OS grid reference SS315245 Country England Post town BIDEFORD Shire county Devon Dialling code 01237 | Region South West Sovereign state United Kingdom Local time Tuesday 3:25 PM District Torridge UK parliament constituency Torridge and West Devon | |
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Population 443 - Whole parish (2011) Weather 9°C, Wind S at 31 km/h, 86% Humidity | ||
Clovelly (/kləˈvɛli/) is a small village in the Torridge district of Devon, England. It has a harbour and is a tourist attraction notable for its steep pedestrianised cobbled main street, donkeys and views over the Bristol Channel. At the 2011 census, the parish population was 443, which was 50 fewer than ten years previously. The ward of Clovelly Bay includes the island of Lundy.
Contents
Map of Clovelly, Bideford, UK
History
North west of the village is the site of the Iron Age hillfort at Windbury Head. Clovelly used to be a fishing village and in 1901 had a population of 621. It is a cluster of largely wattle and daub cottages on the sides of a rocky cleft; its steep main street descends 400 feet (120 m) to the pier, too steeply to allow wheeled traffic. Sledges are used for the movement of goods. All Saints' Church, restored in 1866, is late Norman, containing several monuments to the Cary family, Lords of the Manor for 600 years.
Unusually, the village is still privately owned and has been associated with only three families since the middle of the 13th century, nearly 800 years. The estate is run by the Clovelly Estate Company, led by the Hon. John Rous, a descendant of the Hamlyn family who have owned the village, estate and manor house Clovelly Court since 1738. John Rous is the eldest son of Keith Rous, the 5th Earl of Stradbroke and Mary Asquith, granddaughter of former Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith. The scenery has been captured by artists for its richness of colour, especially in the separately accessed and separated Clovelly Court and along The Hobby, a road cut through the woods and overlooking the sea. The South West Coast Path National Trail runs from the top of the village and the section from Clovelly to Hartland Quay is particularly spectacular.
Buildings
Each of the buildings along the terraced cobbled street is architecturally listed: more than 50 of these 71 are on the main street itself. Only seven buildings are not listed. At Grade II*, are numbers 16, and 45-47, 53-54, (53 has the house name Crazy Kate's) and 59-61. There are two public houses and two hotels.
Lifeboat station
The village has an RNLI lifeboat station with its boat the Toby Rundle installed in 2014.
Access
There is a road leading to the harbour but the village main street is not accessible by motor vehicle. The lack of vehicular access to the main street has led to deliveries being made by sledge. This is not done as a tourist attraction, but as a matter of practicality. Goods are delivered by being pulled down on a sledge from the upper car park, and refuse is collected by being pulled down the hill to a vehicle at the harbour.
The village is served by Stagecoach bus service 319; the route includes Barnstaple, Bideford and Hartland.
Cultural tradition
An 18th century chapbook entitled The History of John Gregg and his Family of Robbers and Murderers explains that "Chovaley" (i.e. Clovelly) was once the home of a tribe of cannibalistic bandits. It is alleged that Gregg and his extended family of dozens were eventually tracked down by bloodhounds and were burnt alive in three fires. They were said to have lived in "a cave near the sea-side" and had committed some 1,000 murders. Although the story is fiction, writer Daniel Codd observes that a stretch of Clovelly Bay is called "the Devil's Kitchen"—"an apt name indeed if there is any truth in the ghoulish story of the Gregg family".