Hope Cove is a small seaside village within the civil parish of South Huish in South Hams

South Hams

South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England with its headquarters in the town of Totnes. It contains the towns of Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Salcombe — the largest of which is Ivybridge with a population of 16,056....

 District, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located some 5 miles west of Salcombe

Salcombe

Salcombe is a town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, built mostly on the steep west side of the estuary and lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

 and 5 miles south-west of 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 six miles south of the town.-History:The...

. It has two beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

es, and is sheltered by the headland of Bolt Tail

Bolt Tail

Bolt Tail is a headland in Devon, England. It is located immediately to the southwest of Hope Cove in the South Hams district, at grid reference ....

.

Historically, the village falls into two parts — Outer Hope and Inner Hope. Inner Hope fell within the parish of Malborough

Malborough

Malborough is a village located in the South Hams region of Devon. The village is located on the A381 between Kingsbridge and Salcombe, and is a popular village for tourists with many holiday homes located around the village....

 until the 1970s, when it was united with its neighbour on the other side of a small headland. Both parts of the village originally developed as centres for the local fishing industry. Hope also developed a reputation for smuggling

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 and for plundering wrecked ships.

In 1588, the ships of the Spanish Armada

Spanish Armada

This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

 passed the village as they moved up the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. After the Armada was defeated and headed back through storms, the San Pedro el Mayor, a transport ship fitted out as a hospital, was blown onto the rocks between Inner and Outer Hope. The 140 survivors were initially sentenced to death, but were eventually castrated and sent back to Spain.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 stationed a lifeboat at Hope Cove in 1878. The land for the boat house was donated by the Earl of Devon. Replacement boats were supplied in 1887, 1900 and 1903. All four boats were called the Alexandra. The station was closed in April 1930 by which time the neighbouring station at had been equipped with a motor lifeboat which could cover Bigbury Bay.

Since 1992 a rescue boat has been based in Inner Hope and was manned by volunteer Coastguards under the management of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the Cliff Rescue Team (CRT). The decision was made in 2010 that the MCA would no longer maintain any rescue boats in the UK. The Under Secretary for Transport recognised the ongoing need for this sea rescue facility in Bigbury Bay and gave the village the opportunity to run an Independent Life Boat. A public meeting was held in the village and unanimous support given to form a limited company and registered charity to achieve this. The village is now the proud owner of the 63rd Independent Life Boat in the UK and will work with the MCA and the RNLI to continue to meet their goal of Protecting and Preserving Life in Bigbury Bay. The operational area will run from Soar Mill Cove in the East to the mouth of the River Erme in the West and range 2 miles out to sea. It will also assist the RNLI boats from Salcombe and Plymouth outside of this area if requested. The website for the Hope Cove Life Boat is www.hopecovelifeboat.org and contains more information about the charity etc.

The village is now mainly devoted to tourism and was the setting for the 1985 cult British movie The Supergrass. The area lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

.

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