Slapton, Devon

History

Slapton was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sladone. The Collegiate Chantry of St Mary was founded in 1372 or 1373 by Sir Guy de Brian. The Tower Inn and West tower remain and the tower has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building. The Church of St James dates from the late 13th or early 14th century, and is also grade I listed.

The nearby beach is a coastal bar (see below), known as Slapton Sands. After Lalla Rookh, a tea clipper, was wrecked at Prawle Point in March 1873, some of her cargo of tea and tobacco, heaped up to 11 ft high in places, as well as pieces of wreckage, were washed up on Slapton Sands. The beach itself is not sand, but consists of small smooth pebbles ranging in size from ¼ inch to several inches.

In 1944, during World War II, it was part of the site of Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the Invasion of Normandy which was attacked by German E-Boats and also saw a large number of friendly fire deaths. An M4A1 Sherman tank that was sunk in this action has been recovered and now stands on the road behind the beach at nearby Torcross. A stone memorial presented by the United States Army to the residents of South Hams also commemorates those who participated in the practice area for the Invasion of Normandy. The monument is accompanied by two flag poles either side. Part of Exercise Fabius took place a week after Exercise Tiger on Slapton Sands.

Geography and environmental importance

Behind Slapton Sands is Slapton Ley, a nature reserve and example of serial or ecological succession — the process whereby open water becomes reed bed and eventually, as silt and leaf litter builds up, woodland. The beach itself is a bar: the material that makes up the beach was pushed up by the rising sea levels during the Flandrian transgression after the last glacial period (from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago). A similar process formed Chesil Beach.

Beaches formed like this are reworked by coastal processes now but are not supplied by enough material to recreate them, should material be removed. This had terrible consequences nearby at Hallsands where most of the beach was removed as building material for Devonport dockyards, leaving the village exposed to storms. It was struck by a storm in 1917 and most of the village was washed away, although no villagers were killed.

Further north, the beach is known as Strete Gate and at the northernmost end is Pilchard Cove. The southern end of the beach is known as Torcross Sands. A length of beach about 100 m south of Pilchard Cove is regularly used by naturists.

Climate

|Jan record high C = 14.6 |Feb record high C = 16.2 |Mar record high C = 19.5 |Apr record high C = 22.2 |May record high C = 24.1 |Jun record high C = 30.5 |Jul record high C = 28.2 |Aug record high C = 28.8 |Sep record high C = 25.0 |Oct record high C = 23.4 |Nov record high C = 17.7 |Dec record high C = 15.7 |year record high C = 30.5 |Jan record low C = -8.0 |Feb record low C = -6.8 |Mar record low C = -6.5 |Apr record low C = -2.5 |May record low C = -0.1 |Jun record low C = 2.5 |Jul record low C = 6.2 |Aug record low C = 6.0 |Sep record low C = 3.9 |Oct record low C = -0.3 |Nov record low C = -2.7 |Dec record low C = -6.4 |year record low C = -8.0 |access-date = July 4, 2024}}

Gallery

File:Slapton Sands 1.jpg|Slapton Sands File:Sherman_tank_at_memorial_for_those_killed_in_Operation_Tiger.JPG|A Sherman tank at Slapton Sands, a memorial to those who died in Exercise Tiger File:Slapton Sands Memorial.jpg|The stone memorial at Slapton Sands, presented by the US Army File:Slapton_sands_pebbles.jpg| The 'sand' at Slapton Sands consists of small pebbles. File:Slapton Sands aerial view facing southwards.jpg|Aerial view of Slapton Sands, showing the car park and Slapton Ley. File:Medieval Coin, Quarter Noble of Edward III (FindID 716757).jpg|A gold quarter noble coin of Edward III, dating from , found in Slapton in 2015

References

1. Harris, Helen. (2004). "A Handbook of Devon Parishes". Halsgrove.
2. (1 January 2007). "Slapton Parish Headcounts 2001". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
3. "Parish population 2011".
4. "Map of Devon Parishes". Devon County Council.
5. (1086). "Slapton, Devon Folio: 102r Great Domesday Book Domesday". The National Archives.
6. "Tower Inn".
7. {{NHLE
8. {{NHLE
9. Clarkson, Steve. (June 2016). "Start Point Project".
10. Harper, C.G.. (2019). "The South Devon Coast". Good Press.
11. "Slapton Sands Tank - Submerged".
12. Easymalc. (2022-07-02). "Slapton Sands and Exercise Tiger".
13. "Site Details".
14. "Hallsands". South Devon AONB.
15. (22 September 2014). "Devon, Cornwall and Somerset's coastline lost millions of tonnes of sand after winter storms". Western Morning News.
16. "Monthly Temperature Extremes".
17. Robinson, A. "Finds record for: PUBLIC-285337". The Portable Antiquities Scheme.