At
the bridge the shingle bank baulks the stream from a clear course into
the sea and usually forces it into an ignominious and green scummed
pool that slowly filters through the stony wall. From the bridge a
path ascends to the Flagstaff, where there is perhaps a better view
than that from the much higher Peak Hill on the west. Torbay, Start
Point, and the south Devon coast are in full but distant view across
the bay, but Teignmouth and Dawlish hide behind the promontory called
Black Head.
The direct Honiton road goes up the valley of the Sid through pleasant
Sidford, which has a fine old farmhouse called Manstone and a number
of picturesque cottages, and through Sidbury, beneath the encampment
called Sidbury Castle. The Early Norman church at Sidbury is
interesting. Alterations at various dates have given the building
thirteenth-century transepts and a roof and aisles dating from two
hundred years later. The fine Norman tower was entirely rebuilt about
forty years ago when the two figures of SS. Peter and Giles were found
and placed on the new west face.
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