82


Table of 19th century daymarks.


the Dart Harbour Commission, with authority to raise money and improve facilities. And in 1862 an application was made for a comprehensive suite of changes to upgrade the port’s capability: • A new terminus for the railway line (that was expected imminently)


• A deep-water wharf (21 ft deep) adjacent to the railway terminus


• A new lighthouse, visible from 11 miles away, on the Kingswear bank


• Reduction of the Pin Rock in the harbour entrance by underwater demolition, from 12ft to 30ft clearance at all states of the tide


• 6 new buoys to indicate the deep channel • A bigger tug-boat


Dartmouth Harbour


been agreed 7 years later in 1854. However “cometh the hour, cometh the


man”, and in Dartmouth’s case it was Sir Charles Seale-Hayne, nephew of Paul Seale- Hayne, the Mayor, and part of the family that controlled politics in the South Hams for many years. Charles was an ardent reformer, a Liberal, and political opponent of his Conservative uncle (he stood against his candidate in one general election)! More importantly, he came into a significant


fortune on his 21st birthday in October 1854 and immediately started to instigate change. In 1856 he launched the River Dart Steam Packet Company, offering daily services from Dartmouth to Totnes on the paddle steamer Louisa and incorporated it with two further steamers in 1859. In 1857 he co-founded the Dartmouth and Torbay railway, securing the services of Isambard Kingdon Brunel as Chief Engineer, and the first sod was cut at Torquay in January 1858.


In the early 1860s he started to look for ways to significantly improve the harbour. A new act of Parliament in 1861


Charles Seale-Hayne


enabled him to sponsor the formation of


... and a Day Beacon. Sir Charles led the application for a loan of £14,000 to cover


the works and added his own money to top up the kitty. The Day Beacon had to be cleared with Trinity House, who were responsible for the design and maintenance of navigation around the coast. All were agreed that it should be above Froward Point, which was all within Brownstone Farm, owned by Sir Charles. The 10 Acre field was selected, and he agreed a 1,000 year lease at a peppercorn rent with the Dart Harbour Commission. Initially, the design was for a 200 ft edifice, but after discussion with Trinity House a more modest 80 ft building was agreed, presumably because the site was already at 520ft above sea level, and at 80 ft, calculations showed it would still be visible from a ship 15 miles off the coast. Building work started in mid 1864, under pressure to


coincide with the arrival of the railway to Kingswear, which arrived to a huge celebration in August. It appears that the Daymark was not completed till later in the year, but it was ready by Spring 1865, topped off with a timbered roof that was tiled. Many Daymarks are painted, usually white, or like Gribbin Head at Foy, with red and white bands - and the Commissioners wrote to Trinity in 1865 asking for their advice. They were told that it should be painted in 15 ft bands of white and black. Grudgingly the Commissioners agreed to paint only the seaward side and paid £25 to a local man for the work. The Daymark was designed by the railway architect Richard


Brereton, Brunel’s assistant, who took on responsibility for the project after Brunel’s death in 1859. He designed a Daymark unlike any other: built on an octagonal base, with 8 piers, and hollow with no accommodation or stairs; even today it has a


Gribbin Head


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