Surname Index

to

A new guide to Sidmouth and the neighbourhood:

Comprising notices of the towns, places and objects of interest within the distance of twenty miles

by

Peter Orlando Hutchinson

Sidmouth: Thomas Perry, Printer & Publisher (1857), illus, maps, views, diagrams, pp.iii-viii, 1-152.

Index prepared by Michael Steer

This interesting book was a relatively early product of the Westcountry's rapidly developing 'seaside industry' and produced for visitors, and classed as a 'vade mecum'. It is as well an engaging source of tales about buried treasure, bizarre coffins and unusual skeletons. Its author, Peter Orlando Hutchinson was born in Winchester in 1810 and spent all his adult life in Sidmouth where he pursued a diverse range of interests. His geological and archaeological researches have since proven of great value, but it is as an artist and ceaseless recorder of everything he heard and saw that he will be remembered, making his diaries an invaluable source of historical Devon literature. These are now held at the Devon Record Office together with illustrations from six volumes of sketchbooks. 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.