Stop 15
Hallsands Old Village
SX 818 385
At the base of the cliffs are the ruined remains of Hallsands village. Only the two houses nearest to the viewing platform are still intact. These are privately owned.
In the 1890s, thousands of tons of shingle was dredged from the bay, to be used in the extension of the docks at Devonport, Plymouth. It was thought at the time that the shingle would be naturally replaced by the sea.
Unfortunately this did not happen.
Instead, removal of the shingle allowed storms to wash away the beach, the level of which fell by 13 feet, and the sea-wall was undermined.
The little fishing village of Hallsands survived with some patching up, until the end came on 26th January 1917, when a storm breached the defences and effectively destroyed most of the houses.
A protracted (7 year!) wrangle ensued between the villagers and the government. Eventually new cottages were built for some of the homeless people in North Hallsands.
Other homeless families received compensation, along with gift donations by various sources, and some people built new houses, including the Trouts.
Even today it is unclear whether the dredging was directly to blame, or whether the conditions at Hallsands made the destruction inevitable, and that it was simply accelerated by the removal of the shingle.
Film of Elizabeth Prettejohn, who continued living in “Seaview” in Hallsands right up until her death, aged 80, in 1964, was captured by British Pathé in 1960.
When you have finished reading the information board at the viewing platform, walk back to Trout’s Hotel and rejoin the coast path. Ahead you have a steady uphill walk of about three-quarters of a mile ahead to reach the Start Point car park, so a stop is probably called for after about half a mile.