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Westward Ho!

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Westward Ho!


Westward Ho! shown within Devon
OS grid reference	SS426291
District	Torridge
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BIDEFORD
Postcode district	EX39
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Torridge and West Devon
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Devon

Coordinates: 51°02′23″N 4°14′47″W / 51.03964, -4.24648

This article is about the British town. For the novel, see Westward Ho! (novel). For other uses, see Westward Ho.

Westward Ho! is a seaside town near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides easy access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows, and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Saunton Sands and Braunton Burrows.

1 Name
2 Development
3 Geography
4 Transport
5 Notable residents
6 External links

Name

Road sign marking the entrance to the town

The town's name comes from the title of Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho!. The exclamation mark is therefore an intentional part of the town's name. It is the only such place name in the British Isles, although Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec shares the distinction of having an exclamation mark in its name.

Development

Shell middens and a submerged forest that date to the Mesolithic period have recently been excavated on the shoreline at Westward Ho!. The town has recently become more residential as holiday camps closed and houses, flats and apartments were erected. One well-known former camp was Torville Camp. The two major holiday camps still running are Surfbay Holiday Park and Braddicks Holiday Centre.

Geography

Westward Ho! beach, looking north towards the Taw and Torridge estuaries

Westward Ho! is known for its surfing seas and the long expanse of clean sand backed by a pebble ridge which extends for about three miles. It is also known for the Royal North Devon Golf Club, the oldest golf course in England and Wales. Other attractions of the town include the arcades, go-kart track and the grasslands behind the pebble ridge. It has two churches, Westward Ho! Baptist Church & The Holy Trinity Church.

Westward Ho! Beach

The seaward part of the village lies within the North Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Transport

A railway served Westward Ho! from 1901 to 1917. The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway was a standard gauge railway which ran between these towns, but had no connection with the rest of the railway system, however there was (and still is during the summer months) a ferry link from Appledore to Instow which was connected to the rest of the rail network of Britain. The trackbed is used as part of the South West Coast Path.

Notable residents

The view inland

Rudyard Kipling spent several of his childhood years at Westward Ho!, where he attended the United Services College (later absorbed by Haileybury College, which is now in Hertfordshire).