Torcross

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Torcross

Torcross is a village in the South Hams

South Hams

South Hams is a Non-metropolitan district on the south coast of Devon, England with its headquarters in the town of Totnes. It contains the towns of Dartmouth, England, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Salcombe ? the largest of which is Ivybridge with a population of 12,056....
district of Devon

Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
in England

England

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Sherman Tank At Memorial for Those Killed in Operation Tiger

Torcross is a village in the South Hams

South Hams

Devon

England

Slapton, Devon

Slapton is a coastal village in Devon, England. It is located on the A379 road between Kingsbridge and Dartmouth, Devon, and lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ....
, a narrow strip of land and shingle beach which separates the freshwater lake of Slapton Ley

Slapton Ley

Slapton Ley is a lagoon on the south coast of Devon, England, separated from Start Bay by a shingle beach, known as Slapton Sands.It is the largest natural freshwater lake in South West England....
from Start Bay

Start Bay

Start Bay is the bay in the English Channel in Devon, England between the River Dart's estuary and Start Point, Devon. On the coast, from south to north, are Hallsands, Beesands, Torcross, the Slapton Sands, Strete, Devon, Blackpool, Devon and Stoke Fleming....
and carries the A379 coastal road north to Dartmouth

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth is a town in Devon in the south-west of England. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes....
.

Early history

The first mention of Torcross was recorded at the manorial court in the court rolls of 29 March 1602 when it was recorded that a representative of the new village reported that everything was "all well". In 1854 the coastal road between Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge is a market town and popular tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of about 5,800. It is situated at the northern end of the Kingsbridge Estuary, which is a textbook example of a ria and extends to the sea 6 miles south of the town....
and Dartmouth was built passing through Torcross giving a much needed lifeline to the community. In 1858 a coach service started between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge.

WW2 evacuation and Exercise Tiger

In late 1943, Torcross was evacuated along with many other villages in the South Hams area to make way for 15,000 allied troops who needed the area to practice for the D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable , designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar terms....
landings. In the early hours of 28 April 1944 a tragic incident happened during Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger was the code name for two military exercises held in the United Kingdom during the Second World War:*The first, conducted in 1942, was an Army-level exercise by Commonwealth forces and the largest ever held in the UK up to then....
, nine German torpedo boats

E-boat

The Schnellboot or S-boot was a type of Germany torpedo boat that saw service during World War II. The S-boote were approximately twice as large as their PT boat and Motor Torpedo Boat counterparts, were better suited for the open sea, and had a substantially longer range, at approximately 700 nautical miles....
(Schnellboote) alerted by heavy radio traffic intercepted a three mile long convoy of vessels travelling from the Isle of Portland

Isle of Portland

The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England....
to Slapton Sands to undertake landing rehearsals for D Day, two Tank landing ship

Tank landing ship

Landing Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
s (LST) were sunk in the engagement and 749 American servicemen lost their lives. A Sherman amphibious tank

DD tank

DD tanks were amphibious vehicle swimming tanks developed during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the M4 Sherman tank used by the Allies in the opening phases of the Battle of Normandy in 1944....
and several plaques stand at Torcross car park between Slapton Ley and the beach as a memorial to the men who lost their lives. The operation to salvage the tank from the shallow waters of Start Bay was financed by Ken Small, a Torcross hotelier and was completed in 1984.

Storms and coastal erosion

Torcross has survived some terrible storms that have battered the village, on 4 January 1979 enormous waves washed over the roofs of the dwellings causing substantial damage, lorry loads of boulders were brought in from the Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers River Plym to the east and River Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound....
area as temporary protection, a new curved seawall

Seawall

A seawall is a form of hard and strong coastal defense constructed on the inland part of a coast to reduce the effects of strong waves.In the UK, "sea wall" also refers to an earthen bank used to create a polder?a dike ....
was built as a result of this 1979 storm. On 11 and 12 January 2001 another bad storm caused the loss of up to five metres of the beachhead along a stretch of beach about 1000 metres in length. Part of the A379 road along Slapton Sands near the village was also destroyed, closing it for three months, 3,000 tons of boulders were initially used to protect the road, however these were later removed because of damage to the Slapton Ley SSSI.

The maintenance of the road is imperative to Torcross as it is the main access route to Dartmouth for the villagers and the local businesses. The South Hams District Council is working to keep the A379 from being eroded away by road realignment and the importing of shingle from parts of Slapton Sands that have a surplus. A study by Natural England

English Nature

English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the Conservation ethic of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006....
after the 2001 storm confirmed that Slapton Sands is and will continue to retreat backwards, due to the reduction in the amount of shingle available, increasing frequency of storms and a predicted 30 to 40 cm rise in sea level over the next 50 years.

Tourism

The village is very much geared up for the many tourists who visit the area, with restaurants, cafes, two pubs (the Start Bay Inn and The Sea Shanty) and much accommodation for the visitors. Torcross lies at the southern end of Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve and it is here that the Ley issues through a culvert under the road and into the sea. The A379 road swings inland towards Kingsbridge at the village and the dwellings of Torcross follow the road inland for a few hundred metres, some dwellings are situated on the higher ground south of the village giving fine views of Start Bay.