Croyde is a village on the west-facing coastline of North Devon, England. The village lies on the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

near to Baggy Point, which is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. It lies within the

North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The North Devon Coast was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in September 1959. The AONB contributes to a family of protected landscapes in the Southwest of England and a total of 38% of the region is classified by the Internatio ...

. Croyde village and its beach faces the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

near the western limit of the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

. Croyde Stream runs through the village, eventually leading to the beach. The centre of the village is roughly at the intersection of Hobbes' Hill, Jones' Hill and St. Mary's Road. At this spot, Croyde Bridge carries the road over the stream. Public services are provided by the North Devon District Council (NDDC) based in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

. The village is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Georgeham Georgeham is a village and civil parish near Croyde, in North Devon. The appropriate electoral ward is termed Georgeham and Mortehoe with total population at the 2011 census of 3,748. Georgeham is an historic village lying close to some of t ...

, and for ecclesiastical purposes within the

Diocese of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Provinc ...

Today

The village has several small campsites, a small retail area and two large holiday parks; Croyde Bay Holiday Resort (operated by UNISON) and ''Ruda Holiday Park'', operated by

Parkdean Resorts Parkdean Resorts is a holiday park operator in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 2015 through the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts. As of 2022 it operates 66 holiday parks across England, Scotland, and Wales, and is the ...

. The past 30 years has seen large increases in younger-age visitors develop around

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

. The impact of

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

on the village has been varied. Some local landowners have benefited from the increased property prices. Tourism has helped to create jobs that were lost in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. Local

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

has declined, with former farmland converted into caravan sites and fields for seasonal camping. Like many seaside villages, the phenomenon of second homes has pushed house prices beyond the reach of most local people. There is little year-round employment, because tourism is

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

, and most businesses are closed out of season. Since 1999, Croyde has hosted an annual surfing and music

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

(GoldCoast Oceanfest) on the weekend closest to the

summer solstice The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...

. Croyde has also benefitted from the 'street food revolution,' being the hometown of Lola's Wings who have a pitch there, and other visiting street food trucks and trailers. During the summer season, there is an outdoor market each Tuesday which is held in a field off Moor Lane past ''Ruda Holiday Park'' heading towards Baggy Point.

History

Croyde supposedly takes its

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

name from the Viking raider Crydda. However, others have speculated that as the word is similar to the Cornish word 'Curd' that describes the geographical position of the village resting amongst a cradle of hills, it could also have taken its name from this. There is evidence of a settlement that dates before the Saxon Period though, so the correct name is unclear. Croyde is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as Crideholde / Crideholda: Erchenbald from Robert, Count of Mortain. 11 cattle and 100 sheep were recorded in the

at Crideholde / Crideholda (Croyde) in 1086. In the

Medieval Period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, there was a market sited at Croyde, most likely near the centre of the village where Jones' Hill, Hobbs' Hill, and St Mary's Road meet. During

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 ...

, in 1943, the hamlet was commandeered by American soldiers who practised manoeuvres for the

D-day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. Most training took place on

Saunton Sands Saunton Sands is a beach near the English village of Saunton on the North Devon coast near Braunton, popular for longboard surfing. Beyond its southern end, Crow Point, England is the mouth of the River Taw estuary. It is part of the Taw-Torrid ...

Braunton Burrows Braunton Burrows is a sand dune system on the North Devon coast. It is privately owned and forms part of the Christie Devon Estates Trust (see Tapeley Park). Braunton Burrows is a prime British sand dune site, the largest sand dune system (psamm ...

. After the war, Croyde returned to being a predominantly holiday resort. In the 60s, about 150M south east of Withywell Lane, a

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

(ROC) bunker was constructed due to rising tensions with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and the need to watch the skies all over the UK for Soviet planes and or nuclear bombs / missiles. The bunker was disbanded in the 90s after the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and now sits in disrepair.

Religious sites

Croyde has an Anglican church, St Mary Magdalene, and a Baptist chapel which is open on Sundays at 11 am.

Transport

The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, away. From Monday to Saturday, there is an hourly bus service to Croyde from

, with a two-hour frequency on Sundays. Road transport from the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

is via the

A361 The A361 is an A class road in southern England, which at is the longest three-digit A road in the UK. History When first designated in 1922, the A361 ran from Taunton (Somerset) to Banbury (Oxfordshire). It was later extended west through B ...

trunk road. Ferry services operate between Ilfracombe, roughly around 10–20 miles away, and

Lundy Island Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently chang ...

. The nearest airport to the village is

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aerodr ...

, the second-closest being Bristol International.

Education

Croyde has no education resources in the village. Children have access to Georgeham Primary School; secondary education is provided by

Braunton Braunton is a large village, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish and former manor in Devon. The village is situated west of Barnstaple. It is one of the largest villages in Devon with a population at the 2021 census of 10,217 people. There ...

Academy.

Beach

The sandy beach, which lost its Blue Flag status in 2012 due to water quality issues, lies at the back of the sheltered Croyde Bay. A large

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

system has formed past the high-tide mark. Sand underlies the land surface between the beach and the centre of Croyde village, to the east. The beach forms the middle section of a trio of sandy beaches north of the Taw Estuary. Three-and-three-quarter-mile-long (6.0 km)

is to the south, and Woolacombe Sands, divided into Putsborough and Woolacombe beaches, is to the north. Barbecues and contained fires are not permitted on Croyde beach. Croyde is used for surfing; the rides are generally short as the waves tend to pitch up and break quickly. There is a

point break ''Point Break'' is a 1991 American action crime film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The film's title refers to the surfing term " point break", wher ...

off Down End. There is a reef break at the northern (Baggy Point) end of the beach that works for about 60 minutes during some high tides. The shape of the bay funnels waves towards the beach. The beach is also steeper than either Woolacombe, Putsborough or Saunton Sands. Due to this,

rip current A rip current, often simply called a rip (or misleadingly a ''rip tide''), is a specific kind of water current that can occur near beaches with breaking waves. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water which moves directly away ...

s are extremely strong especially near the rocks at either end of the beach and at low tide, even when there is only a small swell. These currents present danger to the strongest of swimmers. Any bathing should be done within the lifeguard-patrolled area. The

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning res ...

is very compact at low tide, resulting in many injuries.

References

External links

Georgeham Parish Council
*
Croyde Local Directory

Further information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in Devon Bays of Devon Seaside resorts in England Surfing locations in England