Budleigh Past and Present

Not too many Budleigh Salterton people realise how appropriate the use of the Temple Methodist Church is for next month’s Literary Festival. A former noted Budleigh resident, who revolutionised the world of bookselling with the radical changes that he introduced some 200 years ago, would be delighted that the Fore Street church (pictured left) will be hosting seven of the twenty events being staged over the weekend of 18-20 September 2009. The Temple Methodist Church stands on the site of an earlier chapel built by the 18th century bookseller James Lackington, who settled in Budleigh, ending his days here in 1815. Sadly the chapel was demolished in 1905 to make way for the larger building. James Lackington was born in 1746 in Somerset, the son of a shoemaker. At ten a travelling pieman, and at 14 an apprentice shoemaker, he then found work in Bristol, where he started to read and buy books. After his first marriage, to Nancy Smith, he left for London, with half a crown (12.5p) in his ...