Stokenham ( təʊ̯kən'hæm not stəʊ̯kənəm being a break with other comparators in England) 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 authorit ...

in the English county of

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. Devo ...

. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 1,895. Devon Start Point

Places in the parish

As well as Stokenham the civil parish includes the settlements of

Torcross Torcross is a village in the South Hams district of south Devon in England. It stands at grid reference at the southern end of Slapton Sands, a narrow strip of land and shingle beach which separates the freshwater lake of Slapton Ley from ...

Beesands Beesands is a small settlement located midway between Hallsands and Torcross on the coast of Start Bay in South Devon, England. It is best known as a tourist destination, but is still a fishing village that concentrates mainly on crab and lobs ...

Hallsands Hallsands is a village and beach in south Devon, England, in a precarious position between cliffs and the sea, between Beesands to the north and Start Point to the south. History The early history of Hallsands is unknown, but a chapel has exi ...

, Kellaton, Kernborough, Dunstone, Beeson and Chillington and Bickerton. It forms part of the district of South Hams.

History

The village of Stokenham was known in Saxon Times as Stoc or ''Stoc Hamme'' ("meaning Stoc meadows"). By the 13th century the town was called Stoke in Hamme. An electoral ward has the same name. The ward population at the 2011 census was 1,895. In Mediaeval times St. Humbert the Confessor (d.1188AD) was locally

venerated Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

in the town. The area was known in the 19th century for the fine crabs, and 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 opposing ...

local residents were evacuated from the area, on the eve of D-day. Start bay devon

Geography

To the east of the parish is Start Bay in 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 ...

. The principal road in the parish is the

A379 The A379 is a road in the English county of Devon. It links points on the edges of that county's two principal cities, Exeter and Plymouth, by an indirect and largely coastal route. The A38 provides a faster and more direct inland route bet ...

running between the nearest towns 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 ab ...

(to the west) and Dartmouth to the north.

Local landmarks

The parish church

The present church dates from 1431; an earlier

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church predated it. "The church as it stands today, is a fine example of the perpendicular style of medieval architecture. It is built on the side of a hill so that its whole length can be seen from below and is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, which was common practice for churches standing on elevated sites. It was, however, dedicated to St Barnabas and prior to that to St Humbert the Confessor."

Stokenham manor house

Immediately to the east of the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

is the site of Stokenham

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, abandoned in 1585 but possibly dating back to at least the 12th century. Excavations and Survey around the Village of Stokenham, Devon
Department of Archaeology, The University of Exeter.

Local pub

The Tradesman's Arms is an imposing 14th-century, part-

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

ed pub and restaurant. On the 27th of September 2021, a fire believed to have originated in the kitchen destroyed much of the pub alongside three neighbouring homes.

References

{{Coord, 50.273202, N, 3.679744, W, region:GB_type:city, display=title Villages in South Hams