![Bantham Beach - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Bantham_Beach_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1590183.jpg)
Bantham is a coastal village in south
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, England. It is in the
South Hams
South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...
district and lies on the estuary of the
River Avon a quarter of a mile from the sea at Bigbury Bay.
History
Originally a fishing village, it was first documented as a port selling
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
and various tin-made products to the
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
s during
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
times.
[ During their occupation, the Romans built a large settlement to protect the entrance to the river at Bantham Ham, behind the dunes and to the west of the current village. The settlement, with evidence of an associated seasonal trading market, existed well into post-Roman Britain times. Later covered by sand, the settlement is known to have existed from the mid-18th century, after storms uncovered its burnt remains. As the landowners drained the local marshes during the 19th century, the workers were in part rewarded by being allowed to take the recovered human bones away and sell them. Since 1978, extensive archeological excavations have tracked the extent of the settlement, and it is now a scheduled ancient monument protected by ]English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
Between 1750 and around 1880, it became a regional centre for the pilchard
"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the ...
trading industry during the Cornish pilchard-boom. During this time, the extensive regional stocks of pilchards were processed at salting plants in Cornwall, and then shipped to the Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
countries of France and Spain. From there, there were either consumed locally or traded directly to Italy – still the primary market for salt pilchards today – where they were used in rustic dishes to give flavour to the staple diet of pasta or polenta
Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...
. Due to over-fishing, as the trade quickly died the village went into steep decline.[
]
Evans Estates and ownership
Post his World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
duties, in 1919 Lt Cdr Charles Evans bought the defunct village smithy. Having fallen in love with the place, in 1922 he bought the entire village, including over of surrounding land on both sides of the river.[ After ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the family placed the estate into a private limited company
A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United Sta ...
, Evans Estates (1956) Limited, which today owns most of the village (consisting of 40 homes, a pub and a shop), the harbour, Bantham beach and an 18-hole cliff-top golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
. The family have always tightly managed the village, offering manageable rents, and neither renting out property seasonally nor allowing second or holiday homes.[
In light of rising costs, and requests from beach visitors, the company board agreed the introduction of both a Gastrobus (as opposed to a large café), and the lease of the surfing rights to the beach to a surf school. It has since been reported, that the decision and resultant reaction by some residents was the key-driver behind the family in November 2013 deciding to sell the village from May 2014,] with an estimated price of £11.5M.
The estate was sold in its entirety in July 2014 to a private family, who pledged to "continue to manage and conserve the Estate in the same manner as he Evans familyhave done for the next 100 years."
Present
The village has a privately owned beach which is popular with surfers, and is backed by dunes. The beach offers views of nearby Burgh Island
Burgh Island is a tidal island on the coast of South Devon in England near the small seaside village of Bigbury-on-Sea. There are several buildings on the island, the largest being the Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel. The other buildings are thr ...
.
The river Avon can be crossed via a seasonal pedestrian ferry. This operates between 10 am and 11 am and again between 3 pm and 4 pm on Monday – Saturdays from late April to late September. The ferry costs £2.50 each way and is popular with walkers on the South West Coast Path as it avoids the need to walk around the Avon estuary.
In popular culture
Bantham is referenced in the G.E.M. song released in 2015 called "Train To Bantham".
References
External links
Evans Estates – Bantham website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528111321/http://www.banthamdevon.co.uk/ , date=28 May 2014
Beaches of Devon
Villages in South Hams