile wide and was one of the most important trading harbours in the South West protected by the Iron Age hill forts of Hawkesdown and Musbury.

Hawkesdown is the last in a chain of iron age forts stretching along the crests of the Blackdown hills and was manned by the Dorset based Durotriges tribe against the Devonian Dunmonii.

Prehistoric roads led to the harbour and there is speculation that the Roman Fosse Way completed in the autumn of AD47 which goes through Axminster also stretched to the harbour.

The Fosse Way starts in Exeter and continues to Lincoln. Exeter was the site of a Roman legionary fortress, founded by the Second Legion in 46 AD in a riverside settlement of the Dumnonii, the next nearest Roman fort to Seaton being at Dorchester.

There is a question of where the Fosse Way ends. There are further alignments at Musbury south of Axminster, which imply a Roman road did continue along the River Axe toward Axmouth and Seaton. These sections are labelled Fosse Way on Ordnance Survey maps. However, the main route for Exeter would have followed the Dorchester road west from Axminster to Honiton. The crossroads in Axminster were controlled by a Roman fort at Woodbury Farm, now on the southern edge of the town. The route to the west crosses the Rivers Axe and Yarty to Kilmington, continuing on segments of the A35 and minor local lanes to Honiton.

There is a belief that Seaton is the site of the Roman settlement of Moridunum (meaning sea fort or sea-town), a settlement or station between Exeter and Dorchester, however this is unproven although there is an important Roman archaeological site at Honeyditches on the edge of the town.

There is firm evidence that the Romans quarried vast quantities of limestone from the Beer Quarry Caves for their buildings and roads . The marks of their tools are still evident as are the rounded arches inside the caves, which are typical of other Roman workings. The excavation of the Roman villa at Honeyditches revealed a iron age dwelling from the 1st century AD followed by what is believed to be a Roman villa complex dating from the 2nd to 4th century. The excavation showed that Beer stone was used for the construction of the bath house dating from this period. The discovery of fine mosaics in one of the buildings shows that it was probably quite an important stop on the Fosse Way. Artefacts from these excavations can be seen in Seaton Museum.

Sea trade in the estuary began in the Iron Age and lasted for many centuries, the practice of harvesting salt in the River Axe tidal estuary also began in the iron age.

After the Roman withdrawal, the next record of note was in the 7th century, when Saxons crossed the Axe River and moved onto the good farming land of the valley, living on both sides of the river. They called their settlement Fleote, or 'creek'.

In 1005, the town was granted its Charter by Edward the Confessor, and in the mid-14th Century the town was renamed Sea Tun, or 'sea farm'.

St. Gregory’s Church dates from the early 14th century, later additions and alterations included the west tower in the 15th century. St Gregory's was built on the western bank of the then wide inlet. To the north of the church there was a landing dock on what was known until very recently as “Merchants Roads”. The estuary was as today tidal but deep enough to allow ships to navigate up river past Axmouth.

Seaton and Axmouth were important ports in the South West for trade and shipbuilding throughout the Middle Ages up until the 14th century when heavy storms caused a land slip at Haven Cliff to fall and partially block the estuary.

In 1346, Seaton was still a port, but shingle movement from West to East probably started about 1350, and completely or partially blocked many rivers in East Devon and Dorset. Indeed, it was reported that the River Otter was “Clean Barred” by 1450.

By 1450, work had begun on a new harbour and digging a channel through the shingle to re establish the deep water shipping access, but this was in vain as the tidal currents soon swept up more shingle to replace that which had been taken away.

As the river mouth narrowed (indeed at one stage it was completely closed, with water percolating under the shingle to get to the sea), the effect of the tide was much reduced, resulting in rapid growth of salt marshes from Seaton right up to and beyond Colyford.

The change to the estuary mouth resulted in silt brought down by the river to be deposited in the estuary instead of being carried out to sea and the previously wide and deep river inlet ‘silted up’ preventing shipping from reaching Axmouth village one mile up river.

Despite these problems it has been estimated that Axmouth Harbour accounted for on sixth of Devon's trade during the 16th century.

In 1659, plans were made for a reclaiming bank to stop the constant flooding of the salt marshes, and work was begun in 1660. By this time the local salt marshes were becoming important - so much so Henry VIII was able to sell the town to John Frye, a landowner from nearby Membury. Salt water was evaporated in “Pans” - shallow scrapes lined with clay - and when sufficiently reduced, removed by buckets and boiled. It took approximately 50lbs of brine to produce 1 lb of salt.

In 1806 Mr Hallet the owner of Stedcombe Manor and the Ship Inn, set about making improvements to the harbour mouth by building a new dock on the rocks of the eastern bank, diverting the river into a deeper channel followed by a dock on the western bank.

This improvement to the harbour enabled ships of up to 100 tons to load and unload and there was a regular weekly passenger boat to London. Axmouth Harbour continued as a working port up until the building of the Seaton Branch Railway Line in 1868 which made goods bought in by sea uncompetitive.

In order to bring the railway to Seaton, the reclaiming bank had to be raised by about 3 feet, and widened by about ten feet. If soil had been taken from the western side it would have interfered with the drainage schemes, so it was taken from the eastern side, creating the tidal creeks close to the bank on the river side we see today.

In 1877 the construction of the Axmouth Road Bridge which crossed the river at the back of the harbour, finally closed the river to trading ships as it prevented the passage of large vessels up river.

The building of the toll bridge further limited the tidal flow, reducing its rise and fall compared with what it had been before the bridge was built.

The road to Axmouth was still a mud track, liable to flood­ing. The toll was removed in 1907, but the Great War. interrupted plans to improve the road, and it was not until 1924 that the riverbank was raised, and the present road along the east side of the river was constructed.

Seaton in common with other sea side resorts of East Devon was late in getting connected to the rail network. Dawlish and Teignmouth were reached in 1848 as part of the Exeter to Plymouth route as was a 5 mile branch line to Torquay with the line extended to Paignton in 1857.

Prior to the arrival of the railways, visitors to South Devon either travelled by horse drawn coaches or Packet Steamer services from London or Southampton. These Packet steamer services were soon in decline in the face of the much faster service offered by trains.

The four rail connected resorts west of the Exe funnelled holiday demand into these resorts and away from the unconnected resorts of East Devon. In 1860 the Waterloo to Exeter line opened, offering the opportunity of a rail connection to the struggling towns of Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth and Seaton, who had lost many of their visitors to the western resorts.

However the Waterloo to Exeter line was built inland to take advantage of a a shorter route meaning that the resorts of East Devon had to rely on being connected by branch lines. Exmouth in 1861, Seaton in 1868, Sidmouth in 1874 and Budleigh in 1897.

Things were further complicated by the organisation of the train companies. Torquay, Paignton, Dawlish and Teignmouth had direct lines on the GWR to London, the West Midlands, Wales and good connections to the North. The four resorts of East Devon were all on branch lines and the LSWR line they connected to provided a good service to London but not to other parts of the country. Visitors from the Midlands and the North had to change trains several times to reach East Devon resulting in the railway bring comparably few visitors to the four seaside resorts.

The seaside resorts of South Devon were too far from the centres of mass employment to attract large numbers of day trippers and holiday makers and were forced to find other persuasive reasons to attract visitors.

They promoted themselves as health resorts with healthy climates which would benefit those who visited them. They appealed to their exclusivity away from the crowds and the associated commercialised entertainment that went with them and emphasised the unspoilt environment and beauty of the Devon Coast.

All of these reasons were used to promote Seaton and they still apply today.

Seaton however did not benefit as much as the other Devon resorts because of its shingle beach. In earlier days the beach had only been visited for a early morning dip and an afternoon stroll, by mid Victorian times visitors wanted to swim in the sea as it was seen as beneficial to their health and they became interested with all the other recreational pursuits of the sea shore. With the rise of the family holiday the beach was seen as a natural playground and the bucket and sand holiday had greater mass appeal than the pebble beaches of Seaton, Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton.

Seaton did however attract the day excursion trade especially from London as Seaton was the nearest Devon Sea side resort on the LSWR network. Day trippers set out from Waterloo in the early hours, arriving in Seaton at mid day spending 5 hours in the town before returning. A return trip of three hundred and four miles which took 7 hours each way, all on a 6/- excursion ticket.

The transformation to the out-of-the-way and tranquil town of Seaton by the influx of tourist revenues resulted in the growth of the town into a thriving seaside resort. Lodging Houses with ‘hot and cold’ running water, Hotels including one ‘giant’ Hotel, a theatre, smart shops and new beach front houses were all well established 40 years after the coming of the railway to Seaton.

However the population of the town did not grow significantly due to the coming of the railways, in 1841 the population was 765 and in 1901, 33 years after the coming of the railway it was 1,325 an increase of 560.

This moderate population growth explains perhaps why Seaton today appears to be more modern in its appearance than the neighbouring towns and villages of East Devon which had grown prosperous in earlier years through trade not tourism. The Town centre is mainly composed of buildings built towards the end of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century.

The houses built on the flat land leading to Axmouth Harbour are a mixture of 1930’s and more recent construction. In the early 1970’s Seaton had a resident population of 2,500. A period of rapid expansion then began which saw a rise in the residential population to 6,500 as new housing was built.

It was not until after the 1914-1918 war that things began to change rapidly with the motor car gaining in popularity, roads being improved and people able to travel more easily. Coaches or as they were known, Charabancs and buses started to bring in visitors to the town so much so that parking became a problem.

The greater mobility provided by the motor car and the improvements in public transport that followed World War Two also opened up the area to more people.

This Warner's Holiday Camp opened in 1936 and could accommodate 720 people, and remianing as part of Warners until the 1970s.

During the war years it was briefly used to incarcerate 'aliens', Germans and Italians living in England. They had to be questioned and processed into categories of risk to Great Britain. Later the camp was used for the build up of troops as 'D' Day approached including British, Czech and American units.

It then reverted back to its role as a holiday camp. It merged with the adjacent Blue Waters Holiday Village in the mid 1980s when it became part of the Haven Holiday 'Resorts' and was renamed Lyme Bay Holiday Village. The site has now been purchased by Tesco and the camp was closed and demolished in January 2009.

In February 1979 Seaton was hit by an violent storm and part of the town was flooded. In all 43 homes, 29 businesses, 240 self-catering chalets and 250 dormer chalets were flooded. As a result of this flooding, a new sea wall was built with a concrete esplanade in front.

In 2005 Seaton celebrated 1,000 years of the granting of its Saxon Charter of AD 1005 establishing the medieval town of Fleote (the town became known as Seaton in 1126AD)

Seaton 1005 - 2005

2005 was the Millennium anniversary of the granting of a royal charter establishing Seaton as a community. In 1005 AD the English Saxon King, Æthelred the Unready granted a hide of land to one of his Reeves, the Kings Reeve, Eadsidge.

Æthelred is remembered as 'the Unready'. The name Æthelred is a composite of 'æthel' and 'ræd' - meaning 'noble counsel'. 'Unræd' (of which 'unready' is a present day interpretation) is a pun on the name Æthelred, and means, literally, 'no counsel' - suggesting incompetence, or, at least, a lack of judgement.

In Anglo Saxon times a ‘hide of land, was defined as the amount of land needed to support a peasant family,” the acres sufficient for one plough for a year”, generally an area of around 100 acres although sizes of ‘hides’ could and did vary.

In practice by 1005 AD, a hide was not so much a measurement of land but an area upon which taxes were assessed.

The name given to the ‘hide’ granted in the charter was “Fleote” which in the English of the time means “Sea Estuary”.

The natural harbour of the River Axe estuary was at that time a much wider and deeper inlet and was one of the most important trading harbours in the South West.

In this period of early English history, Anglo Saxon England was being ravaged by Viking Sea Pirates, who each summer took the opportunity to raid and plunder towns and villages on the English coast line. Eadsige, reeve of the king is mentioned in the Anglo Saxon chronicles as having taken part in one of the many battles with the Vikings.

In AD 1001 the Vikings who the year before had sailed to Normandy, returned to Southern England and landing in Hampshire marched as far inland as East Dean on the Suffolk-Hampshire border. There they were attacked by an English army who whilst inflicting heavier losses than their own on the Vikings fled the battlefield leaving the Vikings free to do as they liked.

The Vikings marched west into Devon and where they burned Teignton, and “also many other goodly manors that we cannot name”.

After which they proceeded towards Exe-mouth, till they came to Pinhoe; where Kola, high-reeve of the king, and Eadsige, reeve of the king, came against them with the army that they had collected "a vast force of the people of Devon and of the people of Somerset”

"But they were there put to flight, and there were many slain, and the Danes had possession of the field of battle. And the next morning they burned the manor of Pinhoe, and of Clyst, and also many goodly manors that we cannot name. Then they returned eastward again, till they came to the Isle of Wight".

In AD 1002 Æthelred decided to buy off the Vikings and the king and his council made peace with them, on condition that they received food and tribute; which they accepted, and a tribute was paid of 24,000 pounds.

However in November of AD 1002 on St Brice’s day Æthelred gave orders to massacre all the Danes in England. "The king sent with secrecy into every town letters, according to which the English suddenly rose on the Danes, everywhere on the same day and at the same hour, and either put them to the sword, or, seizing them unawares, burnt them on the spot."

Amongst those slaughtered was Gunnhild, sister of King Swein 'Forkbeard' of Denmark:-

"This woman, who possessed considerable beauty, had come over to England with her husband Palling (Pallig), a powerful nobleman, and embracing Christianity had made herself a pledge of the Danish peace. . . She bore her death with fortitude, neither turning pale at the time of execution, nor, when dead and her blood exhausted, did she lose her beauty; her husband was murdered before her face, and her son, a youth of amiable disposition, was transfixed with four spears."

Swein's revenge was not long coming.

"The following year (1003) he broke into the city of Exeter through the stupidity, carelessness, and surrender of Hugo (Hugh), a Norman earl, whom queen Emma had set in command over Devonshire; and he plundered it, broke down the wall from the eastern to the western gate, and having gotten great booty went back to his ships."

AD 1005 saw a severe famine in England, and Swein's fleet retreated to Denmark.

King Swein returned the next year and the devastation caused by the Vikings was so great that once more the King and his council decided to pay ‘tribute’ to buy peace. The 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' entry for 1007 notes:

"In this year was the tribute paid to the hostile army; that was, 36,000 pounds."

This is the background of events of history of the time of the granting of the town charter. Why it was granted, whether as a reward for services to the King, or as a further way of raising taxes to pay off the Vikings is not known.

The town remained known as Fleote until the 13th century after which it became known by its present name of Seaton.

If you would like to learn more about Seaton's history, you can visit Seaton Museum on the top floor of the Town Hall in Fore Street. Web site:- www.seatonmuseum.co.uk