A short history of Sidmouth in ten dates

BySelect Sidmouth

Sidmouth has been a fishing village, a medieval market town and a fashionable Regency resort. Here are ten dates that shaped it.

  • 1086: recorded in the Domesday Book as Sedemuda, “mouth of the Sid”.
  • 1628: a fort is built amid fears of a French invasion.
  • 1819: the Duke and Duchess of Kent arrive on Christmas Eve with baby Princess Victoria.
  • 1846: the Sid Vale Association is founded, regarded as Britain’s first civic society.
  • 1874: the railway arrives from Sidmouth Junction.
  • 1912: the Norman Lockyer Observatory is completed on Salcombe Hill.
  • 1934: the Duke of Connaught opens Connaught Gardens.
  • 1955: the first Sidmouth folk festival.
  • 1967: the railway closes under the Beeching cuts.
  • 2001: the Jurassic Coast becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read the full history of Sidmouth.