The Hope Cove history blog

Thursday, 30th March, 2023

Now you see it – now you don’t!

Now you see it – Now you don’t

I have written before about how most people these days have still and video cameras on their phones and how we have all unwittingly become recorders of history. We spend time worrying about new additions to the village but little – it would seem - to what we have lost. Below is listed a few of the things that I remember.

In 1934 a new road was built between Inner and Outer Hope, to replace the old road which hugged the cliff top but which was rapidly falling onto the beach below. For a short while, until the early 50s, part of the old road served as a footpath but it was closed when a new path was cut some 20 yards inland. Viewed from the beach there are still traces of the road surface that can be seen in section.

At Inner Hope at the top end of the sea wall a retaining wall can be seen. The picture shows a bed of stones which is the surface of the old road. Behind the retaining wall is an area dense vegetation flanked by trees. This is hiding what once was a field from where the coastguard carried out their rocket practice. The field was also the site of the Inner Hope November 5^th bonfire. Outer Hope had a separate one at Mash Field.

Screen capture from cine film by Dudley Holiday

The coastguards once had a look-out on the top of The Shippens but apparently it fell over the cliff one night in a storm taking an officer with it. A replacement was built near Greystone rock up the valley from the square at Inner Hope. A third, more substantial lookout was built near the tip of Bolt Tail around 1955 but this too was removed when there was a reassessment of needs sometime around early sixties.

The stream once passed through Mash field and then past Bridge Cottage, through the centre of the green in front of the coastguard houses and on its way to Boat beach. Now the stream is hidden by being diverted along the edge of Mash field and out on to Mouthwell beach. A result of this is the ancient Bridge Cottage is no longer by a bridge and in fact has been replaced by what appears to be a faux thatch cottage twice its size.

The 1777 Courtenay map shows the piece of land alongside the track going down to the Mouthwell beach once was large enough to have a building on it. Whether it was a barn or house is not known.

DHC 1508M/0/E/Surveys/V/3.Reproduced with permission of Devon Archives and Local Studies Service

A wall can be seen in the photo below dated 1865 which appears to be the remains of the building. The picture also shows the paddock which has long since vanished on to the beach below.

Near Mash Corner there is a public phone box. At one time it was one of the traditional red type but now it is one of those plastic gift box efforts. Beside it was an old sea mine adapted to collect donations to a marine charity. That too has been spirited away.

The old lifeboat House in Inner hope has what one assumes is a mounting block leading up to a window. Before 1996 this window displayed a fine mercury barometer which was a gift from the RNLI to the crew as a gesture of appreciation for their services.  When the building became used less and less the barometer was donated to the Salcombe Lifeboat and can be seen in their station. A smaller and less impressive replacement can be seen near the phone box. Photo kindly supplied by Andrew Arthur at Salcombe RNLI

The area near the public toilets in Outer Hope was once the home for a capstan which had been salvaged from the wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie. It must have featured in scores of holiday snaps. It was somewhat neglected but somehow it managed to keep the heavy cover which rested on top. Occasionally it was considered a challenge for the local children to clear the track it revolved around and with superhuman effort make it turn. Sadly, it was considered a good idea to give it to the Maritime Museum in Exeter presumably to provide space for the influx of 4x4s and inflatables. Even more sadly when that museum closed it was spirited away to Bristol - one hopes in a dockside location where it can be appreciated.

During the last war Hope Cove was defended by four pill boxes. Three were conventional structures but the fourth sited at the top of the slipway at Inner Hope was designed to look like a small chapel (to fool the enemy !) They were manned by units of the Home Guard who, unlike the popular image cast by the TV series, were trained by the Royal Marines based at Thurlestone. They would have been members of the 11^th Devon (South Hams) Battalion with their Headquarters based in Kingsbridge.  Along with one at Mouthwell and one near the public toilets the Inner Hope Pill Box was demolished 5 or 6 years after the war and no good picture seems to have survived. The image below is an enlargement from a small part of a postcard.

A winch used for pulling boats up the slipway stood near the present-day Harbour Master’s hut. As the fishermen disappeared there was no longer a need for it so one imagines it now has a new home elsewhere. Around 1955 a local person – or regular visitor - put on a show of his family cine films. The venue was the Lifeboat House which at that time was still very much in use as a fishermen’s store. The only memory I have of the film was the winch being lowered into place by a crane. This momentous event was a big deal back in those days and quite a crowd had gathered. The only person I remember in the film was Tony Bell from Galmpton who was just a lad at that time. The film show attracted a lot of people and the Lifeboat house was packed. If the film still exists it would be a valuable resource.

The 1838 Tithe Apportionments shows that South Huish had 65 acres set aside as orchards. It is not possible to differentiate as to whether these were for cider making or for desert apples but it certainly is a considerable area. Eliotts at Galmpton had a large orchard and had its own cider press which apparently once served a local pub - long since been converted to other use.

Aerial photos taken in 1946 show two bomb craters just east of Inner Hope. Almost certainly Inner Hope was not a strategic target so it was most likely a bomber unloading on its way back after attacking Plymouth. Years ago, Percy Jarvis, long term Hope Cove Harbour Master used to tell the children that the horn on his car was used to frighten the Germans away during the war. Maybe they were after him!

In the square at Outer Hope there is a popular restaurant/bar. The pictures below show the same building with over 100 years between them. The earliest known use was as a pub called “The Bird in the Hand”. In the early part of the last century it was run as a tea room. By the 1950’s it had become the Bay View School with a Miss Adams as Headmistress. After a few years it was “The Harbour Light” restaurant run by two ladies called Barbara and Bronwen. Several changes of ownership and a major fire saw it transform unrecognisably into the busy place we now see in the image below on the right.

The pretty and quaint square at Inner Hope has for the most part managed to retain its original character. Just up the lane leading from the square to the Bolt there is a small cluster of modern houses. This site once housed a group of very old thatched barns probably contemporary with the square. One was used as a cinema during the war and even when it was allowed to fall into disrepair huge colourful Disney characters could be seen on the walls. One suspects that in these more entrepreneurial days the barns would have been preserved and converted to resemble something closer to their heritage.

The Square at Outer Hope is pleasant enough and has great views out over Bigbury Bay. If things had remained as they were 120 years ago it too could also have been called quaint. Comparing the pictures below we can see a nucleus of eight thatched houses. One of these is known to have been built at the time of the armada and the others are probably the same age. Only two thatched roofs remain and only one building has retained its original shape. Three houses have merged into one.

Probably the most important memories of the twin villages are the fishermen and their boats. Hardworking and brave men who added colour and character to Hope Cove. Generations distinguished themselves not just through the inherent dangers of their work but by their wartime rescues of pilots shot down in the channel and their daring contributions saving shipwrecked sailors and passengers. There is not space to record all the names but from the 50's and 60's we can remember the Hurrells: Ron, Bill, and Uncle Pete. The Legassick brothers Fred and Bill; and the Jarvis family, Jack, John, Eric. There were several other fishing families too. Most of the boats were given names but they were more well known by their registration numbers. For example the Legassick's boat was SE20. The fleet is shown below.

The final missing item is something that was familiar but was never seen.

Thirteen miles away at the entrance to the Port of Plymouth was HMS Cambridge. This was a shore based establishment which was commissioned as the Royal Naval Gunnery School. Even that far away the sound of the guns could clearly be heard at Hope. My niece’s husband, Chief Petty Officer Danny Toms was Chief Gunnery Instructor there and he tells me the guns were fired Thursdays and Fridays between 09.00-16.00. They went silent for the last time in 2001 and the only reminder we now have of our naval neighbours is the occasional sight of warships quietly sailing across the bay.

So there we are. Look around you and assess what looks vulnerable. Take photos. In 100 years there will be have been many changes and someone will be pleased to have your piece of recorded history.

cth

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