Literary
The South West of England has an outstanding literary history.. Writers, poets and novelists have been born, lived or travelled in the region. Inspiration has been sought and found, with many using the area for settings of their works.
Agatha Christie was born and lived in Torbay. Jane Austen lived in Bath for 6 years. Charles Kingsley was born on Dartmoor. JK Rowling was bought up in Gloucester and educated at Exeter University. John Gay was born in Barnstaple. Henry Fielding spent his childhood days in Dorset and Wiltshire.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle practiced as a Dr in Plymouth. Daphne du Maurier immortalised Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor, as RD Blackmore did with Exmoor. Dickens, Shelly, Wordsworth, all wrote in the South West during their careers.
| Poet / Author | Connection |
| Plymouth | |
| Daniel Defoe/Robinson Crusoe | Resident of Oreston, Plymouth |
| Charles Kingsley/Water Babies | Born Holne - Dartmoor |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes | Worked in a Plymouth practice/Inspired to write "The Hounds of the Baskervilles" from tales he heard about Dartmoor while staying at the Ducky Hotel in Princetown |
| T E Lawrence (of Arabia) | Stationed at Mount Batten |
| Charles Dickens | Stayed at the Oxenham Arms South Zeal, Dartmoor Rented a house in Alphington Exeter for his parents and was a frequent visitor to the city where he was often seen drunk in the Turks Head on the High Street and many of the characters in his novels were based on fellow customers. It is reputed that the chair he sat in to write the scene in his novel Pickwick Papers that features the pub is still there |
| J K Rowling/Harry Potter | Attended Exeter University |
| Alexander Selkirk | The real life shipwrecked mariner and inspiration for Robinson Crusoe |
| Sabine Baring Gould | Lived in Lewtrenchard parish (Tavistock) for 43 years as squire and parson. During his time there he wrote the well known hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers.’ |
John Betjeman |
Poet Laureate - Compiled the Shell Guide to Devon county in 1936 and his poem 'Exeter' published in 1937 recalls the Exeter Cathedral bells calling a widow to prayer. He also recorded a TV programme about the beauty of Sidmouth and described Yealmpton Parish Church as The most amazing Victorian church in Devon |
| Poole & Portland | |
| Henry Fielding | Spent his childhood at East Stour |
| Thomas Hardy | Dorset is the inspiration for much of Hardy's work and he lived there for much of his lift. There are references to the SW throughout his novel including Dorchester, Salisbury, Stonehenge and Sturminster Newton. Many of his settings cluster around his birthplace. He was born in the hamlet of Higher Bockhampton (Dorchester) in the parish of Stinsford - an area named "Mellstock" in his writings. His heart is buried in his wife's grave in Stinsford Churchyard whilst his ashes are in Poets corner in Westminster Abbey. There is an International Thomas Hardy Festival in Dorset every July, the programme includes lectures, seminars, talks, poetry readings, excursions, walks and entertainments. |
| T E Lawrence (of Arabia) | Lived at Clouds Hill Nr Bovington Camp where he was posted and near where he met his tragic death on his motorcycle. There is a walking trail dedicated to him starting at the Tank Museum Bovington/Dorset |
| T S Eliot | One of the most daring innovators of 20th century poetry. Born in the USA, he settled in England and his ashes are buried in the church of St Michael's, East Coker, Yeovil. His ancestral home. |
| Jane Austen | Set part of her novel 'Persuasion' at Lyme Regis |
| John Fowles | His famous French Lieutenants Woman strongly featured the fossils of the Jurassic Coast |
| Vera Britten | Testament of Youth lived at Allum Green , Lyndhurst |
| Lord Tennyson | Spent much time in the New Forest |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Sherlock Holmes Lived and is buried in Minstead Churchyard |
| Robert Lewis Stevenson | Stayed in Bournemouth recovering from tuberculosis |
| Enid Blyton | Lived for many years in the Purbeck area |
| Percy Bysshe Shelley | The poets heart is buried with his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley the author of Frankenstein at St Peters Church Bournemouth |
| The Powys Brothers | All lived and wrote about Dorset |
| John Meade Faulkner | Classic novel Moonfleet was based in the Chesil Beach area. |
| Enid Blyton | Poole Harbour, Brownsea Islands and the adjacent Purbeck hills were the inspiration for so many of Enid Blyton's famous stories |
| John Le Carre | Born in Poole 1931, author of many espionage novels (David John Moore Cornwell) was educated at Sherbourne School |
| JRR Tolkien | Lord of the Rings' and The Hobbit' after retirement the author and his wife moved to Bournemouth/Poole for a number of years |
| Ilfracombe | |
| R D Blackmore/Lorna Doone | Exmoor - Visit Doone Valley and stand at the altar in Oare Church where Lorna Doone was shot Blackmore lived in Ashford outside Barnstaple during the 1800s and wrote the novel in 1869. There is a walking trail at Watermouth cove described by Blackmore as "some of the finest walks in England" |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge/Ancient Mariner | Born Ottery St Mary wrote Ancient Mariner whilst living in Nether Stowey, There is a walking trail on Exmoor which carries his name |
| John Gay | Author of "The Beggars Opera" was born and educated in Barnstaple |
| Rudyard Kipling | Spent 4 of his school years in Westward Ho. Reference to his time there can be found in his novel "Stalky & Co" There is a walking trail called Kipling Tours on the SW Coast Path |
| Percy Bysshe Shelley | Great English poet of the romantic period honeymooned in Lynmouth with his 16yr old bride |
| Henry Williamson | author of "Tarka the Otter" Visit Georgeham where Tarka the Otter was written and where Henry Williamson is buried in a simple grave in the churchyard. The Tarka Trail a 180 mile recreational route that traces his journey through Tarka Country which covers 500 sq miles of rolling farmland, wild moorland, and rugged coastline stretching from North Devon Coast and Exmoor down to the northern slopes of Dartmoor |
| Charles Kingsley | The water babies & Westward Ho, sit at his desk in Clovelly, visit the coastal town of Westward Ho named after his novel following the adventures of Elizabethan seafarers Clovelly was a childhood home for the Victorian author and social reformer. The place inspired him to write his enduring children’s classic, |
| Falmouth | |
| Kenneth Grahames | Falmouth and Fowey are reputedly the inspiration for 'The Wind in the Willows' Fowey Hall (Hotel) the basis for Toad Hall, Fowey and Fal rivers the basis for the story and the Green Bank Hotel in Falmouth is where he is supposed to have written it. |
| E V Thompson AKA James Monro | lives in St Austell - Famous for the Retallack Series, Singing Spears, Chase the Winds. |
| Rosamunde Pilcher | The village of Lelant was her birthplace in 1924. After attending school at St Clare in Penzance, and experiencing war-time in the services, she began her writing career under the pen-name of ‘Jane Frazer’ for Mills and Boon. She developed this further and produced thirteen books in her own name which include the acclaimed “The Shell Seekers” & “Coming Home” Although she now lives in Scotland, she has never forgotten her Cornish roots and weaves this into her novels. Her books are mainly based around the West Coast of Cornwall, with Porthkerris having more than a passing resemblance to St. Ives, together with a number of locations in South Devon. |
| Fowey | |
| Kenneth Grahames | Falmouth and Fowey are reputedly the inspiration for 'The Wind in the Willows' Fowey Hall (Hotel) the basis for Toad Hall, Fowey and Fal rivers the basis for the story and the Green Bank Hotel in Falmouth is where he is supposed to have written it. |
| E V Thompson AKA James Monro | lives in St Austell - Famous for the Retallack Series, Singing Spears, Chase the Winds. |
| Daphne du Maurier | "Jamaica Inn2 "Frenchman's Creek" and "Rebecca" were all inspired by her love of Cornwall where she lived and wrote |
| Kenneth Graham | Thought to have based 'The Wind in the Willows' on this area. Fowey Hall (Hotel) is supposedly the basis for Toad Hall. |
| Dartmouth | |
| Agatha Christie | Greenway - Her holiday home on the banks of the River Dart. Gardens open for tours by environmentally friendly transport. House to open in the future. National Trust |
| Torquay | |
| Agatha Christie | Born in Torquay. Torquay was often used as a setting where there is a walking trail. |
| Jane Austen | Much of her inspiration came from visiting and holidaying in the South West. 'Sense and Sensibility was set around Upton Pyne near Exeter she lived in Bath for 6yrs parts of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were set in Bath, the life she lead here is perfectly reflected in the pages of both of them. Visit the Jane Austen Centre in Bath |
| Wiltshire & Salisbury | |
| Charles Dickens | "Martin Chuzzlewit" opens in Aldebury and moves to the White Hart & Cathedral in Salisbury The miserly ways of Jeremy Wood owner of Gloucester Old Bank inspired Dickens to create the character Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". |
| Henry Fielding | Spent school holidays with his grandmother in St Ann Street, Salisbury |
| Anthony Trollope | Standing on a bridge in Salisbury he got the inspiration for the Barchester Chronicles |
| Siegfried Sasson | Lived in Bowerchalke and later Heytesbury. Donated the outpatients clinic at the old Salisbury Infirmary in the memory of T E Lawrence |
| Dorothy L Sayers |
Attended Godolphin School |
| William Golding Nobel Literary Prize 1983 | Lived for a time at Great Wishford and is buried at Bowerchalk Taught a the Boys Grammar school in Cathedral Close Salisbury |
| Joanna Trollope | Lives Salisbury |
| Edith Oliver | During WW1 she lived for a short time in Salisbury Close |
