Coordinates: 51°12′29″N 4°07′12″W / 51.208°N 4.120°W / 51.208; -4.120
Ilfracombe /ˈɪlfrəkuːm/ is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs.
The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along the Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west. The resort is hilly and the highest point within the parish boundary is at 'Hore Down Gate', 2 miles inland and 860 feet (270 m) above sea level.
The landmark of Hillsborough Hill dominates the harbour and is the site of an Iron Age fortified settlement. In the built environment, the architectural-award-winning Landmark Theatre is either loved or hated for its unusual double-conical design. The 13th century parish church, Trinity, and the St Nicholas's Chapel (a lighthouse) on Lantern Hill, have been joined by the Damien Hirst owned statue, Verity, as points of interest.
Ilfracombe has been settled since the Iron Age, when the Dumnonii (the Roman name for the inhabitants of the South-West) established a hill fort on the dominant hill, Hillsborough (formerly Hele's Barrow). The origin of the town's name has two possible sources. The first is that it is a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon Alfreinscoma - by which name it was noted in the Liber Exoniensis of 1086. The translation of this name (from Walter William Skeat of the department of Anglo Saxon at Cambridge University) means the "Valley of the sons of Alfred". The second origin is that the name Ilfracombe was derived from Norse illf (bad), Anglo-Saxon yfel (evil ford) and Anglo-Saxon cumb (valley) perhaps from a Celtic source (compare Welsh cwm), thus 'The valley with the bad ford'.
There are several places with the name Ilfracombe:
This summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
To ride us up to Ilfracombe
And over to Ravenscliff
And it won't be the fancy kind
Ride good for the easy wind
Be with me in the corners, careful to hold on tight
And we would never highway ride
We'd take the quiet roads beside
And park along a corn field
When it suits us right
Suits us right
This summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
To ride us up to Ilfracombe
And over to Ravenscliff
And this summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
To ride us up to Ilfracombe
And over to Ravenscliff
And my brother would be terrified
He's had some friends that nearly died
I said that I'd be careful and try not to ride at night
"Whoa"
He said, "that's what they always say
Then a transport truck gets in your way
I want you holding flowers there at my wedding day
Wedding day"
This summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
To ride us up to Ilfracombe
And over to Ravenscliff
And this summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
To ride us up to Ilfracombe
And over to Ravenscliff
And when the fascists lock the city down
And the riot police gather all around
Will we laugh, will we laugh, will we laugh
That once we romanticized
And we practically fucking fantasized
About the downfall of a city
About the downfall of a country
About the downfall of a lifetime
Whoa whoa oh oh oh
Aaaah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah
This summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
Something with some saddlebags
That we can pack a picnic in
This summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike
Something cheap on gasoline