there are rich veins, believed to be not yet exhausted although not now
worked, of galena or silver-lead.
The Devonshire mines formerly produced more tin than those of
Cornwall; but since the fourteenth century the output of the latter
county has been the greater. The quantity now raised in Devonshire
is inconsiderable, and in 1907 amounted to only 94 tons. Tin is very
largely used in making what is called tin-plate, which is really
sheet-iron dipped into the melted metal. It is also mixed with copper to
make bronze or machine-brass, and it was for the manufacture of bronze
that it was so much sought after by the ancient inhabitants of the
country.
Copper-mining in Devonshire is believed to be a comparatively modern
industry. It is not known whether the ancient Britons made their own
bronze from native tin and copper, or whether they imported it from
abroad. The Devon Great Consols Mine, four miles from Tavistock, once
by far the richest mine in England, and one of the richest in the
world, has shipped as much as 1200 tons of copper in a single month,
and has produced altogether 3-1/2 million pounds' worth of ore; but it
now yields little but arsenic. In 1907 only 652 tons were raised in the
whole county. The ore is not exhausted, but the cost of raising it from
deep mines is too great to withstand foreign competition.
[Illustration: Devon Great Consols Mine]
Ores of iron and zinc are widely distributed, but are little worked; and
the annual yield, both of these metals and of manganese, of which this
county was once a chief source of supply, is inconsiderable. Very rich
silver-lead ore was formerly worked at Bere Alston and at Combe Martin,
but the mines in both places have been abandoned. A very massive cup,
made of Combe Martin silver, given to the Corporation of London by
Queen Elizabeth, is still used at the inauguration of each Lord Mayor.
Arsenic and arsenical pyrites, ochre, and umber are obtained, especially
from some mines whose more valuable ore is exhausted. Cobalt, tungsten,
and uranium also occur, and gold has been found in small quantities,
generally in streams, as, for instance, in the West Webburn and below
Lethitor.
Although the metal mines of Devonshire have lost their old importance,
there are other minerals of great commercial value, of which altogether
more than a million tons are obtained in the course of a year. China
clay, or kaolin, a product of the natural decomposition of granite,
is worked at Lee Moor, and more than 75,000 tons--which, however, is
only one-tenth of that obtained from Cornwall--are annually exported,
especially to Staffordshire, for the making of fine earthenware. Other
kinds of potter's clay, white at Kingsteignton and Bovey Tracy, and red
at Watcombe, are dug in still larger quantities.
There are many quarries in Devonshire, the most important of them being
of limestone, of which more than half a million tons are worked every
year. Heytor granite was used in London Bridge and Waterloo Bridge, and
Lundy granite in the Thames Embankment. But the stone is not considered
equal to that from Cornwall. The same remark applies to the slate, of
which only 5000 tons are now raised annually. There are old quarries of
it near Kingsbridge, and also at Tavistock and other places. Colyton
slate is used for billiard-tables. Marble is worked at Chudleigh, and
a finer quality at Ipplepen, Torquay, and Plymouth. There are large
quarries at Beer. The material for whetstones has long been dug in the
Blackdown Hills, where the refuse from the workings, like lines of
railway embankment, is a feature in the landscape.
[Illustration: Stone Quarry, Beer]
There is no coal in Devonshire, but there is much lignite at Bovey
Tracy, where, in the bed of an ancient lake, a deposit of layers of
it occurs, alternating with clay and sand, to a depth of 100 feet.
On account of its disagreeable smell while burning and its low
heating-power it is not used for fuel except for firing bricks, and
to some extent in the pottery-kilns. There are also extensive beds of
anthracite or culm near Bideford; but this, again, is not of a quality
to serve as fuel, except for lime-burning, and the product of the one
solitary working is ground up to make a paint called Bideford Black.
There are vast and valuable deposits of peat on Dartmoor, in some places
as much as thirty feet deep.
16. Fisheries and Fishing Stations.
The fisheries of the British Islands form one of our most important
industries, providing regular or occasional employment for nearly
100,000 men and boys in the catching of the fish; for a very great
number of persons engaged in secondary occupations connected with the
industry, who probably far outnumber the actual fishermen; and for
innumerable people of all grades engaged in distributing the eight
million pounds' worth of fish brought into the ports of England and
Wales each year by British ships alone. The fisheries also furnish an
immense quantity of cheap and wholesome food, which, by rapid methods of
transit, is available in all parts of the country.
By far the most productive of our fishing-grounds, although not as
predominant as it was some years ago, is the North Sea--an area of more
than 150,000 square miles, in which are taken more than half of all
the British-caught fish, not including shell-fish, which are annually
landed on the coasts of England and Wales. More fish are brought, every
year, into Grimsby, Hull, Lowestoft, and Yarmouth than into all the
other fishing-ports of England put together. It is interesting to note
that, while according to the latest returns there were 1731 British
steam-trawlers and drifters, exclusive of ordinary fishing-boats,
engaged in the North Sea fisheries, there were only 451 similar craft
belonging to the ports of Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France put
together. In other words there are four British steam-trawlers in the
North Sea to every foreigner. Much fishing is also done by English
trawlers off the shores of Iceland, Norway, and the Faroës, and the
boats now go as far even as the White Sea and the coast of Morocco.
About half the fish are taken by trawling, which consists in dragging a
beam of wood, with a net attached to it, along the bottom of the sea,
in comparatively shallow water. Very many different species are caught
in this way, but haddock, plaice, and cod are by far the most numerous,
and make up between them nearly half the total amount of all the fish
landed in England and Wales in a year. Much fishing is also done with
seine nets, or with drift nets, both of which are long nets, attached
to floats of cork or to air-bladders and let down into the sea without
regard to the depth, and sometimes at a considerable distance from the
shore. Stake nets, fastened to poles fixed in shallow water near the
land, are also much used. Herrings are the chief fish caught in drift
nets and seines, and more of them are landed than of any other kind of
fish. The latest return gives the total quantity of herrings annually
brought into English ports as rather more than 200,000 tons, of cod as
about 100,000 tons, and of plaice as about 50,000 tons. Pilchards, which
are full-grown sardines, and much resemble herrings in appearance, are
caught in large quantities--which, however, seem trifling in comparison
with those of the three fish named above--in seine nets off the coasts
of Cornwall and Devon, and nowhere else in the British Isles. Many
fish, especially halibut, cod, and ling are taken with hook and line,
sometimes at great depths. Crabs and lobsters are caught in wicker traps
or baskets called pots, and oysters are usually taken by dredging.
[Illustration: Fish Market at Brixham]
In spite of its two long stretches of seaboard, the fisheries of
Devonshire are not equal in productiveness to those of Cornwall, and
are insignificant in comparison with those of the east coast; and
the total value of the fish landed at all its ports taken together
amounted, according to the latest return, to no more than £150,000, or
one-nineteenth of what is landed at Grimsby alone. It was far exceeded
at five other east-coast fishing stations.
The fish of the English Channel differ considerably from those of the
North Sea. Haddock, the most abundant species on the east coast, is
very rare in the south, and practically none are caught at any of the
Devonshire fishing stations. The cod, again, is a northern species,
and is almost entirely absent from both the Bristol and the English
Channels. Whiting is one of the most abundant of English Channel fish;
and in this species, as well as in soles and turbot, the south coast
is of all the British fishing-grounds second only in productiveness to
the east coast. More conger-eels are caught in the English Channel than
anywhere else off our islands, and there is also a great abundance of
gurnards, skates, and dogfish.
The Devonshire fishermen catch great quantities of whiting, herring,
mackerel, sprats, and pilchards, together with considerable numbers of
soles, turbot, plaice, pollack, skates, congers, crabs, lobsters, and
prawns. Herrings were formerly very abundant off Lynmouth. The last
great shoals appeared in 1823. A skate caught off the south coast of
Devonshire measured nine feet by six and a half feet, and weighed 560
pounds. The quantity of sprats annually caught in Devonshire waters is
very great, but, as in other districts, varies very much in different
years. Thus the amount brought into Torquay in 1905 was more than 500
tons, or more than were landed at any other port in the kingdom; but in
1906 the quantity was only 100 tons. Pilchards, as has been already
observed, are confined to Cornwall and to the south coast of Devon; but
by far the greater quantity are taken at the fishing stations of the
former county. Almost all the pilchards caught in Devonshire waters are
landed at Plymouth. None are taken further east than Dawlish. These
fish, which are particularly oily, are mostly salted and exported to the
Mediterranean. Dogfish, which are very abundant and formerly thrown away
as worthless, are finding an increasing market, especially in London,
where they are filleted and sold as "flake."
[Illustration: Brixham Trawlers]
The most important fishing stations are Plymouth, Brixham, and Torquay,
the annual value of whose fisheries according to the latest return is
about £66,000, £60,000 and £8,000 respectively. There is also a good
deal of fishing off Exmouth, Teignmouth, Dartmouth, Torcross, and
Budleigh Salterton, where the annual values vary from £4000 to £750 a
year. It is interesting to compare these figures with the annual value
of the fish brought into Grimsby, which, by the last return, amounted to
nearly three millions sterling.
There are valuable salmon fisheries at Exmouth, Teignmouth, and
Babbacombe; and most of the Devonshire streams abound with trout,
although the fish as a rule run small. Thirteen Devonshire fisheries are
named in Domesday Book. The most valuable was that at Dartington, for
which two fishermen paid a yearly rent of eighty salmon.
17. Shipping and Trade.
The ports of Devonshire once ranked among the first in England,
and her sailors have for many centuries been famous for their
enterprise and daring. It was from this county that the first English
trading-expeditions sailed to Africa, Brazil, and North America.
They were Devonshire men, who, by taking possession of Newfoundland,
established the first English colony--in which most of the old families
are of Devonshire descent. Devonshire ships were long the terror of the
Spanish Main. Devonshire men were among the very foremost in the defeat
of the Spanish Armada. A Devonshire captain was the first Englishman
to sail round the world; and although we remember with regret that his
friend and comrade was the first Englishman to engage in the iniquitous
traffic of the slave-trade, we are proud to think that few men did more
than he to improve our ships and the condition of our seamen.
In their palmy days, in the century or more following the flight of the
Armada, Bideford and Topsham had each of them more trade with the young
colonies of North America than any other English town except London.
Barnstaple, Ilfracombe, Dartmouth, Brixham, and Appledore were once
important seaports. At the present day not one of the whole seven has
sufficient trade to be honoured with a separate entry in the Government
Shipping Returns. Plymouth is now the only maritime town of commercial
importance. Even its traffic, large as it seems, is small in comparison
with that of London or Liverpool, and as far as trading statistics go,
it stands no higher than thirtieth among the ports of the United Kingdom.
Several causes have contributed to the decay of the Devonshire ports.
Most of them are situated on river-estuaries which, in the lapse of
ages, have become silted up by mud and sand brought down by the rivers,
or obstructed by shingle washed up by the waves. The harbour of Sidmouth
was destroyed by the encroachment of the sea and the fall of the
cliffs which formerly protected it. Again, the tonnage of ships, and
consequently the amount of water they draw, have very greatly increased
since Tudor and Stuart times, when these ports were in their prime; and
it would be impossible for the large vessels of to-day to navigate the
shallow and danger-strewn waters of our estuaries, even if they could
cross the bars by which they are obstructed. Nor is it worth while to
improve the navigation by dredging, as is done to so great an extent
on the Thames, the Mersey, and the Clyde. The industries of Devonshire
are now of small importance, and the county has no great manufacturing
centres to supply freights. Plymouth Sound is the only busy waterway,
and Plymouth is the one populous town requiring large quantities of
imports.
The only harbour in North Devon given in the shipping returns is
Barnstaple, with which are associated Ilfracombe, Bideford, and
Appledore. Ilfracombe, the only port in the long stretch of coast
between Bridgwater and Padstow, had formerly a good deal of traffic
with Wales and Ireland, but its tidal harbour is now visited only by
excursion steamers and small coasting-vessels.
The other three towns are river-ports. Barnstaple is eight miles from
the mouth of the Torridge, Appledore is just inside the entrance of the
Taw, and Bideford is five miles up the same river, whose estuary is
obstructed by a dangerous bar, only to be crossed at high tide. In the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries all three towns had an active trade
with North America; and even in comparatively recent times ships of 1000
tons have been moored at Barnstaple quay. But at the present day only
37 cargo-carrying vessels sail to and from the whole group in a year,
and the trade (chiefly in timber and dye-stuffs) of all four together,
principally with home ports, but also with Sweden and Norway and some
other European countries, amounts to little more than £18,000 in twelve
months.
Dartmouth, Brixham, and Salcombe form another group of ports, all of
which have played a part in history. Their total trade, the import of
timber and the export of ships and boats, amounts to nearly £19,000 a
year, and such foreign intercourse as they have is chiefly with Sweden,
Norway, and Russia.
Exeter and Exmouth, with which is associated Lyme Regis in the adjoining
county of Dorsetshire, rank next in importance, Topsham, the ancient
port of Exeter, having gone entirely to decay. Their annual trade, about
half of which consists of wood, cured fish, and sugar, and which, as
regards foreign intercourse, is mainly with France, Germany, and Sweden,
is nearly £100,000.
The trade of Teignmouth and Torquay together, in the importation of
paper-making materials and timber, and in the export of China-clay,
chiefly with English ports, but also with France, Germany, Belgium, and
Norway, amounts to £110,000 in the twelve-month.
[Illustration: Teignmouth]
Plymouth which, as has been already pointed out, is the only large
sea-port in the county, has four times as much trade, and is entered
and cleared by four times as many vessels as all the other ports of
Devonshire put together. Its chief imports are grain (£540,000),
timber (£250,000), sugar (£135,000), guano and manures (£110,000), and
petroleum (£52,000); and its principal export is £52,000 worth of clay.
Its imports and exports taken together amount to 1-3/4 million pounds
sterling, and it is entered and cleared by 1656 ships in a year. Its
chief foreign trade is with France, but its commerce may truly be
said to be world-wide. Thirteen lines of ocean steamers sail from or
call at Plymouth, the principal of which are the White Star, American,
Norddeutscher-Lloyd, and Hamburg-American for the United States; the
Orient and Peninsular and Oriental for Australia; the latter and the
British India for India; the Shaw-Savill and New Zealand SS. Co. for New
Zealand; and the British and African for the West Coast of Africa. There
are also regular sailings of steamers for France, Scotland, Ireland, the
Channel Isles, and various home ports.
It is interesting to compare this sea-traffic with that of London, which
is entered and cleared by 18,491 cargo-carrying ships in the course of
twelve months, and has a total annual import and export trade of 333
millions of pounds sterling; which are respectively about 11 times, and
about 190 times as large as the corresponding figures for Plymouth.
But although Plymouth is a place of considerable maritime trade, a
busy fishing station and a port of call for ocean-going steamers, for
whose accommodation are provided spacious docks and ample quays, its
greatest importance and renown--remembering that we include with it its
sister towns of Stonehouse and Devonport--rest upon its rank as a naval
station, as an arsenal which is second only to that of Woolwich, and as
a naval dockyard which is the largest in the kingdom.
The anchorage at the head of the Sound, once very much exposed and
dangerous in southerly winds, is now protected by a stone breakwater
nearly a mile long, designed to shelter ships of the Royal Navy. It
was commenced in 1812 by Rennie, continued by his son, modified in
the slope of its sides and improved in stability by violent storms,
especially in 1817, and completed in 1840.
[Illustration: Drake's Island from Mt. Edgcumbe, Plymouth]
Taking all its various features into account, its commerce, its
passenger traffic by means of ocean-liners and other steamers, its
fisheries, its docks and dockyards, its barracks, its factories of
marine appliances, its arsenal, and lastly the vast number of ships
of all sizes, belonging to the navy, to the mercantile marine, or to
the fishing-fleet, that are constantly leaving or entering the Sound,
Plymouth is one of the most important sea-ports in the British Empire.
18. History of Devonshire.
The history of our country begins with the Roman occupation. For
although we have ample and striking traces, in the shape of earthworks
and stone circles, tools and weapons, pottery and ornaments, of the
successive races of men who lived here before Julius Caesar set foot in
Britain, those ancient and primitive people left no written records, not
so much as an inscription on a single coin, and our knowledge of them is
in the highest degree vague and uncertain.
Of many parts of our island the Romans took complete possession,
constructing fortresses, making roads, establishing towns, building
baths and temples and luxuriously appointed villas, and scattering,
wherever they went, the coins whose lettering and devices have revealed
to us so much concerning the some time masters of the world. In
Somerset, for example, to which the conquerors were attracted partly
by the hot and health-restoring springs of Bath, and partly by the
silver-bearing lead mines of the Mendip Hills, the relics of their
occupation have been found from one end of the county to the other.
In Devonshire, on the other hand, such relics are so few, and are
confined to so limited an area that we are driven to the conclusion
that, except as regards the city of Exeter, there was no definite Roman
occupation at all. There is probably not one camp of Roman workmanship
in the whole county. It is doubtful if any Roman road went farther than
the river Teign. The sites of only two Roman villas are known with
certainty. And although Roman coins have been found in many places,
sometimes in hoards of hundreds, and in one case even of thousands,
they are not absolute proof of actual occupation. The names Chester
Moor, Scrobchester, and Wickchester, all near the Cornish border, may,
perhaps, be of Roman origin.
There is, however, no doubt that Exeter, believed to be the _Isca
Dumniorum_ of Antonine's _Itinerary_--that wonderful register, planned
by Julius Caesar and carried out by Augustus, of distances and stations
along all the roads in the Empire--was an important Roman town; and
there is reason to think, from the coins that have been found at many
points within the walls, that the city was held by the Romans from the
latter half of the first century of the Christian era until the time
when the legions were recalled from Britain. The site of _Moridunum_,
the second Roman station mentioned in the _Itinerary_, has not been
identified, but there is some ground for the theory that it was at
Hembury, four miles from Honiton.
A few vague and brief allusions in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, believed
to refer to this county, describing how "Ina fought against Geraint,"
how "Cynewulf fought very many battles against the Welsh," and how
"Egbert laid waste West Wales from eastward to westward," contain
practically all that we know of the Saxon conquest of Devonshire. There
is, indeed, so little record of actual fighting that it seems probable
that the invaders settled here rather as colonists than conquerors,
although Athelstan appears to have found it necessary to expel from
Exeter the Britons who had so far shared the town with the Saxons.
The chief events in Devonshire between the departure of the Romans and
the Norman Conquest were the repeated descents, spread over a long
period of years, of the pirates whom we speak of as Danes or Northmen
or Vikings; who pillaged the coast towns, sacked Exeter, sailed up the
Tamar, and burnt and plundered Tavistock and Lydford. Victory was not
always on the side of the marauders. Their first raid, in 851, was
repulsed with great slaughter; and when, five and twenty years later,
Guthrum seized Exeter, King Alfred promptly drove him out of it.
During the Saxon period there were mints at Exeter, Barnstaple, Totnes,
and Lydford, and thousands of Devonshire-struck silver pennies are in
existence. By far the greater number of them are in the royal museum at
Stockholm, the most numerous being those of Ethelred II and Canute. Of
the former there are in Stockholm 2254 specimens, compared with 144 in
the British Museum. These Swedish specimens probably represent partly
the plunder carried off by the Northmen, partly the bribes vainly paid
to the invaders by Ethelred (whose surname of Unradig, "he who will not
take counsel," or "the headstrong," has been misrendered "the Unready"),
and partly the results of commerce while Canute was king.
[Illustration: Penny of Ethelred II, struck at Exeter]