Georgeham is a village and

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 ...

near

Croyde Croyde is a village on the west-facing coastline of North Devon, England. The village lies on the South West Coast Path near to Baggy Point, which is owned by the National Trust. It lies within the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natura ...

, in North Devon. The appropriate

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

is termed Georgeham and

Mortehoe Mortehoe is a village and former manor on the north coast of Devon, England. It lies 10 miles north-west of Barnstaple, near Woolacombe and Lee Bay, and is sited in a valley within the hilly sand-dune-like land behind Morte Point, almost di ...

with total population at the 2011 census of 3,748. Georgeham is an historic village lying close to some of the most dramatic beaches of 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 ...

which are flanked by the rocky headlands of Baggy Point and Saunton Down, although there are no views of the sea or coastline from the village itself. The character of the village is typically rural. The majority of the historic development in the village is east and south-west of the church. The village is also characterized by thatched cottages arranged in an irregular fashion along narrow lanes. There is a Victorian village school, a medieval church and two 17th Century

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the main one in the middle of the village, The King's Arms, and another one up a small lane, The Rock. Pronunciation is a controversial issue. Traditionalists maintain that there is in fact an emphasis on both the syllables George ''and'' ham. Others, usually outsiders not originally from North Devon, believe there to be no pronunciation on the ham, thus making it sound George-um. The

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Cross and Forda lie between Georgeham and Croyde.

Pickwell Pickwell is a small, hill-crest village south-east of Melton Mowbray in the Borough of Melton, Melton district, in Leicestershire which used to have an ecclesiastical parish of its own and is since the early 20th century has been in the civil ...

is part of the parish and lies between Georgeham and Putsborough.

History

Georgeham was first documented 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 ...

, where it appears under the name Hama. The village's current name, which first appeared in 1535, followed the dedication of St George's church, the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, to

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

. Prior to 1535, the village was also referred to as Ham St. George and George Ham. The village gave its name to HMS ''Georgeham'', a

Ham class minesweeper The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place nam ...

. The artist

Margaret Kemp-Welch Margaret Drury Kemp-Welch (1874 – 15 January 1968) was a British painter and printmaker, mostly of landscape and portraits. She was also a teacher.First World War 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 ...

Henry Williamson Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English writer who wrote novels concerned with wildlife, English social history and ruralism. He was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book ''Tarka ...

lived in the village from 1921; in Skirr Cottage he wrote his first published work, ''The Beautiful Years'', as well as his most celebrated work, ''

Tarka the Otter ''Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers'' is a novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published in 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue. It won the ...

''.http://www.northdevon.gov.uk/georgeham_appraisal.pdf , "Georgeham Conservation Area Character Appraisal" Retrieved 15 October 2014 His grave lies in the village churchyard. Also buried here is the writer and adventurer

Negley Farson James Scott Negley Farson (May 14, 1890 – December 13, 1960) was an American author and adventurer. A renowned fisherman, Farson wrote one of the classics of fishing literature, ''Going Fishing''. The story of his life is told in his two volume ...

, who also had a home in the village. His son, the writer and broadcaster

Daniel Farson Daniel James Negley Farson (8 January 1927 – 27 November 1997) was a British writer and broadcaster, strongly identified with the early days of commercial television in the UK, when his sharp, investigative style contrasted with the BBC's mor ...

, died here in his father's former home in 1997.

References

External links

Georgeham School website

North Devon AONB website
{{authority control Villages in Devon