rocks
Churches and museums The parish church is dedicated to St Giles and St Nicholas. It was rebuilt in 1860; the architect was
William White. Of the medieval structure, only the 15th-century tower has been retained. Oddments of
Norman and later stonework were included in the rebuilding. Features of interest include the Duke of Kent Memorial Window, which
Queen Victoria gave in 1867, and the
reredos by
Samuel Sanders Teulon. Parts of the original fabric, such as the windows, were reused by the historian
Peter Orlando Hutchinson in building a folly adjoining his house. He was also responsible for saving the stained glass in the vestry. The folly is the Old Chancel in Coburg Terrace which was started by Hutchinson in 1859, in protest over the destruction of the original church fabric during rebuilding.
Sidmouth Museum, next to the church, has local memorabilia, historical artefacts, and geological samples. The church of All Saints, also
Anglican (Taylor, architect, 1837), is in the Early English style with lancet windows and "oddly clumsy" pinnacles. There were also Unitarian,
Wesleyan (later Methodist) and Congregational chapels; the Unitarian chapel was founded in the 17th century by Presbyterians and the Wesleyan and Congregational ones in 1837 and 1846 respectively. After the
Reformation, the
Catholic Church returned to Sidmouth in 1880 with the arrival of exiled French
Jesuits who were joined in 1881 by the
Sisters of the Assumption. The
convent erected a purpose built chapel which opened for public
mass in 1884. By the 1920s the Catholic population had grown to require a parish church. Land at Radway was acquired in 1930 and the Church of the
Most Precious Blood was built, with the first Mass being celebrated on 10 November 1935. Sidmouth is home to the
Norman Lockyer Observatory and Planetarium, located on Salcombe Hill. The facility, completed in 1912, fell into disuse but was saved from demolition by the appeals of enthusiasts to East Devon District Council. The observatory now operates as a science education project and is open to the public.
Music Folk festival Sidmouth Folk Festival is an annual
folk festival in early August attracting musicians and visitors. It became less financially viable over the years and in 2005 the last of the commercial sponsors, essential for its existence, pulled out. To continue the tradition, individuals grouped together to form Sidmouth FolkWeek Productions, a limited company. Since the change of format, the event has been held on a smaller scale, with no arena at the Knowle, though marquees are still erected in the Blackmore Gardens and The Ham at the eastern end of the town. The popular late-night extra feature is also run at
Bulverton on the edge of Sidmouth next to the main campsite.
Sidmouth town band During the summer, Sidmouth Town Band, a
brass band, play a series of concerts in the Connaught Gardens each Sunday at 8pm from late May until early September. The earliest record of the band is from a photograph of 1862.
Literary associations Sidmouth has featured in various literary works, e.g. as "Stymouth" in
Beatrix Potter's children's story
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930), in which the author included views of the beach and other parts of the Devon countryside. In
Thomas Hardy's
Wessex it is the inspiration for "Idmouth". "Baymouth" in
William Makepeace Thackeray's
Pendennis, and "Spudmouth" in
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by
Howard Pyle, are both based on the town. In
G. A. Henty's book
With Wolfe in Canada, the hero James Walsham is from Sidmouth, and parts at the beginning and end of the book take place there. The poet
Elizabeth Barrett lived in the town from 1832 until 1835. The area of rock pools around Jacob's Ladder is used as the location for
H. G. Wells'
The Sea Raiders. In 1962, author
R. F. Delderfield had a house, 'Dove Cottage' (now 'Gazebo'), built on Peak Hill.
J.R.R. Tolkien was a regular visitor to Sidmouth and wrote parts of the early part of
Lord of the Rings while on holiday with his family in 1938. Chapters drafted during the holiday encompass the hobbits escape of the Shire through the Old Forest and up to their arrival at Bree. Sidmouth was also a favourite spot for Sir
John Betjeman. He chose it as the subject of the first programme of the television series
John Betjeman in the West Country that he wrote and presented in 1962. The script takes the form of an extended poem and was republished in 2000 as a short book. The town has been the setting for television dramas, such as a 1987 adaptation of
William Trevor's novel
The Children of Dynmouth, an
ITV adaptation of
Agatha Christie's
Marple in summer 2005, and the 2022
HBO series
The Gilded Age.
Miscellaneous The
Sidmouth Herald is the local newspaper. Manor Pavilion houses an arts centre and a theatre that hosts both amateur and professional productions. There is also the Radway Cinema. Sidmouth has been a frequent winner of
Britain in Bloom awards. Most recently it won the Small Town category in 2001 and the Coastal Resort category in 2005. The Sid Vale Association, the first
civic society in Britain, was founded in 1846 and is based in Sidmouth. In 2016, a worldwide architectural competition was held in the town to provide ideas for the future redevelopment of Sidmouth's eastern town and seafront. The competition was initiated by Sidmouth Architect
Henry Beech Mole. In October 2018, it was discovered that an unusually large
fatberg was constricting the sewers. A team of scientists from the
University of Exeter studied it and attributed it to the ageing population and its food habits. It was removed and turned into energy at a local power plant.
Twin towns Sidmouth is
twinned with
Le Locle in Switzerland. ==Features==