On a stormy night in January 1917, the Devon fishing village of Hallsands collapsed into the sea. Miraculously, there were no casualties, but the buildings were all damaged or destroyed, along with the livelihoods of those who had lived in them. While there is no doubt that this storm wrought final devastation on the village, the countdown to destruction had actually begun in the previous century.
Located in Start Bay on the South Devon coast, Hallsands was sheltered from south-westerly winds by a steep cliff and protected from the sea by a beach of sand and shingle. The village is known to have been in existence since 1611, and by 1891 the census recorded 159 people living in Hallsands, with 37 houses, a small shop/post office, an inn and a Mission Room. Sadly, the fate of this thriving village was sealed in the early 1890s, when the Admiralty decided to expand a naval dockyard at Keyham, 30 miles away. The contract was awarded to Sir John Jackson Ltd., a major British engineering company, and in 1897 the government gave permission for the company to begin operations dredging shingle from the coastline between Hallsands and a neighbouring village, Beesands.
The people of Hallsands were not consulted in this matter, and protested to their MP, Frank Mildmay, when they became aware of the dredgers. As well as expressing concern about the potential for damage to crab pots and the disturbance of fish, the villagers feared the dredging would remove shingle from their beach, lowering it and leaving Hallsands more exposed to the sea. After Mildmay applied successful pressure, the Board of Trade agreed to an enquiry; this led, in turn, to an agreement whereby the engineering company would make an annual payment of £125 to the villagers of Hallsands. The agreement helped to assuage immediate fears, and the dredging continued.
The villagers’ fears returned within a few years, however, when studies showed that the level of the beach had indeed fallen, by about 12 feet. With little protection from wind and high tides, the village suffered considerable storm damage during 1903 and 1904. The villagers repaired the buildings as best they could, and a new sea wall provided some protection, but this was to be only a temporary respite. On the evening of Friday 26th January 1917, a high tide and gale-force winds began to drive huge waves over the sea wall and straight into the houses. Subjected to the relentless pounding of the waves and the rising storm, buildings began to crumble and people ran for their lives. One Hallsands family, the Logans, later gave eye-witness accounts in the local Gazette;
"It had been blowing hard from the South East all day, and in the afternoon, the seas came tumbling in, shaking everything all to pieces. We became greatly alarmed... Instead of abating, as we hoped it would, the gale increased, and we soon saw that our cottages would come down."
Many Hallsands families lost everything, not only their belongings but also their homes and livelihoods. Forced to relocate to nearby villages and start their lives afresh, they abandoned Hallsands and did not return. Today, all that remains of the village is a ruined chapel on the edge of the cliff top.
Although an inquiry was conducted after the event, the people of Hallsands were not allowed to see the results; the report, which stated that dredging had been the direct cause of the disaster, was withheld by the government of the time.
The villagers were eventually offered £6,000 compensation, but to many this was too little, too late. Many descendants of the Hallsands villagers still believe that official recognition of events leading up to the destruction is long overdue; historian Steve Melia has lodged a complaint with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, though he has to date received no response.
For the most part, the ruins of Hallsands now lie beneath the sea, and can be seen from a viewing platform just off the nearby clifftop footpath. Amidst the beautiful scenery of the South Devon coastline, the lost village is an ugly reminder of the consequences of human greed and thoughtlessness.
Sources:
www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series1/hallsands.shtml
www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/hallsands.html
This blog post was commissioned by Quba Sails.
