In the novel The A.B.C. Murders, Combeside is the residence of Sir Carmichael Clarke located in Churston Ferrers, Devon.
The text describes the place as being located on two acres of land commanding an uninterrupted view of the sea. It was a house of modern design, "a white rectangle that was not unpleasing to the eye". It had two large galleries for housing his extensive collection of Chinese paintings and porcelain but was otherwise not a large house.
Although the exact location of the house is not given, its approximate position may be deduced from hints in the text. Besides having an uninterrupted view of the sea, it was near enough to Elbury Cove, making this beach the favourite destination for Sir Carmichael's evening walks. To get to the cove, Hastings says they passed through a garden gate on to the golf links (Churston Golf Links). They crossed a corner of them and then proceeded down a steep winding lane. At the foot of the lane, a path led "between brambles and bracken down to the sea".
Sir Carmichael's walk usually took him to a grassy ridge overlooking the sea. He would then turn around and go back up the path, and then turn right instead of left, go past "the farm" (possibly the real life Elberry Farm) and then across the fields to the house.
Part of an Ordnance survey map of the Churston Ferrers area revised in 1938 around the time the novel was written. To the left is Churston Station where Poirot and Hastings arrived. At the centre of the map, note Churston Court and "Christ Church" (St Mary the Virgin (Churston Ferrers) (which are not mentioned in the novel). The lane and winding path to Elberry Cove lead off north of them, cutting the corner of Churston Golf Links. Returning, Carmichael Clarke turned right instead of left and went past "the farm". Elberry Farm can be seen to the west of Elberry Cove. He then cut through fields to Combeside. This suggests that Combeside (a fictional house) was located in the fields between Elberry Farm and Churston Court perhaps where that neat row of houses are.
As discussed in the caption to the map above, Combeside is likely to be in the fields between Elberry Farm and Churston Court. This area of fields is today largely built up with low rise housing and bisected by Brunel Road. As can be seen from Google Street View, some of the houses along Brunel Road do indeed have an "uninterrupted view of the sea".
External links[]
- This link leads to a downloadable pdf file entitled "The ABC Murders Walk" provided by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company. It details the supposed route Poirot and Hastings took down to Elberry Cove - URL of downloadable pdf