Cliff Field, Lympstone
| Cliff Field | |
|
National Trust | |
|---|---|
 Cliff Field | |
| Grid reference: | SX987842 |
| Location: | 50°38’56"N, 3°25’59"W |
| Information | |
Cliff Field is a field by the side of the Estuary of the River Exe at Lympstone, forming a little headland in the estuary and running inland, north of the village (though cut through by the Exeter-Exmouth railway line). It gives has a wide view over the estuary to the Haldon Hills and upriver to Exeter. The field can be approached by a footpath behind the Swan Inn.
The cliff on which the riverfront stands is no hight cliff, but a red sandstone bluff, known as Darling's Rock.
During the Civil War, the field became part of the battlefield: the Prideaux family of Lympstone were on the Parliamentarians' side, while across the Exe were the Royalist Courtenays, at Powderham Castle), and the field was an artillery battery: cannon were fired from the Cliff Field, trying to prevent supplies and reinforcements getting through to Royalist Exeter. Some cannon balls have been found locally.[1]
In 1645 the Parliamentarians set their sights on capturing Powderham Castle in order to stop provisions travelling up the river and reaching the Royalist army under siege in Exeter. On approaching the castle, they found it far better defended than they had been expecting and they camped overnight in the church, setting about fortifying it the next day. The Royalists in Exeter sent down 500 men to reinforce the 200 already in the castle, and it was the Roundheads who found themselves under siege, in the church, although the castle fell to them the following month.[2]
Cliff Field was donated to the National Trust in order to preserve it for the banefit of the village, and so it remains, as an open six-acre field for recreation.[3]