Appledore, Torridge

History

Appledore is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 (though it mentions two other, smaller, Appledores in Devon). Its earliest recorded name, in 1335, is le Apildore in the manor of Northam. There was a Saxon settlement, but the Devon historian WG Hoskins says of the local legend that it was the site of a Viking raid in 878 AD, 'there is no authority for this identification'. The settlement prospered as a port in the Elizabethan period, and some cottages date from this period. The construction of a quay in 1845 further developed the port, and as a result Appledore has a rich maritime heritage from the second half of the 19th century. The painter Edward Calvert was born there in 1799. Shipowner Sir William Reardon Smith was born in Appledore and went to the Wesleyan school there.

The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based. From 1882 until the 1930s it was owned by Robert Cook, and continued in use until the 1960s. It is a Grade II* listed building. There is a maritime museum in the village chronicling the history of shipbuilding and seafaring in the village.

A lifeboat service for the area around the mouth of the River Taw was introduced in February 1825. The boat was kept in the King's Watch House at Appledore for six years until a new boat house was built at Watertown, half a mile nearer the sea. From 1848 a second lifeboat was stationed at Braunton Burrows on the opposite side of the estuary but its crew always came from Appledore. A third station was built at Northam Burrows to the west of Appledore in 1851 and the Appledore boat moved there. A new station at Badsteps allowed Northam Burrows to close in 1889 and Braunton Burrows closed in 1918 as it was difficult to find men and horses to launch the boat. Appledore Lifeboat Station was rebuilt in 2001 and is home to an inshore lifeboat; a larger all-weather boat is kept moored just off shore.

Railway

The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway (B,WH&A,R) was most unusual amongst British railways in that although it was built as a standard gauge line (4 ft 8½in) it was not joined to the rest of the railway network, despite the London and South Western Railway having a station at Bideford, East-the-Water, meaning on the other side of the River Torridge from the main town. The line was wholly situated on the peninsula made up of Westward Ho!, Northam and Appledore with extensive sand dunes, at the mouth of the Torridge and Taw estuary. Appledore railway station and the whole line closed in 1917 having been requisitioned by the War Office (Stuckey 1962).

Sport and leisure

Appledore has a Non-League football club Appledore F.C. who play at Marshford.

Transport

Appledore is served by First Devon and Cornwall service 2, and Stagecoach Devon service 21A which both run between Appledore, Northam, Bideford, East the Water, Instow, Fremington, Bickington, Barnstaple station, Barnstaple, Chivenor, Braunton, Knowle, Mullacott Cross and Ilfracombe.

In popular culture

In his novel Westward Ho!, Charles Kingsley describes Appledore as a "little white fishing village".

Nikolai Tolstoy, Patrick O'Brian's stepson considers that the fictional town of Shelmerston in O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series may have been based on Appledore. O'Brian's wife Frieda Mary grew up in Appledore.

In 2008, the Jackson family (including Tito Jackson) stayed for six weeks in Appledore while searching for a house to buy in the area. The project was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary The Jacksons are Coming, which was aired on 27 November 2008.