SIDMOUTH

town and coastal resort, East Devon district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, 15 miles (24 km) east-southeast of Exeter by road. Lying in a hollow formed by the River Sid, the town is shut in by hills that terminate in the forelands of Salcombe Hill and Peak Hill, two sheer sandstone cliffs of deep red colour. The beach, on Lyme Bay of the English Channel, is pebbly, with sand at low tide. Traces of a Bronze Age camp have been found in the area. Tradition tells of an old town buried under the sea, and Roman coins and other remains have been washed up on the beach. In the 13th century Sidmouth was a borough governed by a port reeve. Many of the fine Georgian houses and terraces now standing were built during the Regency period (181120), when the town became a fashionable resort. Queen Victoria lived at Woolbrook Cottage (now Royal Glen Hotel) as a baby, and her father, the duke of Kent, died there in 1820. An esplanade is built along the sea wall, and the town possesses golf links and other recreation grounds. Norman Lockyer Observatory, belonging to the University of Exeter, is on Salcombe Hill. Pop. (1991) 10,767.