General Discussion
Did you know that in the Charles Dickens' book, "Nicholas Nickleby", Dickens writes that said Nicholas was born in Dawlish?
No? Well neither did I until I saw the name of this new road in Dawlish (see link below) and thought to myself, "Why are they calling it that?".
Now I know.
http://www.bovishomes.co.uk/new-homes-at-dawlish/nicklebyplace/
I seem to remember that Jane Austen also had links with Dawlish. Do you think that there will be an Austen Place?
You are absolutely correct cassandra.She took a holiday In 1802 here In Dawlish.She also went to Winchester(where I live),to recover from a Illness.But,She sadly died.
http://dawlishblue.co.uk/section558126_201592.html
Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby the elder inherits a thousand pounds and a farm in Dawlish, Devonshire, from his father. His son, also called Nicholas and the subject of Dickens' story, is born in Dawlish.
and let's not forget the Dawlish connection with the poet John Betjeman:
Bird-watching colonels on the old sea wall, Down here at Dawlish where the slow trains crawl: Low tide lifting, on a shingle shore, Long-sunk islands from the sea once more: Red cliffs rising where the wet sands run, Gulls reflecting in the sharp spring sun; Pink-washed plaster by a sheltered patch, Ilex shadows upon velvet thatch: What interiors those names suggest! Queen of lodgings in the warm south-west....
Don't forget that Colin Dexter, the author of the Inspector Morse series has huge Dawlish connections. Does anyone think there should be a Letsby Avenue?
Here are some crime authors who have used Dawlish as a Surname in their novels. I am sure I have heard Dawlish mention a lot more in Agatha's novels. Also there is John Dawlish from Harry Potter. Perhaps these authors were inspired to use Dawlish by Charles Dickens?
Agatha Christie' Poirot
Death on the Nile (1937)
Lord Dawlish
"In truth, Ferguson is Lord Dawlish, a very wealthy member of the British aristocracy."
Adrian Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Red Widow (1954)
Inspector Dawlish
Edgar Wallace
The Square Emerald (1926)
Donald Dawlish
Peter Dawlish
And Google has also found that poet Richard Harris Dalton Barham is buried in Dawlish. If you enter the cemetery by the main gates on Oak Hill, his grave is in the first row on the left.
@Lynne -just reading the betjeman poem reminds me just what a dreadful poet he was! bird watching colonels on the old sea wall indeed! thank you very much for the posting - it made me smile!
John Keates (1795-1821)
Over the hill and over the dale,
And over the bourn to Dawlish--
Where gingerbread wives have a scanty sale
And gingerbread nuts are smallish.
Rantipole Betty she ran down a hill
And kicked up her petticoats fairly;
Says I I'll be Jack if you will be Gill--
So she sat on the grass debonairly.
Here's somebody coming, here's somebody coming!
Says I 'tis the wind at a parley;
So without any fuss any hawing and humming
She lay on the grass debonairly.
Here's somebody here and here's somebody there!
Says I hold your tongue you young Gipsey;
So she held her tongue and lay plump and fair
And dead as a Venus tipsy.
O who wouldn't hie to Dawlish fair,
O who wouldn't stop in a Meadow,
O who would not rumple the daisies there
And make the wild fern for a bed do!
Fraid all those dots and dashes will have to be transcribed into English, - I don't know the morse code (like many others I imagine).
I'd like to know which bird was watching the colonels on the old sea wall. A baudy birdy indeed as were the Dawlish wenches in Keats' poem.
A tribute to Betjeman and Dawlish ......
Post-watching bloggers on Dawlish.Com
Down here at the forum when our broadbands don’t bomb.
Town Council antics we choose to deplore
And moaners and groaners who can not do more.
Sainsburys rising where Shutterton sprawled
Leaving town-centre shops aghast and appalled.
Twelve hundred new homes to fill our green space
But of new roads and drains no mention, no trace.
The laureate Betjeman regaled us in verse
In style and with scansion that couldn’t be worse.
But Austen and Keats and Dickens suggest
That Dawlish indeed is Queen of South-West
