Dawlish Beach, Devon

Description

DAWLISH BEACH, DEVONSHIRE

From ‘Views in Devonshire’ (Small Series)

Published by H. Besley, Directory Office, South Street, Exeter

From a drawing by G. Townsend

An original steel line engraving with some later hand colouring, from Views in Devonshire, published by Henry Besley of Exeter between 1853 and 1875.

This framed antique print shows the South Devon town of Dawlish, near Exeter, fronted by a sandy beach. Running along the length of this beach is the South Devon Railway sea wall, constructed to protect the Riviera Line railway that runs above it. The mainline track still continues along this route and its station is unusually situated on the beach. The view is taken from the top of a headland called Lea Mount and it looks beyond the seafront to Langstone Rock and the sandy resort of Dawlish Warren.

Dawlish is located at the outlet of the Dawlish Brook and probably takes its name from ‘Devil Water’ because when the rain churns up the cliffs above the brook appears to run blood red. Dawlish began as a fishing village supplying mackerel, herring and shellfish, but during the C19th, it developed into a fashionable place of leisure.

The print is in a good clean condition and is available presented in a dark blue conservation quality mount and framed in gold wooden frame. Price – £30.00.

Approximate dimensions are:

Mount window: 190 x 130 mm

Frame overall size: 290 x 235 mm