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An Essay Towards a History of Bideford in the County of Devon

By

John Watkins

Exeter: Printed by E. Grigg (1792) xii + 276p.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The author, John Watkins was a Devon clergyman and writer. His concept of "History" does not limit itself to what we would currently consider history, but provides detailed descriptions of Bideford at the time of writing, for example, listing the different kinds of fish caught in the River Torridge and the prices at which they were sold. Even contemporary reviewers thought the book eccentric, since it had been padded with much that was originally an aside in a more general guide for historians of Devon: A description of Bideford, the state of its markets, births, marriages, and burials, the names of its rectors, the history of parish quarrels, of the bickering of various parsons with the established priests are the meat of this unusually entertaining publication. This rare and much sought-after book was produced digitally from a copy in the Bodleian Library collection and can be downloaded from Google Books. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.