Hallsands
‘Where has your beach gone?’ ‘It be way down Plymouth!’
a predictable disaster I
n the 1890’s, Hallsands was a thriving village with 159 people living in 37 owner-occupied houses. The village was perched on the 25ft wave cut fossil platform backed by a cliff, protected from the sea by a wide expanse of shingle beach, where their fishing boats were beached. Tucked in to the east of Start Point, Hallsands was well protected from the prevailing south westerly winds and storms. There was a grocer/baker, post office and the pub – the London Inn. The main occupation was inshore fishing, but dairy products came from local farms, with the butcher visiting from Torcross. Even during storms like ‘The Great Blizzard’ of 1891 the village suffered little damage, due to the protection of the shingle beach. All that changed in 1897, when Sir John Jackson was appointed to construct the new Devonport North Dock Yard. He decided to source the shingle needed to make the concrete from the Start Bay area, offshore between Hallsands and Beesands. Dredging commenced immediately, without prior consultation or warning. The first the villagers knew was when the
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dredger arrived offshore. They protested vehemently via the Devon Fisheries Committee and local MP Frank Mildmay, concerned at the loss of their fishing grounds and the protective beach. Sadly, Mr Cole, the shoreline landowner, had agreed to it, and the area below high water mark was controlled by the government. Eventually Sir John agreed to pay the village £125 a year for the loss of the fishing, with a further £200 at Christmas. Sir John reassured them the beach would replenish naturally in time. The villagers continued to press for the dredging to be stopped, so Sir John appointed a Captain Vereker to investigate - a report was made to the Board of Trade which has, suspiciously, since been lost. In all 60,000 tons of shingle was removed. On New Year’s Day 1902, the frustrated fishermen surrounded the dredger - eight days later the licence was withdrawn and dredging ceased. However, it was too late to prevent disaster. South Easterly storms in February 1903 and the winter of
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