John Hawley
John Hawley and his wives Alicia and Diana
1049
We know from archaeological excavation that people came to the hills overlooking the mouth of the Dart many thousands of years ago and made their stone tools by the riverbank. However, the earliest known historical reference to Dartmouth is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which records that in 1049, Swein, son of Earl Godwin, ordered that his cousin Beorn should “be killed and buried deep” in Dartmouth. But in the Domesday Book, for 1066 and 1086, only the estate of “Dunestal”, or Townstal, is mentioned.
1147
Exactly when is uncertain, but next to a tidal creek on the west side of the river, two settlements developed – to the north, Hardness, and to the south, Clifton. In May 1147, a large fleet (one source says 164 ships, another, 200) sailed from Dartmouth to take part in the siege of Lisbon, as part of the Second Crusade. They came from across Northern Europe, and the choice of Dartmouth as their final assembly point suggests there were already sufficient facilities to supply them in the large, sheltered natural harbour.
1152
When Henry II married Eleanor of Acquitaine in 1152, England and south-western France became closely linked within a cross-channel Empire. Dartmouth was well placed to take advantage of the profitable Bordeaux wine trade but a key stimulus for development was the Hundred Years War. Dartmouth became an important embarkation point for troops, supplies and naval expeditions.
The “shipmen” of Dartmouth became notorious, and Geoffrey Chaucer, who visited the town in 1373, made one of them a character in The Canterbury Tales. From 1351, Dartmouth regularly sent two MPs to Parliament; ship owners were MPs, mayors, and royal office-holders. Their business involved high risks, but high returns – ship owning meant wealth, success and political power.
1379
Probably the richest of Dartmouth’s ship owners was John Hawley, who owned at least twelve different ships but other Dartmouth burgesses also owned several. Along with other owners, he was licensed in 1379 by the Crown to attack and destroy enemy ships. Thereafter, he was regularly involved in privateering, and sometimes, outright piracy. The English Channel was a lawless place, and Dartmouth needed its own defences. As mayor in 1388, John Hawley was ordered by Richard II to “build a fortalice by the sea at the entrance of the port”. A chain stretched across the river to Godmerock. Remains of the fortification can still be seen within Dartmouth Castle.
The town’s prosperity enabled important new buildings to be built. The new chapel of Holy Trinity, or St Saviours as it later became known, was dedicated in 1372. The Mayor and Community agreed with Torre Abbey (the rector of the parish) to pay the full costs of building and repairing the chapel and to respect the rights of the mother church of St Clements.
1408
Soon after, John Hawley paid for the enlargement of St Saviours. When he died in 1408, he was buried in the chancel he had founded, under a handsome brass memorial. The commercial centre of the town grew around the new church whilst to the north at Hardness were the shipbuilding yards. Across the creek was a dam called La Fosse, with two tidal mills, marked by Foss Street. The medieval heart of Dartmouth can still be seen clearly today.
The suburb of South Town, first recorded in 1328, was annexed to the town in 1463, and successive kings granted money to keep the port’s defences up to date. The new Dartmouth Castle, begun about 1481, was a double artillery tower with square and round sections, with two storeys above a basement bedded on rock. The basement walls were pierced with gunports for breech-loading cannons, very advanced for the time. By 1502, a square artillery tower was completed opposite, at Kingswear; the two castles protected the ends of a new chain. Under Henry VIII, a seaward battery was added next to the Castle in 1545, and Bayards Cove Castle was built as an open riverside battery, within the town.
When John Leland visited Dartmouth in 1542, he found “good marchaunt men in the towne; and to this haven long good shippes”. Many Exeter and Totnes merchants used Dartmouth’s ships and port facilities, for both coastal and overseas trade. The town secured rights over the harbour (known as the “waterbaileywick”) from Henry VIII, providing significant revenue. The town’s leaders successfully negotiated the religious upheavals of the 16th century, acquiring much of the property that had been bequeathed to St Saviours, and continuing to look after the church their predecessors had built. From 1586 they appointed and paid the Vicar of Townstal and chaplain of St Saviours and looked after St Clements too.
The Dartmouth History Research Group researches and records the history of Dartmouth and surrounding villages. If you’re interested in Dartmouth’s rich history, have a look at their many publications (available in the Community Bookshop, in the Museum, or directly from the DHRG), at their website www.dartmouth-history.org.uk or go along to one of their meetings – dates are on the home page. It costs nothing to join and new members are always welcome.
First published By The Dart May 2018 Issue
