Woody Bay is a bay on the North Devon coast of England, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Lynton and 8 miles (13 km) east of Combe Martin with a stony beach. It lies in the civil parish of Martinhoe at the edge of the Exmoor National Park and is a waypoint on the South West Coast Path.
Location
1 explorer visited this place
1.4 km
Martinhoe is a small settlement and civil parish in North Devon district of Devon, England. Martinhoe is within the Exmoor National Park, the smallest National Park in England. In the 2011 census Martinhoe Parish was recorded as having a population of 159. Martinhoe is in the Combe Martin ward, for elections to the district council. Martinhoe's local government takes the form of a parish meeting and as such has no parish council nor elected parish councillors.
The northern boundary of the parish is the coast of the Bristol Channel, along which goes the South West Coast Path. The neighbouring parishes are Lynton and Lynmouth to the east, Parracombe to the south, Kentisbury to the south west, and Combe Martin to the west.
The parish church of St Martin dates in part from the late 13th or early 14th century and is Grade II* listed. It is in the Diocese of Exeter, and services are held once a month. The boundaries of the church consist of Devon hedges.
St Martin's churchyard once had two mature Irish Yew Trees, but one was lost in the winter storms of 2021. The one remaining is adjacent to the old rectory. Two English Yew tree saplings were planted in 2022.
There are 16 listed buildings in the parish, all at Grade II except the church. The Beacon Roman fortlet, above the coast to the north west of the village, was occupied for a short time in the first century AD and was excavated in the 1960s. The fort can only be accessed from the South West Coast Path and not from the Martinhoe settlement itself.
Hannington Hall, opposite the church of St Martin, was named after James Hannington, a curate of Martinhoe and who lived in what is now The Old Rectory Hotel, next to St Martin's. Bishop Hannington was martyred in Uganda in 1885. A new access path was added to Hannington Hall in August 2024.
Hilda Doolittle and her husband Richard Aldington moved into the Martinhoe School House in 1916 and she wrote many of her poems and essays there.
Woody Bay on the coast of the parish was the site of a failed development plan in the 1890s. It is now home to rare flora. Woody Bay is owned by the National Trust.
Heddon Valley is in the Martinhoe Parish. The valley is home to rare butterflies. The valley is owned by the National Trust.
The River Heddon flows through the Heddon Valley into the Bristol Channel at Heddon Mouth where there is an old lime kiln.
The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway ran through the southern part of the parish, and Woody Bay railway station is in the parish; at 964 feet it is said to be the highest railway station in southern England. The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust operates narrow gauge trains over one mile of track between the station and Killington Lane. The service runs mainly in the warmer months but has a Santa Express at Christmas. It recently had planning permission to extend the line to the Blackmoor Gate.
Hollow Brook Waterfall, that can be seen from the South West Coast Path, which drops to the sea due north of the village, is claimed to be "the westcountry's [sic] highest coastal waterfall, and one of the highest in Britain", dropping 210 metres in a series of falls including two of 50 metres, over 400 metres horizontal distance.
1.8 km
Lee Abbey, founded in 1946, is an ecumenical Christian community between Woody Bay and Lynmouth in Devon, England. It is a Grade II listed building.
The first building on the site may have been a farmhouse built by Cistercian abbots of Forde Abbey around 1200. The current Gothic Revival buildings are from the 1850s. In the 1920s it was bought and used unsuccessfully as a hotel. During World War II a boys' school was evacuated to Lee Abbey. After the war the dilapidated buildings were bought for use as a Christian retreat, and extensive building work has taken place from the 1950s to the present day.
The site now offers retreats, group weekends and Christian family holidays. The community also has accommodation in London.
There is a beach with parking, and there are wash rooms, a tea shop and an occasional shop.
2.5 km
Heddon's Mouth is a rocky cove on the coast of North Devon, England, about a mile down the River Heddon from the Hunter's Inn. It is preserved for the nation by the National Trust.
In previous times it was a popular venue for smugglers, but is now a popular destination for Ramblers. In 1885 a Mr E.D. Weedon was awarded the Royal Humane Society’s Bronze Medal for saving the life of Mr T. Groves at the locality. In 1923 a pleasure steamer that had just left Ilfracombe broke its rudder and began to drift out to sea, but was towed to the cove and its 400 passengers safely decanted.
The cove is so isolated that during World War II, a German U-Boat captain was able to allow his men ashore in search of fresh water supplies and relaxation without fear of detection.
2.8 km
Woody Bay, within the Exmoor National Park, is a station on the former Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, a narrow gauge line that ran through Exmoor from Barnstaple to Lynton and Lynmouth in North Devon. The station was situated inland, about 1 1/2 miles from Woody Bay itself.
3.5 km
Killington Lane is a temporary terminus about one mile southwest of Woody Bay on the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, the narrow gauge line that originally ran for 19 miles through Exmoor from Barnstaple to Lynton and Lynmouth in North Devon.
There were once plans to develop the area to become a holiday resort. Access to the remote beach is via a very narrow one mile long steep lane, there is no parking. Around the headland is Lee Abbey Bay that is on the Lee Abbey Estate. This has an accessible beach with parking.
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