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Red Arrow flies past Riversea
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Riversea in the 1920s - 30s
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Riversea in the 1920s - 30s
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Lillie Langtry, Prince of Wales
Many fine Victorian villas line the River Dart offering sizeable accommodation and stunning views of the river and out to sea.
One such house is Riversea on the Kingswear side of the river. Currently, it is easily identifiable with a huge plastic canopy protecting it during a major renovation, project which is expected to be complete in early 2016. This renovation will likely preserve the building for at least another century. Aside from its stunning location, Riversea boasts an illustrious history.
The house was built between 1866 and 1867 by the Reverend George Turner Seymour on land land leased from the Luttrell family (Nethway Estate). It is commonly accepted that Prince Albert stayed at Riversea with his mistress Lily Langtry. Edward Langtry participated in a number of Regattas but one assumes that any use of Riversea (and Warfleet House - another location of the secret trysts with the Prince of Wales across the river) - must have taken place between 1877 and 1880, the duration of the Royal affair. This is not to say that Albert may have used the house outside these dates.
A single storey extension was constructed just before or around the turn of the last century by subsequent owner Henry Toms. Toms owned Riversea from 1876 to 1903. He was a Justice of the Peace and, according to hearsay, didn’t relish the journey into Brixham to hear cases. The extension, now a library, was thus used as a court room. His coat of arms is depicted in the stained glass window over what would have been an entrance into the room from the outside.
There is a second connection with the Prince of Wales, which occurs in 1892. In this year, Toms was granted the rights to Riversea’s foreshore down to the low water mark. It is understood this is a rarity on not only the Dart but throughout the Duchy of Cornwall. Whether Albert was still visiting and wanted to protect his privacy from people walking along the foreshore at low tide, or whether Toms by his own wishes was granted this concession in recognition of his past discretion, is unclear.
In 1934 Riversea was sold by the Reverend Bishop Boyd Carpenter to a T. R. Bangham who converted it for use as a small ‘private’ hotel (The Riversea Private Hotel Company). It remained such, with varying management, until 1949.
Two people, still alive, who were children living at the house during WWII remember a shaft that led down from the ‘courtroom’ to a tunnel that erupted into a fishing store on the quayside below the house. The shaft was used as shelter when German bombers would attack up the Dart.
The shaft has not yet been found although it is hoped to do so during the current renovation of the property. One of those children admitted being to scared as a boy to go down it, but does remember its other end in the storage ‘cave’ that was built into the sea wall upstream from the boathouse. This space was deep enough to lay a yacht mast.
During the course of the latter half of the 20th century the coach house was sold off (Riversea Cottage) as was the kitchen garden (as land to build Crosstrees). The current owner’s family bought Riversea in 1978. However, half the garden was retained by the previous owner (Johnny Johnson) on which was built Farthings, the current house next door. When Riversea was built, it enjoyed expansive grounds as did many of these Victorian properties lining the river sides. One could drive to the front door of Riversea along an elm-lined driveway.
Prince Edward and Lillie Langtry
According to her Wikipedia entry “The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward (“Bertie”, later Edward VII), arranged to sit next to Langtry at a dinner party given by Sir Allen Young on May 24, 1877. (Her husband Edward was seated at the other end of the table.) Although the Prince was married to Princess Alexandra and had six children, he was a well-known philanderer. He became infatuated with Langtry and she soon became his semi-official mistress. She was presented to the Prince’s mother, Queen Victoria. Eventually, a cordial relationship developed between Langtry and Princess Alexandra.
The affair lasted from late 1877 to June 1880. The Prince once complained to Langtry, “I’ve spent enough on you to build a battleship”, whereupon she tartly replied, “And you’ve spent enough in me to float one”. Some accounts say that their relationship finally cooled when she misbehaved at a dinner party; others that she was eclipsed by the arrival of the French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, who came to London in June 1879.”
First published By the Dart August 2015 Issue