The
men of Teignmouth, who had no wish to be captured and employed as galley
slaves, seeing that they were in a hopeless position, retreated inland.
Lord Macaulay thus describes the position in his History:
The Beacon on the ridge above Teignmouth was kindled, Hey-Tor and
Cawsand made answer, and soon all the hill tops of the West were on
fire. Messengers were riding all night from deputy lieutenant to
deputy lieutenant; and early the next morning, without chief, without
summons, five hundred gentlemen and yeomen, armed and mounted, had
assembled on the summit of Haldon Hill, and in twenty-four hours all
Devonshire was up.
It was therefore no wonder that Trouville found his landing opposed by
thousands of fierce Devonshire men, who lined the shores and prevented
him from landing his troops; the expedition was a complete failure, and
he returned to France.
In those days, when railways and telegraphy were unknown, the whole
country could be aroused very quickly and effectively by those beacon
fires. The fuel was always kept ready for lighting on the Beacon hills,
which were chosen so that the fire on one hill could be seen from the
other.
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