The Henry Williamson Society
The Gale of the World - photographic essay
Back to The Gale of the World main page
Photographic essay
Henry Williamson's photos of the Lynmouth Flood Disaster; and some early photographs and postcards of the area
Over 14/15 August 1952 there occurred the violent storm over Exmoor that caused utter devastation to Lynmouth, as flood water poured down the East and West branches of the River Lyn, sweeping away all before it, destroying buildings and killing several people. It is that storm that HW used for the climax of The Gale of the World, and indeed of the whole series.
The day following the storm HW drove over Exmoor to see the damage for himself. He spent some time there and took a number of photographs.
His diary entries are spare:
How many photographs he took is not known. There are seven in the archive, though more may have been mislaid over the years, for the prints are very small. They have been enlarged here, and give a very clear impression of the destruction wreaked by the raging torrents of the River Lyn.
Finally there is this photograph of a figurine swamped in mud and debris, with HW's note pencilled on the reverse:
*************************
In the back of HW's copy of L. T. Catchpole's booklet The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (Oakwood Press, 1949) are some notes he made when he visited Lynmouth in 1950, with a poignant postscript in red at the bottom:
*************************
Within the archive there is also a copy of A Book of Exmoor by F. J. Snell, published by Methuen in 1903, with 38 leaves of plates containing 65 illustrations. This particular copy was signed in 1903, most floridly (his usual signature!), as the property of Arthur Heinemann. Below is a selection of the illustrations showing the area around Lynmouth.
 |
| Lynmouth and Lynton, with Hollerday Hill behind |
 |
| Lynmouth harbour, tide in |
 |
| Lynmouth harbour, tide out |
 |
| The Valley of the Rocks |
 |
| Castle Rock |
*************************
Next, four postcards from the mid-1920s:
 |
| The coastline looking east from Wooda Bay |
 |
| Lynmouth, and Countisbury Hill beyond |
 |
| Exmoor scene |
The following postcard, showing the view from Dunkery Beacon, was sent by the newly-married Ida Loetitia Williamson to her mother-in-law in May 1925:
*************************
To finish, this postcard was kept by HW with his photographs of the Lynmouth flood damage. Dating from the early 1900s, it shows the Lynmouth and Lynton funicular lift, today a popular attraction for visitors. Opened in 1890 (financed by the publisher Sir George Newnes, who had built a house on Hollerday Hill), its early use was to carry freight from the port up to Lynton on a flat platform, as seen here – perhaps this motorcar had been unable to climb the steep hill up to Lynton. The platforms were converted into carriages for passengers in 1947. It is the world's steepest operating water-powered cliff railway.
*************************
Back to The Gale of the World main page