On This Day — 13 May 1821
A tragedy was reported at Wembury when three young people went to the seashore to gather limpets. As the tide rose, they were cut off by the sea. The boy managed to reach land and urged the girls to follow. One did, but the other climbed higher on the rock, paralysed by fear. The lad waded back into the water up to his waist to try to help her, but she could not move. He finally ran for a boat, which was launched and almost reached her, when the waves swept her away. Her body was recovered later that evening.
Source: Aurora Borealis, 13 May 1821
The story is a stark reminder of the danger of Wembury’s tides — a theme that reappears often in the archive, from shipwrecks and cliff accidents to later Coastguard rescues. Unlike the 19th-century cockfighting brawls or estate sales, here the narrative is not one of choice but of nature’s sudden force. The sea that sustained village life could also, without warning, take it away
On This Day in Wembury – 13 May 1950
Thieves struck at Wembury Parish Church, forcing open four offertory boxes sometime between midday and late afternoon.
The Vicar, Rev. K. Tagg, reported that pens from the vestry and visitors’ table had been used as makeshift tools to prise the locks, leaving them broken. Because the boxes hadn’t been emptied from the previous week, it was impossible to say how much money was taken.
This was the third such robbery in eight years, though in the earlier cases the culprits had eventually been caught. Parishioners were left dismayed that even the church was not safe from petty theft.
Source: Western Morning News, 15 May 1950.