It would be difficult to find another place in England as rich in historical associations as Dartmouth in Devon. We entered the narrow entrance to harbor in the late morning, with St Petrox church on the port side. This church was founded in 597 AD in the age of the Celtic saints who had been the subject of my morning lecture.
Our afternoon walking tour took us to the newer (but still mediaeval) church of St Saviour. Its rare example of a mediaeval rood screen, which escaped destruction during the Reformation, and its memorial brass to John Hawley, the rich Dartmouth merchant on whom Geoffrey Chaucer based a character in his "Canterbury Tales", made for a memorable visit. On Baynard's Quay, we stood on the very cobble stones from which the Pilgrim Fathers departed for America, next to the gunnery built by Henry VIII against a possible invasion from Catholic Spain a century earlier.
Throughout its history Dartmouth has had close links with the navy, and for a century and a half the Naval College has dominated the town. It was from Dartmouth, in the final stages of the Second World War, that a flotilla left for the beaches of Normandy.
Today the town continues its maritime tradition: we had arrived in the middle of a Sunday afternoon sailing spree, the river teeming with small pleasure craft, the Caledonian Star mooring mid-stream in perfect summer sunshine. The great affection the town has for our ship was obvious throughout our stay. Greeted by the Town Crier upon arrival, we invited the town mayor to join us for the Captain's welcome dinner. He graced the occasion in full regalia: it had been a quintessentially English summer's day.
