Q&A
Why is it called Westward Ho!?
SHORT ANSWER
A bestselling novel inspired the only place in Britain with punctuation in its name
LONG ANSWER
The small Devon coastal village got its name from the title of an 1855 novel by Charles Kingsley. Set in nearby Bideford, the bestseller led to a rise in visitors to the area and a tourism opportunity was spotted. It began with a hotel being renamed the Westward Ho! Hotel and ended with the development of a whole town named with the adventure seeking phrase in order to satisfy the Victorian love of being by the seaside. But Westward Ho! is not the only town with an exclamation mark. ere’s actually a place in Quebec with two: Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!