Published in 1724, Daniel Defoe’s account of his visit to the SW peninsular reported that the Port of Bideford’s trade was, by then, mostly in fish, but that rock salt, for preserving the local Herring catch, was also being shipped into the town from Liverpool. Defoe noted “There is indeed, a very fine stone bridge over the river here, but the passage is so narrow, and they are so chary of it, that few carriages go over it; but as the water ebbs quite out of the river every low water, the carts and wagons go over the sand with great ease and safety.”