On This Day in Wembury

19 February 1932 — “Monstrosities” at Wembury

At a meeting of the Plympton St. Mary Rural Council, concern was raised about unsightly “monstrosities” springing up in the Wembury district. These turned out to be makeshift buildings — old bus bodies and timber shacks — which had been erected without any planning consent. Letters of complaint had also arrived from local residents and from the Council for the Rural Preservation of England.

The Council clerk, having inspected several of the offending structures, confirmed they were both illegal and a blot on the landscape. Councillor P. S. Hoyte, who lived by the Yealm, described the river as “one of the prettiest spots in England,” but said it had been spoiled by such huts — “a disgrace to the district.” Legal action was authorised to prevent further damage to the area’s beauty.

This debate foreshadows many of the planning and conservation battles Wembury has faced ever since. The clash between private improvisation and communal preservation echoes in later disputes about beach huts, cliffside building, and even military use of the Point. In 1932, as now, the Yealm and Wembury’s coastline were recognised as precious landscapes — places where a few “shacks” could feel like a desecration of something far greater.