Lynton and Lynmouth owe a great deal to one very generous benefactor - Sir George Newnes, the publisher who loved the place and lived at a great mansion called Hollerday House.  The place unfortunately burned to the ground in 1913 in mysterious circumstances. The house was built on Hollerday Hill above Lynton.  The hill is now mainly wooded and there is a nice walk up from behind the Town Hall.  The site of the house can be seen along with the remains of an Iron Age settlement on the hill top.  There are some great views east to Foreland Point and west along the Valley of Rocks.
  
   The steep gradient between the two villages had always been a deterrent to visitors and hard work for the locals.  In 1887 Newnes and Thomas Hewitt (later Sir Thomas Hewitt K.C.) began a project, using the recently patented invention by local engineer Bob Jones, to lay a 900 foot  twin track up the 1 in 1.75 gradient.  The railway was opened in 1890 and apart from new track in 1908 operates now as it always has.  The total cost of the project was £8,000 and there has never been an accident.  
In the early days of motoring when the road hill was too steep for cars between the two villages the railway transported cars up the gradient for between 7s. 6d. and 10s. 6d. depending on the size of the car!
 
   A few years later in 1895 Newnes got involved in a project to build a light railway linking Lynton to Barnstaple.  Newnes became chairman of the development company.  The project was plagued with difficulties, not least a cost-overrun of 100% !  However they persevered and the first train ran on 11 May 1898.  They ran four locomotives and sixteen coaches initially and the average speed was about 12 mph.  The route was extremely beautiful and included crossing Chelfham Viaduct - the largest narrow gauge railway viaduct ever built in Britain.  Just a couple of miles to the west of the National Park, this structure was refurbished during 2000 at a total cost in the region of one million pounds.  It is now in running order (but there is no public access to the top). The line struggled financially and it was not until 1913 that the company managed to pay a 0.5% dividend!  
In 1923 The Southern Railway bought the line and lost £60,000 in the next twelve years.  The railway was finally closed on 29 September 1935.  A major project is under way to fully restore the line - see the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway web site

Foreland Point from Hollerday Hill above Lynton