MEMBERS of Okehampton Town Council gave the thumbs-up last week to the town playing a key role in celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.
As part of next year?s Trafalgar Festival, a re-creation of the journey of Lt John Richard Lapenotiere by post chaise from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London will take place in August. The messenger stopped at 22 towns along the way, including Okehampton, and the route is now being commemorated in a project called the New Trafalgar Dispatch.
Lapenotiere was born in Ilfracombe, a third generation descendant of French Hugenot refugees. He was ordered by Admiral Collingwood, who had assumed command of the British fleet on the death of Admiral Nelson to sail from Trafalgar with all possible speed to carry the news of the victory over the combined Spanish and French fleets to London.
Lapenotiere landed at Falmouth on Monday morning November 4, 1805. He proceeded by post chaise through Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey to London arriving around 38 hours later at 1am on Wednesday, November 6.
Adverse weather conditions had originally delayed Lapenotiere?s mission and it was thus more than a fortnight after the battle that news of the victory, and of Nelson?s death, finally reached England.
After heading through Cornwall and into Devon Lapenotiere stopped for a short while at the White Hart Hotel in Okehampton to rest and swap horses. The cost of his stay in Okehampton was the then considerable sum of £3.40.
Major Nigel Percival, local link person for the project, made a presentation to the town council outlining the idea behind the re-creation activities.
As part of the celebrations, commemorative plaques will be placed in significant places along the route, including Okehampton. The Department of Transport has also approved the renaming of the 271-mile route taken as ?The Trafalgar Way? to serve as a permanent record of the journey.
Mr Percival said a bid had been made for Heritage Lottery funding for the purchase of bronze plaques, including explanatory notes, and this would hopefully keep the cost incurred by the town council in staging the anniversary celebrations down to a minimum.
He said naval records showed there were a number of young men from Okehampton who had served at Trafalgar.
Okehampton mayor Tony Leech said the Trafalgar Dispatch was an ?important event? which was worth commemorating, and could provide a boost for tourism.
The replica post chaise with a cast of actors playing Lapenotiere and others will visit towns on the route next summer. The actors and replica vehicle are due to visit Okehampton on August 16, at around the same time in mid-morning as Lapenotiere would have hurried into town.
The day before, the re-creation team will cross the Devon-Cornwall border for the first time and will be officially greeted at Lifton by the Lord Lieutenant for Devon.