NINTH WEEK'S JOURNEY
_Monday, November 13th._
From time immemorial Torbay had been a favourite landing-place both for
friends and foes, and it was supposed that the Roman Emperors Vespasian,
Titus, and Adrian, when on their way to the camp on Milber Downs, had
each landed near the place where Brixham now stands. Brixham was the
best landing-place in the Bay, and the nearest to the open sea. It was a
fishing-place of some importance when Torquay, its neighbour, was little
known, except perhaps as a rendezvous of smugglers and pirates. Leland,
in his famous _Itinerary_ written in the sixteenth century, after
describing the Bay of Torre as being about four miles across the
entrance and "ten miles or more in compace," says: "The Fishermen hath
divers tymes taken up with theyr nettes yn Torre-bay mussons of harts,
whereby men judge that in tymes paste it hath been forest grounds."
Clearly much of England has been washed away or has sunk beneath the
ocean. Is not this part of the "Lyonesse" of the poets--the country of
romance--the land of the fairies?
[Illustration: BRIXHAM HARBOUR]
In 1588, when the Spanish Armada appeared outside the Bay, there was
great excitement in the neighbourhood of Torbay, which grew into frenzy
when the first capture was towed in.
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