Ilfracombe

Ilfracombe, a market-town and port in North Devon, 11 miles N.W. of Barnstaple, and at the mouth of the Bristol Channel. Some export trade is done in ore, corn, and other products, and fishing provides a livelihood for many of the inhabitants. Of late years, however, Ilfracombe has been better known as a fashionable watering-place. The parish church dates from the 12th century. The natural harbour has been improved by a pier and a lighthouse, and there is daily steam communication in the summer with Bristol and other ports, access by land being afforded by the London and Southwestern and Great Western Railways.