Appledore, Torridge

Appledore is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 (though it mentions two other, smaller, Appledores in Devon). Its earliest recorded name, in 1335, is le Apildore in the manor of Northam. There was a Saxon settlement, but the Devon historian WG Hoskins says of the local legend that it was the site of a Viking raid in 878 AD, 'there is no authority for this identification'. The settlement prospered as a port in the Elizabethan period, and some cottages date from this period. The construction of a quay in 1845 further developed the port, and as a result Appledore has a rich maritime heritage from the second half of the 19th century. The painter Edward Calvert was born there in 1799.…

In his novel Westward Ho!, Charles Kingsley describes Appledore as a "little white fishing village". Nikolai Tolstoy, Patrick O'Brian's stepson, considers that the fictional town of Shelmerston in O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series may have been based on Appledore. O'Brian's wife Mary Wicksteed grew up in Appledore. In 2008, the Jackson family (including Tito Jackson) stayed for six weeks in Appledore while searching for a house to buy in the area. The project was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary The Jacksons are Coming, which was aired on 27 November 2008.