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Clovelly Donkeys

Clovelly is a beautiful little Heritage Village built on

a valley side in North Devon, South West England.

It is famous for three things: Its steep cobbled street

....Its fishing harbour....... And its long association

with Donkeys.

It is also famous among corkscrew collectors for a

few souvenir corkscrews that were sold in Clovelly.

The village is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and

so is more than 900 years old. There is an iron age

settlement above the village at Clovelly Dykes.

In the mid 1880s the village was rescued from decay

and restored by the lady of the village, Mrs.

Chrisitine Hamlyn. She saved many cottages, had the stream culverted, the street

completely cobbled, and had mains water and electricity installed to every

cottage. Her imagination can be seen in the charming finishing touches and the

seats and wooden summer houses she built around the area.

The street is extremely steep and in places so narrow that even today it is not

possible to get motor vehicles into the village. In days gone by any goods that

needed to be carried up the street were carried on the donkeys. The donkeys

never carry goods down the street as the sledges are used for that. The donkeys

carried the post, ash from peoples

‘

fires, fish up the back road, and many other

things.

Tourism has been an important source of income for the villagers even before

Mrs. Hamlyn

‘

s time. It is the reason the donkeys are still there today. When

donkeys fell out of use for other jobs and the fishing industry had declined the

New Inn, in the centre of the village, still had all its goods carried up by donkeys.

Until the 1990s the donkeys were still carrying up visitors

‘

luggage, the empty

bottles and beer barrels, laundry, cardboard, and rubbish bags. For this they use

our special pack saddles.

For a while donkeys carried tourists up from the harbour to the fountain but this

was stopped in the 1960s as adults (who are too heavy) were being allowed to

ride the donkeys. After the New Inn had changed hands several times the

donkeys were left with just the luggage to carry, which they still do occasionally.

Today, in summer, the donkeys give children rides around their meadow and