Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ilfracombe

ILFRACOMBE, a market-town, seaport, and watering-place of Devonshire, is picturesquely situated on the Bristol Channel, and at the terminus of a branch of the London and South-Western Railway, 11 miles north by west of Barnstaple, and 50 miles north-west by west of Exeter. The parish is under the government of a local board of health, established in 1857. The old town, built on the cliffs above the harbour, consists of a principal street about a mile in length, with smaller streets branching off from it. Behind the old town many fine villas and marine residences rise in beautiful terraces commanding picturesque and magnificent views. The heights or torrs overspread with foliage form a sort of semicircle round the town, stretching westwards to a considerable distance; and it is sheltered from the sea by the Capstone Rock. Hillsborough Rock, on the east side of the harbour, with a height of about 500 feet, has near its summit some remains supposed to be of Celtic origin. On Lantern Rock, at the west side of the harbour, a lighthouse has been erected. For access to the bathing ground, which is confined to a few small coves at the foot of the rocks, three tunnels have been cut through the solid rock. Inland the country presents a beautiful variety of hill and dale, clothed with woods and possessing a rich and luxuriant vegetation. The principal public buildings are the parish church, dating from the 12th century, and recently restored, and St Philip and St James’s Church, recently erected at a cost of over £10,000, the town-hall erected in 1860, the market-house of the same date, the baths, and the assembly rooms. Waterworks were completed in 1866 at a cost of £7000. The harbour, formed wholly of a natural basin, admits vessels of more than 200 tons burden, and there is a pier 850 feet in length. Herring fishing is prosecuted, but the shipping trade has considerably declined. The population of the parish, which in 1861 was 3851, was 4721 in 1871.

The name of the town is differently spelt in old documents, the variations being Ilfordscombe, Alfredscombe, Alfrincombe, Ilfarcombe, and Ilfridcombe. In the latter part of the 13th century it obtained a grant for holding a fair and market, and in the reign of Edward III. it was a place of such importance as to supply him with six ships and ninety-six men for his armament against Calais. During the Parliamentary war, being garrisoned for the Roundheads, it was in 1644 captured by the Royalists, but in 1646 it fell into the hands of Fairfa