Wembury

Wembury is a village on the south coast of Devon, very close to Plymouth Sound. Wembury is also the name of the peninsula in which the village is situated. The village lies in the administrative district of the South Hams within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The South West Coast Path goes past the coastal end of the town. The National Trust has taken an active role in maintaining the scenic and historic characteristics of the village and its surrounding area.

The beach is well known for its surfing and rock pooling. Wembury Marine Centre educates visitors about what they can find in the rockpools and how they can help protect and preserve them. The centre is managed by Devon Wildlife Trust and was refurbished in 2006.Basking Sharks can be seen in the summer near the Mewstone. There is also a school [1]

Wembury is a part of the South West Devon UK Parliament constituency.

History

Wembury was visited by Mesolithic man as evidenced by flint implements found on local sites. Some Roman coins are also found.

The name 'Wembury' may derive from a place name containing the name Woden^[1][2][3] and John Mitchell Kemble notes that it was called "Wódnesbeorh".^[4]

Saxons colonised South West Devon during the 7th Century, and founded agricultural settlements here. There was also a church to Saint Werburgh, a Saxon saint, in the area.

Wembury in the public eye

Wembury is mentioned in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Galsworthy visited Wembury as part of his research for the book, he was intensely interested in his own origins and descent through a long line of Devon farmers who farmed in Wembury for three hundred years from the 17th century to the late 19th century.

Wembury was used as a location in the filming of the Comic Strip's parody "Five Go Mad on Mescalin". In the film the Mewstone can be clearly seen.

Wembury parish

The parish of Wembury was divided into four manors: Wembury, Down Thomas, Langdon and Alfelmeston. According to Lyson's 'Devonshire', published in 1822, the manor of Wembury originally belonged to Plympton priory. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 it went into private ownership. Wembury House, the (rebuilt) mansion on the estate, remains in private ownership. Wembury House is an elegant Georgian mansion, originally an Elizabethan House stood on the site now occupied by the current house built in the 17th Century. It was rebuilt by Major Edmund Lockyer.

The Mewstone

A distinctive feature visible from Wembury Beach is the Mewstone.

This is a triangular island which is currently uninhabited. However, it has served as a prison and a private home, as well as a refuge for local smugglers. Its most infamous resident was Sam Wakeman who avoided transportation to Australia in favour of the cheaper option of transportation to the Mewstone, where he was interned for 7 years. After his internment on the island he remained there paying his rent by supplying rabbits for the Manor House table. It is said Sam Wakeman is responsible for carving the rough stone steps to the summit of the Mewstone.

The Mewstone and Little Mewstone is now a bird sanctuary and access is not permitted to visitors.

References

1. ^ 'Report and transactions, Volume 10'.Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science 1878. Original from the University of California. Pages 285, 299
2. ^ Taylor, Isaac. 'Words and Places: or, Etymological Illustrations of History, Ethnology, and Geography'. Macmillan, 1865, Harvard University. ISBN 1421270153 Length: 561 pages. Pages 322 and 323
3. ^ Allen, Grant.'Early Britain' BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2007. ISBN 1434605604, 9781434605603. Length: 172 pages. Page 63
4. ^ Kemble, John Mitchell. de Gray Birch, John (editor). 'The Saxons in England V1: A History of the English Commonwealth Till the Period of the Norman Conquest'. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1849. ISBN 9781432637408. Length: 562 pages. Page 336, 343, 344

External links

• Wembury Parish Council- the local authority
• Wembury Marine Centre