Mortehoe

Mortehoe is the most north-westerly village in Devon and its name, meaning raggy stump, reflects the rugged character of the Morte Peninsula. In this pretty stone-built village set on the cliff-top, Mortehoe’s part-Norman St Mary’s Church is certainly worth a visit. It’s a small cruciform building with a 15th-century open-timbered waggon roof, an interesting early 14th-century table tomb, a bell in the tower, which may be the oldest in Devon, and a wonderful series of grotesquely carved Tudor bench ends. The church is also notable for the large mosaic of 1905, which fills the chancel arch. Designed by Selwyn Image, the Slade Professor of Art at Oxford, the mosaic was created by the same craftsmen who did the mosaics in St Paul’s Cathedral.

In the village centre, the Mortehoe Heritage Centre occupies the Cart Linhay building and also serves as a local Tourist Information Centre. It contains a museum that has sections dealing with the local farming communities, the railway and the history of shipwrecks in the area,

A short walk from Mortehoe village leads you to the dramatic coastline, mortally dangerous to ships, but with exhilarating views across to Lundy Island. Much of this clifftop area is in the guardianship of the National Trust, which also protects nearby Barricane Beach (remarkable for being formed almost entirely of sea shells washed here from the Caribbean), and the three-mile stretch of Woolacombe Sands.