Ilfracombe (ˈɪlfrəkuːm ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs.
The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along the Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west. The resort is hilly and the highest point within the parish boundary is 'Hore Down Gate', inland and 860 feet (270 m) above sea level.
The landmark of Hillsborough Hill dominates the harbour and the site of an Iron Age fortified settlement. In the built environment, the architectural-award-winning Landmark Theatre has a distinctive double-conical design. The 13th century parish church, Holy Trinity, and the St Nicholas's Chapel (a lighthouse) on Lantern Hill, have been joined by Damien Hirst's statue of Verity as points of interest.
History of Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe has been settled since the Iron Age, when the Dumnonii (the Roman name for the inhabitants of the South-West) established a hill fort on the dominant hill, Hillsborough (formerly Hele's Barrow). The origin of the town's name has two possible sources. The first is that it is a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon Alfreinscoma - by which name it was noted in the Liber Exoniensis of 1086. The translation of this name (from Walter William Skeat of the department of Anglo Saxon at Cambridge University) means the "Valley of the sons of Alfred". The second origin is that the name Ilfracombe was derived from Norse illf (bad), Anglo-Saxon yfel (evil ford) and Anglo-Saxon cumb (valley) perhaps from a Celtic source (compare Welsh cwm), thus 'The valley with the bad ford'.
The manor house at Chambercombe in east Ilfracombe was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as being built by a Norman knight Champernon (from Chambernon in France) who landed with William of Normandy. It is also said to be haunted.
Ilfracombe comprised two distinct communities; a farming community around the parish church called Holy Trinity, parts of which date from the 12th century, and a fishing community around the natural harbour formed between Capstone, Compass and Lantern Torrs.
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