WEMBURY IN KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF 1939

The Church of St. Werburgh, situated close to the sea and at some distance from the village, is a plain building of local stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing five bells. In the church are several monuments, including one dated 1677 to the family of Calmady, and another on the north side of the chancel, and dated to Sir John Hele and his family; there are three parclose screens; the carved oak litany desk is a memorial to the Rev. A. H. Duxbury MA, Vicar 1923 - 1937: the church was restored and reseated in 1886 at a cost of £3,500, and affords 280 sittings. The register of Baptisms and Burials dates from the year 1611 and Marriages from 1612. The living is a perpetual curacy, net yearly value £350,  in the gift of the dean and chapter of Windsor and held since 1937 by the Rev. Charles ffoliot Young MA of Trinity College, Dublin. One of the ancestors of Vincent Calmody esq. in 1682 bequeathed £500, now £22 3s. 10d in Consols to the church, the interest on which is distributed in bread, coals and clothing. There are almshouses for six aged persons, with chapel attached, erected 1682 by Sir Warwick Hele.

Detail from the Hele memorial in

St. Werburgh's Church, Wembury

Sir John Hele and his wife lie above with a little girl at the wife's feet. The effigies below represent their other children

©Richard J. Brine

Langdon Court, a mile and a quarter distant, up to the time of the Dissolution, belonged to the Priory of Plympton; the house was built in 1577 by the families of Pollexfen and Calmady. Wembury House was built for Sir John Hele, and was originally much larger than at present; it is occupied by Mrs. Cecil F. A. Walker. Thorn, the residence of E. G. Stanley Esq. is a mansion overlooking the estuary of the river Yealm, and possesses shrubberies regarded as being among the finest in England.

The soil is loamy; subsoil is clay and slate. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and turnips. The area is 3131 acres of land, 2 of water, 30 of tidal water and 237 of foreshore. The population in 1931 was 596.

DOWN THOMAS, 1 mile north-west, and KNIGHTON, north-east, are hamlets. HEYBROOK BAY  situated in Wembury Parish, is about one mile south of Down Thomas hamlet. There is a Methodist Chapel at Down Thomas.

Post, Money and Telegraph office at Wembury. Letters through Plymouth.

Post office, Down St. Thomas. Letters through Plymouth.

Ayre, Paymaster Captain Leslie, OBE, RN, Four Corners

Bramwells, Emile Henry, Langdon Lodge

Case, Rev. Joshua John (Group-captain RAF), Boveysand Lodge

Church, Commander Edward, RN (ret.) Bay Cottage

Stanley, E. Gerald, MS; FRCS, Thorn

Walker, Mrs. Cecil, F. A, Wembury House

Young, Rev. Charles ffoliot, MA; (Vicar), The Vicarage

COMMERCIAL

Andrews, Lewis, farmer, Langdon Barton

Blampey, Emily (Mrs.), shopkeeper, Wembury Road.

Body, Harry Libby, farmer, Mount Pleasant, Langdon

Bolt, Harold, café, Heybrook Bay

Brown, Vera (Miss), shopkeeper and post office

Camps Café, (proprietor R. Stansell) Heybrook Bay

Coleman, John, blacksmith

Cundy, Richard & Sons, farmers, Raneleigh

Deddes, Dorothea, (Mrs.) SCM, district nurse, Church Road

Giles, Robert Pitts, farmer, Down Thomas

Hannaford, William H, builder, Bay View, Church Road

Henby, Benjamin James N, farmer, Higher Ford Farm

Heybrook Bay Estate office (R. A. Stansell, prop.)

Heybrook Bay Lido Ltd. Heybrook Bay.

Joliffe, Reginald Richard, builder & contractor, Church Road

Jubilee Inn (licensee Alfred Perring)

Lamerton, Mark, shopkeeper

Lugar, Henry Owen, farmer, Gabber Farm, Down Thomas

Merralls, Sydney G, guest house, Heybrook Bay

Mill Café, (Mrs. Lily Little, prop.) Wembury Beach

Nelder, Arthur, farmer, New Barton

New Inn (licensee Edward Wilcox)

Newton, J. W & Son, motor omnibus props., Down Thomas

Pursley, John, farmer, Old Barton Farm

Pursley, Richard, farmer, Langdon Home Farm

Repath, John Henry, shopkeeper, Down Thomas

Serjeant, Arthur William, coal and coke distributor, Church Road

Shepherd, George Henry, farmer, Train Farm

Sherrell, George, farmer, Manor Farm, Down Thomas

Sherwill, Maurice John, farmer, Knighton Farm

Smallridge, John Henry, farmer, West Wembury Farm

Smiths Bovisand Refreshment Hut, Bovisand

Stansell's Acetylene Co. Ltd, Heybrook Bay

Stumbles, Henry James, farmer, Spirewell Farm

Wembury Bay Guest House (Mrs. Roper, prop.)

Wembury Point Bathing Pool (R. B. Stansell, prop)

Wembury Point Holiday Camp Ltd

Wembury Point Social and Sports Club (J. Stansell, sec.)

Wembury Quarry Co., quarry owners

Wilson, James, farmer, Pages Farm

Woolf, Mary E. (Mrs.) shopkeeper, Wembury Stores.