The Byes is an area of parkland, originally stretching from the Old Toll House up to Sid Lane where there was once a mill.

The land was previously known as 'Bye-side', and is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

In the late 1800s, the name appears to have changed to 'Biside', and then shortened again to just The Byes.

1800s map showing 'Biside'

The Old Toll House (before the cinema)

Lovers Walk

The former bridge at the bottom of Sid Park Road before it was washed away in the storms of the late 1960s and moved

A Victorian cider-making scene

The weir below Salters Meadow

The Lawn (near the Old Toll House)

The gate at the bottom of Water Lane (previously known as Gas House Lane and the site of the old gas works before it moved to the Ham and then again in the 1930s to Alexandria Road)

Fishing near the Old Toll House

The Byes today (cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/3884884)

More by Graham Symington:

The history of the now-demolished Blackmore Hall

The history of Sidmouth's Connaught Gardens

A dancing bear, girls of bad character and smuggling: The history of Sidmouth's The Old Ship Inn

Sidmouth, Jane Austen and ITV's Sanditon