Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in East Devon, England, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Exeter. It lies within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,[1] and forms much of the electoral ward of Budleigh, whose ward population at the 2021 census was 7,671.[2]
| Budleigh Salterton | |
|---|---|
 The seafront looking west towards Exmouth. The red cliffs are around 250 million years old. | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Budleigh Salterton Location within Devon | |
| Population | 6,575 (2012) |
| OS grid reference | SY066818 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BUDLEIGH SALTERTON |
| Postcode district | EX9 |
| Dialling code | 01395 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Features
edit
Budleigh Salterton lies at the mouth of the River Otter, where the estuary includes a bed of reeds and a grazing marsh, which form a haven for migratory birds and a Site of Special Scientific Interest for bird watchers. It has a designated area for naturists.[3]
The village is crossed by the South West Coast Path, with clifftop routes eastwards to Sidmouth and westwards to Exmouth. The pebble beach and cliffs are part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
Facilities
editFairlynch Museum is housed in a listed, thatched marine cottage orné dating from 1811. It covers the history and geology of the region, and opened in 1967, offering exhibitions and a local archive. It possesses a large collection of period costumes.[4] The town has a male-voice choir, which performs for charity.[5]
It has a flourishing Classical Music festival in the summer [6] and a popular Literary festival in the autumn.[7]
Transport
editBudleigh Salterton lies on the B3178 secondary road; the B3179 ends on the western edge of the town.
There are regular bus links with Exmouth and Sidmouth, with less frequent services to Exeter.
Between 1897 and 1967, Budleigh Salterton was served by a station on the Budleigh Salterton Railway, built and operated by the London & South Western Railway, which ran from Tipton St Johns to Exmouth,[8] which is now the nearest railway station at 8 km (5 miles). Large sections of the disused Exmouth to Budleigh branch line now serves as a cycle path.[9]
Sports
editBudleigh Salterton is home to the scenic East Devon Golf Club.[10] Its 11-lawn croquet club (offering croquet, bowls and bridge), founded in the late 1860s, is one of the oldest and largest in the country.[11] The first team of the Budleigh Salterton Association football Club plays in the South West Peninsula League Division One East and there is a second team, a ladies' team and a youth team.[12] In addition, there is a cricket club, a rifle club, and a games club offering tennis, bowls and other pursuits.[13]
Churches
editThe Church of England in Budleigh Salterton originally took the form a chapel of ease under the parish of All Saints, East Budleigh. As the population grew, this was replaced in the 1890s by what became the Parish Church of St Peter in 1901. St Peter's Church was built between 1891 and 1893 to a design by George Fellowes-Prynne. It was heavily damaged by enemy aircraft bombing on 17 April 1942, losing a great many of the stained glass windows by Percy Bacon & Brothers,[14] but reopened in 1953. Today the Raleigh Mission Community at St Peter's, Budleigh Salterton, and All Saints, East Budleigh, are part of a joint mission with St Michael's, Otterton.[15]
The Roman Catholic Church is also dedicated to St Peter.[16] The Temple Methodist Church was completed in 1904 to replace a smaller chapel dating from 1812, which had been built by the bookseller James Lackington, an associate of John Wesley.[17] There is a Baptist church in the town, whose congregation dates back to 1843.[18]
Notable residents
editIn birth order:
- James Lackington 1746–1815, founder of Temple Methodist Church.[19]
- The German-born English painter Hubert von Herkomer died here in 1914.
- Belinda Lee, actress in British films of the 1950s, was born here in 1935. Her father managed a hotel in the town.[20]
- Charles Warrell, creator of the I-Spy series of children's books, lived here from his retirement in 1956 until his death in 1995.[21]
- Writer Dame Hilary Mantel (1952–2022), author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, lived here.[22]
References
edit- ^ "East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Website". Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ "Census 2021 | Number of usual residents in households and communal establishments - Budleigh & Raleigh Ward". Office for National Statistics. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Rutherford, Tristan (15 June 2015). "Britain's best nudist or naturist beaches". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ^ "Fairlynch Museum".
- ^ "Budleigh Salterton Male Voice Choir". budleighmvc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ https://www.budleighmusicfestival.co.uk/ [bare URL]
- ^ https://budlitfest.org.uk [bare URL]
- ^ "Budleigh Salterton". Disused stations: Closed Stations in the UK. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ "Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton Circuit - Cycle Route". www.visitdevon.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ "East Devon Golf Club". eastdevongolfclub.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club". budleighcroquet.org. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Budleigh Salterton Football Club". bsafc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ^ "Activities and Sports". Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Stained Glass of Percy Bacon and Brothers".
- ^ "Raleigh Mission Community". raleighmissioncommunity.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Catholic Church of St. Peter". Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Temple Methodist Church Budleigh Salterton". budleightemplemethodist.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Budleigh Salterton Baptist Church". budleighbaptistchurch.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Lackington, James". A Dictionary of Methodism. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ Otter Valley Association article on Belinda Lee Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ Tucker, Nicholas (30 November 1995). "Obituary: Charles Warrell". The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ Larissa MacFarquhar (8 October 2012). "How Hilary Mantel Revitalized Historical Fiction". The New Yorker. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
Further reading
edit- Cooper, Andrew (2007). East Devon Pebblebed Heaths: 240 Million Years in the Making. Impress Books. ISBN 978-0-9556239-0-5.
- Ford, Alan (2002). Mark Rolle: His Architectural Legacy in the Lower Otter Valley. Otter Valley Association. ISBN 978-0-9507534-5-4.
- The Jurassic Coast Trust (2003). A Walk Through Time, the Official Guide to the Jurassic Coast. Coastal Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9544845-0-7.
External links
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