St Martin’s Church, Sherford

One of the fascinations of exploring the English countryside is stumbling upon the historical buildings in the most ordinary of places like, well, the middle of a village. Of course, the trick is to stumble upon the village first. But, in reality, you can’t go five minutes in this place before passing through at the very least a couple of farms and some barn conversions and, hey presto, you have a village. (I think technically you have a hamlet if there are no services). But you get my drift….

And so I stumbled upon Sherford, a small hamlet close to the village of Frogmore, close to the town of Kingsbridge. Sherford’s main claim to fame (if indeed it has one) is Saint Martin of Tours Church, a small 14th century church.

Saint Martin was the Bishop of Tours in 4th century France who became a patron saint of poverty, geese, horses, Buenos Aires, alcoholism AND wine makers just to name a few. The story most associated with Martin is the legend of his cloak. Apparently, when Martin was still a soldier he came across a beggar in rags in the depths of winter so he cut his cloak in two with his sword and gave half to the beggar. The part he kept for himself eventually became a religious relic preserved in abbeys and churches, carried by kings into battle and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. While all of this may be the stuff of legend, there are interesting linguistic derivations which have come down to us through the ages: the priest who cared for the cloak was called a cappellanu and ultimately all priests who served in the military were cappellani, the French translation being chapelains and, hey presto, we get chaplains; similarly, the small churches built to care for the relic were called capellas – the word for a little cloak – which over time lost their association with the cloak but became chapels.

The hamlet of Sherford dates back to the early 11th century when King Canute’s Royal Estate of Chillington included the manor of Sherford. The first documentary evidence of the church dates back to 1288 although the main body of the present church was built during the 14th century. The dedication to Saint Martin of Tours took place in 1457.

The church is best known for its medieval rood screen, a feature which was common in late medieval church architecture. A rood screen is an ornate partition between the chancel and the nave, usually made of richly carved wood or stone. Saint Martin’s is believed to have been carved in the early 16th century. There have obviously been some modifications to the screen over the years but the central panelling remains with traces of original colouring in its painted figures of apostles and saints. While the artist is unknown, they were influenced by the Flemish style – an unusual feature for a rural church situated in the depths of Devon. Sadly, some of the art has been obliterated over time.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker

Only 2 species of black and white woodpecker occur in the UK – the Great Spotted and the Lesser Spotted. The Middle Spotted has never made it over from France.

Strolling down English countryside laneways in spring brings forth a veritable burst of new life: trees are blossoming, birds are scoping out real estate for their nesting sites and, yes, lambs are literally frolicking in the fields. But my great discovery of the last few days has been the Great Spotted Woodpecker. Listen to this and tell me it doesn’t blow you away!

At first I thought someone was jackhammering, which in itself is an interesting concept when you are walking through fields. But, hey, there was a farm house nearby so anything is possible. But when I realised the bursts of drilling were very precisely timed I alighted upon the idea that it might be a woodpecker. And after scouring the tree tops for a few minutes (which is easy to do because they still have no leaves) I found it! The Great Spotted Woodpecker!

Not really sure why it’s so great. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I love a good bird. It’s considered medium-sized but to my eye it was actually quite small. But for a small bird it makes a helluva noise. They drill into trees to find food or excavate nest holes. They also drum to make contact with other birds or to mark territory.

Interesting facts about the Great Spotted Woodpecker: it has been recorded as cross-breeding with the Syrian woodpecker (which is a long way to go for a tinder date); a fossil subspecies which lived almost 300,000 years ago has been found in an ice sheet; adults do a complete moult every year after breeding season; its drumming is around 10-16 strikes per second; they became extinct on the island of Ireland in the seventeenth century due to deforestation (but they recolonised from 2007); to stop their little brains bobbing about while they are hammering, they have adapted a special hinge and muscle arrangement where the skull connects to the mandible as well as a reinforced skull; there are so many of these guys it is considered a species of least concern by the IUCN.

Given that I’ve started hearing a lot of them, I’m guessing that their real estate search is over and soon we will be blessed with the sound of mini jackhammers.

Start Bay: Many Stories To Tell

It was a bit of a wet, windy and all-round dreary day when I set off for Stokely Farm Shop. (Precisely the sort of day I love in England, incidentally; I’m working at being stoic.) Farm shops are the best way of sourcing local, fresh produce. A good farm shop will get you your fruit and veg, meat and poultry, deli items and specialty products, even beer from a local brewery. I was actually there for the pop-up yarn shop ‘A Little Bit Crafty’ to meet with Sue; I’d got it into my head that I wanted to learn to crochet and Sue reckons she can make my fingers perform miraculous manipulations that will turn yarn into granny squares. Make enough granny squares and, well, I guess you get a blanket. But I digress…..

Before going to Stokely I thought I’d take in lunch at the Start Bay Inn in Torcross. This 14th century inn has a long-established history of fishermen launching their boats from the beach in front of the pub. Naturally, the inn specialises in a range of locally-caught seafood including scallops, crab and lobster. It proved to be a well-patronised, warm and cosy spot with the log fire burning, the fish & chips excellent, and an Australian gap year student behind the bar.

I then took a walk along a section of the South West Coast Path which goes straight past the pub as well as the Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve. The ley is the largest freshwater lake in south west Devon and is an ideal spot for birdwatchers. Stake out a spot in the bird hide and you might spot terns, chiffchaffs (don’t you just love that name?), kingfishers and warblers.

Something you won’t see along this coastline is Hallsands, the village lost to the sea (even though it remains marked on maps).  In 1891 Hallsands was a village of 37 houses, a chapel and a pub. Soon after that, dredging began offshore to provide sand and gravel to expand naval dockyards near Plymouth. The dredging ultimately destabilised the village’s beach and storms started to wash away the sea wall. Houses and roads were damaged. After villagers and council mounted an argument to decision-makers, the dredging eventually stopped but the damage was done: by the end of 1917 only one house remained habitable in Hallsands.

But the Bay has a much more tragic tale to tell……..

In preparation for the Allied D-Day Normandy landings in 1944, rehearsals took place at various points in Devon. (I guess when you are planning the largest seaborne invasion in history, you might not want to rely on just winging it.) The area around Slapton Sands was selected by the British government for some of these exercises as it bore a resemblance to Utah Beach on the French coast. (Despite its name, Slapton Sands is a narrow strip of land and shingle beach which separates Slapton Ley from Start Bay).

In 1943, some 3,000 local residents in the areas around Slapton, Torcross and beyond were evacuated from their homes so that the American military could take up residence to carry out exercises as part of the D-Day prep. Keep in mind, this is farming territory: animals, machinery, even crops that were still in the ground were uprooted and moved out.

Exercise Tiger began on 22nd April 1944 and was due to run for 8 days. Landing craft loaded with 30,000 soldiers, tanks and equipment were deployed along the coast to practise a mock landing, including a live-firing exercise. On the morning of 27th April, coordination and communication problems resulted in friendly fire deaths. Rumours immediately circulated that some 450 soldiers had been killed. But it was about to get worse…..

The next day, under cover of darkness and unbeknownst to the American military, nine German torpedo boats had managed to slip in amongst the Allied convoy in Lyme Bay and attacked. Two landing ships were sunk and two badly damaged. Over 700 Americans lost their lives: many drowned because their heavy packs flipped them upside down; or they died of hypothermia before they could be rescued. (Ironically, only 200 men were killed during the actual landing at Utah Beach).

Official embarrassment, fears of the impact on morale, as well as secrecy surrounding the impending invasion meant that everybody involved was sworn to secrecy and the terrible loss of life was not revealed until long after the war. (As it was, the Germans deduced the purpose of the exercise given the similarity of terrain between Slapton Sands the coast of lower Normandy).

In the early 1970s, a Sherman DD tank was discovered submerged off the beach. It was raised and now stands as a memorial to the incident along with a plaque in memory of the men killed.

A detailed account of Exercise Tiger can be found in Ken Small’s book The Forgotten Dead. And more recently, the two US amphibious craft which were sunk, are to be added to the National Heritage List for England https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-52505122?fbclid=IwAR2TcqW1FnFa3YfecJAvt9PL_mzjxx1LM93xsu_iSZ8S00Gc46UvqZUZNMU