The "Dolphin Inn" at Honiton was where we made our first practical
acquaintance with the delectable Devonshire clotted cream, renewed
afterwards on every possible occasion. The inn was formerly the private
mansion of the Courtenay family, and its sign was one of the family
crests, "a Dolphin embowed" or bent like a bow. This inn had been
associated with all the chief events of the town and neighbourhood
during the past three centuries, and occupied a prominent position near
the market cross on the main road. In January 1688 the inn had been
willed to Richard Minify, and after his death to his daughter Ann
Minify, and it was in that year that William, Prince of Orange, set sail
for England, and landed at Torbay in Devonshire. The advanced guard of
his army reached Honiton on October 19th, and the commander, Colonel
Tollemache, and his staff occupied the "Dolphin." William was very
coldly received by the county families in Devonshire, as they remained
strongly attached to the Jacobite cause, and to demonstrate their
adhesion to the House of Stuart they planted Scotch fir trees near their
mansions. On the other hand, many of the clergy sympathised with the
rebellion, and to show their loyalty to the cause they planted avenues
of lime trees from the churchyard gate to the church porch.
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