On This Day in Wembury – 3 November 1871
The Western Morning News carried a long letter promoting Wembury as a potential new watering place for Plymouth’s growing population. The writer, C. W. Dymond C.E., praised the natural beauty of Wembury’s coast, its healthy air, and the proximity to Plymouth, arguing it could rival Dawlish or Teignmouth if only a railway line or tramway were built through Plymstock and the Langdon Valley to Wembury Church. He described the fine stone, timber, and fresh water available locally, and urged that an hotel and villas would make Wembury a fashionable seaside resort, “the metropolis of the West.”
It is striking to think how close Wembury came to being transformed into a Victorian resort like Torquay. In the end, no railway came, and the cliffs and fields stayed much as they were. What some saw as a missed opportunity left us with something more precious: Wembury kept its quieter character, the kind of place where people come for rockpools and long walks, not promenades and piers.