Hope Cove is a small seaside village within the civil parish of

South Huish South Huish is a village and civil parish about 4 miles south west of Kingsbridge, in the South Hams district, in the county of Devon, England. The parish includes Galmpton and Hope Cove. According to the 2011 census the parish had a population ...

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,

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 located west of

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area of ...

and south west of

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the abo ...

. It has two

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es, and is sheltered by the headland of

Bolt Tail Bolt Tail is a headland in Devon, England, immediately to the southwest of Hope Cove in the South Hams district, at grid reference . Bolt Tail is the site of an Iron Age promontory fort, although little evidence now remains of this structure; ...

History

The name Hope Cove may derive tautologically from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

word ''hóp'' meaning "bay" or "small inlet". Historically, the village falls into two parts, Outer Hope to the north and Inner Hope to the south. Inner Hope fell within the parish of

Malborough Malborough is a village located in the South Hams region of Devon. The village is located on the A381 between Kingsbridge and Salcombe, and is a popular village for tourists, with many holiday homes located around the village. Malborough can ...

until 1974, when it was united with its neighbour on the other side of a small headland. Both parts of the village originally developed as centre for the local fishing industry. Hope Cove also developed a reputation for

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

and for plundering wrecked ships. In 1588 the ships of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

passed the village as they moved up the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. After the Armada was defeated and headed back through storms, the ''San Pedro el Mayor'', a transport ship fitted out as a hospital, was blown onto the rocks between Inner and Outer Hope. The 140 survivors were initially sentenced to death, but were eventually ransomed and sent back to Spain. Hope Cove was the setting for a number of studies by Victorian painter Sir Luke Fildes; inspiring the cottage in his work in oil ''The Doctor''. Early in

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 ...

, 'RAF Hope Cove' was established as a GCI Mobile Radar Station at Soar Farm near

and in 1941 RAF Bolt Head opened as a fighter satellite airfield on adjacent land with

RAF Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

as its parent station. Many RAF personnel were billeted in Hope Cove including The Cottage Hotel and The Grand Hotel. Both bases were closed soon after the war ended in 1945 but RAF Hope Cove reopened and was expanded to accommodate an 18,000 sq ft underground R6 ROTOR bunker to meet the growing Soviet threat to peace in the early 1950s. An RAF Married Quarters site was built in Malborough (its houses survive today in private ownership as Malborough Park) but the ROTOR site was only operational from 1956–58 and was finally sold off by the government in 1999. The village featured in the British comedy film ''

The Supergrass ''The Supergrass'' is a 1985 British comedy film directed by Peter Richardson, (who also plays a major role) who also wrote the screenplay with Pete Richens. The film stars Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith Allen, Nigel ...

''. with location filming in and around Hope Cove in late 1984. Directed by Peter Richardson and starring

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series ''The Young Ones (TV s ...

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

and others from the 1980s alternative comedy group 'The Comic Strip', this was their first feature-length film and was released in the UK in November 1985.

Lifeboat

The

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

established a lifeboat station at Hope Cove in 1878 on land donated by the Earl of Devon. Four boats, all named ''Alexandra'', were supplied in 1887, 1900 and 1903. The station was closed in April 1930 by which time the neighbouring station at had been equipped with a motor lifeboat which could cover Bigbury Bay. In 1992 the service was re-established under the management of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the Cliff Rescue Team (CRT), the MCA withdrew support and funding for the boat in 2010. The Hope Cove Life Boat was then established as an Independent Life Boat with the support of the village and a registered charity was established to run and maintain the service. A new boat "Alexandra" was launched at Easter in 2013 paid for with funds raised from the village and visitors. The charity is run by volunteers and the boat is also crewed by volunteers who train and respond in their own time. More details can be found here www.hopecovelifeboat.org

Modern era

The village is now mainly devoted to tourism and the area lies within the South Devon

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

.South Devon AONB , Home
2015 saw the broadcast of the first series of a new BBC TV daytime drama called ''

The Coroner ''The Coroner'' is a BBC Birmingham drama series starring Claire Goose as Jane Kennedy, a coroner based in a fictional South Devon coastal town. Matt Bardock stars as Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins. On 2 March 2017, the BBC announced that t ...

'', starring

Claire Goose Claire Goose (born 10 February 1975) is a British actress. She played Tina Seabrook, a nurse in BBC One's ''Casualty'', DS Mel Silver in '' Waking the Dead'', and Sergeant (later Inspector) Rachel Weston in ITV's ''The Bill''. She also narrated ...

and

Matt Bardock Matthew Arthur Bardock was born in 1969 in Croydon. He is an English actor who is known for playing Jeff Collier in ''Casualty'', DS Clive Barnard in ''A Touch of Frost'', DS Davey Higgins in '' The Coroner'', Albie in '' The Lakes'', Mark Craig ...

with The House on the Beach. A second series followed in 2016, making a total of 20 episodes although there are no plans for any further series. The Cove Café Bar was named the UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Bar (rural) in 2018.

References

Bibliography

Collyer, Graham, editor (2005) 'Hope Cove, Galmpton and South Huish - The Story of a Devon Parish' (Hope Archive Group, )

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope Cove Villages in South Hams Coves of Devon South Huish