. The North Devon coast. estuary, at a point where it suddenly BARNSTAPLE BRIDGE 157 contracts, and where the river Yeo falls into the tremendous language of the briefs sent outbroadcast in the reign of Henry the Eighth, so-liciting alms for the repair of Barnstaple bridge,crossing the estuary, the river is described as a great, hugy, mightyperylous and dreadfuUwater, whereas s a 11 ewater doth ebbe andflow foure tymes in theday and night. Thiswas piling on theagony with a vengeance:a prodigious swashingabout with sounding ad-jectives that seems tothe modern travellersingularly overdone.
. The North Devon coast. estuary, at a point where it suddenly BARNSTAPLE BRIDGE 157 contracts, and where the river Yeo falls into the tremendous language of the briefs sent outbroadcast in the reign of Henry the Eighth, so-liciting alms for the repair of Barnstaple bridge,crossing the estuary, the river is described as a great, hugy, mightyperylous and dreadfuUwater, whereas s a 11 ewater doth ebbe andflow foure tymes in theday and night. Thiswas piling on theagony with a vengeance:a prodigious swashingabout with sounding ad-jectives that seems tothe modern travellersingularly overdone. Barnstaple, it is quiteevident by this appealfor aid, had not yet ar-rived upon the thresholdof that era of aboundingprosperity which was sosoon to come. In a fewyears more the townwas well able to main-tain its bridge, but in the meanwhile had to beg through the land ! It wasa very old bridge, even then, and incorporatedportions built so early as the thirteenth were then thirteen arches, three being added. PULPIT AND HOUR-GLASS,PILTON. 158 THE NORTH DEVON COAST later ; but even so late as 1796 it remained sonarrow that the roadway was scarcely practicablefor wheeled traffic. It was, in short, little otherthan a pack-horse bridge in all those was then no space left for foot-passengerswhen the pack-horses were crossing, and all suchwere fain to take refuge in the V-shaped sanc-tuaries that opened out on either side on thepiers of the arches, and to wait there until thelong, laden pack-horse trains had passed. Butit must be recollected that the roads leading upto the bridge were of the like complexion andwere roads only b}/ courtesy. Wheels were outof place on them, too ; and pack-horses andthat peculiar old Devonshire contrivance knownas a truckamuck were almost the only waysof conveying goods. The truckamuck was justa rough cart without wheels, dragged by a horsealong those uneven ways—a kind of larger andclumsier sleigh-like affair, combining t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdevonen, bookyear1908
