A short history of the Barnstaple and Ilfracombe Railway

There were a great many schemes to build a railway line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe and in the end the two main rival companies, the ‘London and South West Railway’ (LSWR) and ‘Devon & Somerset”, made an agreement in 1864 for a joint mixed gauge railway to be built. The agreement collaspsed when the Devon and Somerset were unable to contribute their share of the money. A new plan was made by the “Barnstaple and

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Coastguard and Rocket Apparatus

Woolacombe and Mortehoe’s coastline have had many shipwrecks over the years. The coastguards have played an important role in protecting the people that found themseles in trouble. The first records of the rocket apparatus at Woolacombe are incomplete, however the first entry in the Rocket Apparatus Records book is dated 1890, and details a wreck that happened on June 23rd at 03:00 in the morning. At this time there were only two coastguards and a

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