Wembury Local History Society

The Wembury Local History Society has a new website, launched in March 2013. Wembury is a village in the South Hams, a little to the east of Plymouth Sound, overlooking Wembury Bay and the Great Mewstone (image, right and below).
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From the site:

"Our new website provides useful information about Wembury Local History Society, including details of forthcoming meetings and talks, information about the history of Wembury and a host of interesting photographs and publications relevant to the Wembury area".

Wembury Church, Bay and Great Mew Stone image: © Richard Johns, reused under Creative Commons Licence.

The site is under continuing development; a quick glance at the current content finds a deal of very interesting historical material including a galleries of the Langdon estate in 1927 and of 1946 aerial reconnaisance photos, and a detailed history of Wembury comprising The Making of Wembury, Agriculture & Rural Society, Defence, Suburbanisation, Environmental Protection, and What Might Have Been.

The last is a fascinating feature on some "road not taken" aspects of Wembury's regional history. One describes how the landscape east of Plymouth Sound escaped extensive suburban development due to World War Two. The other tells how, in 1909, the House of Lords rejected a proposed bill - The Wembury (Plymouth) Commercial Dock and Railway Bill - to incorporate a company to put into action a well-backed plan for converting Wembury Bay into what would now be called a "megaport" to accommodate ocean liners too large for Plymouth.

The Society's site is wemburyhistory.org.uk.

- RG