On January 26, 1917, a Devon fishing village was destroyed by a brutal storm. By the morning, just one house was left standing, and the town’s residents were forced to relocate to neighbouring villages.
Hallsands, which was located between Beesands to the north and Start Point to the south, has a history stretching back to the 1600s. By 1891, the village had a rather tight-knit community, with a population of just 159. However, just 26 years later, these residents would be struck with tragedy when all but one would lose their homes to the storm.
Luckily, no one was hurt and although the residents lost their homes they all survived the night. But that wasn’t the end of their misfortune, as it would be another seven years before they received compensation for their loss.
While it was a combination of gale winds and high tides that destroyed the village overnight, this wasn’t quite the entire story, and Hallsands had fallen victim to Government error.
In the 1890s, the UK Government decided that the naval dockyard at Keyham, near Plymouth, should be expanded. To gather the concrete required for this development, the area between Hallsands and Beesands was dredged.
Despite protests from Hallsands residents that this would threaten their village, the dredging continued until 1902.
By 1900, the level of the beach had started to fall, and that autumn saw part of the sea wall washed away by a storm. This led to renewed protests from residents – and this time the Government began listening.
In September 1901, around a year after the town lost its sea wall, a Board of Trade inspector concluded that further severe storms could cause serious damage and recommended that dredging be stopped.
After dredging stopped, the beach levels were able to recover somewhat, but storms continued to damage the village and its surroundings.
Disaster then struck in 1917, when a storm caused the village to fall into the sea, and just one house remained unscathed.
This house belonged to Elizabeth Prettyjohn, who refused to leave the village and resided there with her chickens until her death in 1964. The house still stands today, and is used as a summer holiday home.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
