On This Day in Wembury
10 November 1928 — Wembury Named in Foot-and-Mouth Infected Area
On this day the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette carried an official notice from the Ministry of Agriculture contracting the Plymouth Foot-and-Mouth Disease Infected Area. The restricted zone still included Wembury parish, along with Plymstock, Brixton, Yealmpton, Newton Ferrers, Revelstoke, and others. Controls on livestock movements were enforced to contain the spread.
Seen in hindsight, the 1928 order foreshadowed the 2001 Foot-and-Mouth crisis, when Wembury again found itself affected — not only by restrictions on farming, but by the extraordinary closure of Wembury Beach and coastal footpaths by the National Trust. The beach, usually open year-round, was locked off to prevent visitors from inadvertently carrying infection to nearby farms. The memory of those months remains vivid locally.
Source: Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 10 November 1928. Additional context from National Trust and government accounts of the 2001 epidemic.
Entries are summaries and interpretations of historical newspaper reports.