53 Bantham Village
thought to have stood here for much longer. It was formed by wave ero- sion after the crashing surf exploited a weakness in the cliffs to create a sea cave. Over time the pressure that built up in the cave as the waves washed around it caused the roof to fall in, and Thurlestone Rock was formed. It was originally known as the ‘thirled stone’, from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘hole’. The arch is a breccio-conglomerate of the New Red Sandstone series laid down in the Permian period some 250-300 million years ago.
3. Turn left on the road, past the tennis courts, up the hill to the war memorial on your left. Be careful for the first 300 metres where there is not a separate footpath, and the road can be busy at times.
4. Turn left immediately beyond the memorial, in front of the church, and then take the track on the right. Walk past the churchyard and over a stile into the field. The path runs next to the golf course on the left, through a pedestrian gate and veers slightly left through the next opening across the field before descending very steeply to join the track at the bottom
5. Follow this track along the right- hand hedge to cross the stream. Bear left for 100 metres to reach a narrow lane running gently uphill. Go onto the lane in the corner and follow it gently uphill, to come out
Details of this and similar walks can be found on the South West Coast Path website. See also the following information services. Local maps & publications: A-Z 1:25,000 map book: South Devon • Walks along the SW Coast Path - Dartmouth to Plymouth
www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk
in Bantham, by the fourteenth-cen- tury Sloop Inn.
The village was once the haunt of notorious smuggler Nat Cleverly, who plied his trade between here and Roscoff. The houses in the village were called ‘smuggler’s eyes’, and most of the community was involved in the ‘free trade’. When Cleverly was caught by the Revenue men, the magistrate to try his case was one of his best customers and was pleased to return a ‘not guilty’ verdict!
6. Turn left on the road to walk down towards the beach car park. Walking past the path to the ferry landing, fork right beyond it to walk through the dunes around the tip of Bantham Ham and back along the beach to the car park.
People have lived on the headland at Bantham Ham since prehistoric times. Artefacts found here include a polished stone axe from the Neolith- ic (Late Stone Age) period, arrow- heads from the Bronze Age, and Iron Age pottery. Archaeologists have
found pottery and bone fragments showing that it was an important settlement in Roman times. Spindle whorls and bone combs
have also been found here, dating from between the fourth and sev- enth centuries AD. Sometime during this period, there was a temporary encampment at Bantham, with rough shelters and hearths, and a seasonal trading market. Other excit- ing finds from this time include iron smithing hearths, as well as Cornish pottery, amphorae (vases) from the Eastern Mediterranean and North African tableware. In the ninth century, there was a
Viking raid, one of several on Devon’s south coast, but at Bantham there was fierce resistance and the Danes were all killed in battle. Later, the area around the car park was used for growing crops, and the strip lynchets (terraces) cut into the hillside for this can still be seen to the north of the parking area. There is also a remnant corn ditch.
Thurlestone
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
