Literary works associated with the Wharves

Charles Kingsley put Bideford on the map with his descriptions of 'The Little White Town' in the opening passages of his Victorian adventure blockbuster Westward Ho!, which is reputed to have been written, at least in part, in The Royal Hotel, East the Water. The Royal, then a private home, housed the notable library of Richard Heard.

Heard's library was also consulted by eminent, but controversial, historian Anthony Froude (who married Kingsley’s sister-in-law), who published a multi-volume History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, in 1893.

In his book Tarka the Otter Henry Williamson describes the old bridge from Tarka's perspective. The Tarka Trail, which occupies the old railway line and is now a cycling/walking trail, runs through East the Water and immortalises the book and Tarka. A bronze otter statue was installed on Bideford Quay in 2017 (northdevongazette.co.uk).

In the nineteenth century, Edward Capern (the postman poet) became a bestseller with his poems and songs about local Devon life. Recently Liz Shakespeare, who writes historical fiction set around Bideford (lizshakespeare.co.uk), has written about Edward Capern and republished a selection of his poems.

Peter Christie has published numerous collections of old photographs of Bideford and also written several books about Bideford and North Devon history.

In 2012 Rowen Mackenzie sbmitted an MA thesis, entitled The Overseas Trade of North Devon in the Late Seventeenth Century to the University of Bristol. Her work involved analysis of trade from Bideford and Barnstaple.

Bideford Library (devonlibraries.org.uk) has a reference area for local books and information.