Hallsands Beach

Hallsands is a pretty stretch of shingle beach which sits on the southerly end of a long string of such beaches reaching all the way to Strete some 6 or so miles away. On low tides it is possible to walk around to neighbouring Beesands and beyond. If you do head around the rocks at the northern end of the beach, make sure you don’t get cut off by the incoming tide.

There was once a little fishing village perched above the beach which was home to over 100 people, a number of shops and a pub. However, one winter’s night in 1917 an easterly gale coincided with an exceptionally high tide. The result was the near annihilation of the village; two days later only one house in the village was left inhabitable.

The destruction was the direct result of the Royal Navy dredging the shingle which had protected the villages but it took the villagers seven years of fighting to win any compensation.

Now, yet again the shingle has been washed away, this time by storms, leaving the village exposed to the elements once more.