The geography of Hallsands.

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Day 2

For day 2 we had to walk along Start Bay from Start Point to Slapton via the villages of South Hallsands, North Hallsands, Beesands and Torcross.

In the village of Hallsands the night of 26 January 1917 serves as a reminder of the folly on interfering with the sea.

It supported 128 inhabitants before that fateful day, and was protected by a large pebble ridge.

Darkness came early that afternoon as the pending storm blew down the Channel, a rare, strong, and easterly winds.  

Well protected from the prevailing south-westerlies, the village became vulnerable as the winds swung around to the north-east and strengthened.
The tide was exceptionally high that night and couple with the fierce onshore winds the sea came pounding up the beach.

It surged over the pebble ridge crashing across a wall into the houses beyond. Smashing through winds and bursting open doors, it flooded the ground floors of the houses, enveloping them in cold swirling water.

Hallsands today

The site of the old village at South Hallsands is closed, although  has built a viewing platform, which is accessed from Trout's Apartments (formerly Trout's Hotel) in South Hallsands. The beach at North Hallsands, known locally at the time as "Greenstraight", is the only one remaining at Hallsands as the beach beside the village no longer exists having been removed in  by the storm. There are two houses that remain intact, although every summer the owners spend many months repairing the damage the Easterly winds have caused over the winter. Now Hallsands is protected by a wall which is curved to turn the wave back on its self by turning the energy back out to sea. Also it has rip-rap to block the waves too, and stops erosion, but is expensive.

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Beesands

Beesands today

Beesands is located seven and half miles south west of Dartmouth on the A379. Today this small village is only a single row of cottages behind a one mile long shingle beach but it has a village green a pub and a shop. Tourism is the main industry but once Beesands was a busy fishing village. Records show that boats laden with fish and shellfish were drawn up the beach almost to the cottages. At the end of the century there were dozens of boats operating off Beesands beach and six ...

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