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     The village of Strete stands between 300’ and 450’ above sea level on a cliff above Start Bay with its wide sweep of shingle beaches between Start Point and the Mewstone, outside the mouth of the Dart.  The cliff is of “Dartmouth slate”, the oldest formation recognised in South Devon.

     It is possible that the name Strete or Street came from the ‘straight’ road running between the sea and Slapton Ley from Strete Gate to Torcross.  This road, known as the Line nowadays, was shown as a trackway between Street and Slapton Cellars in the early 16th century maps.  Strete Gate is so called because here was a gate to prevent cattle straying up the old road, Old Hill, into the village.  At Street Gate was the settlement known as Undercliffe or Underdown as local people have always known it.  This settlement consisted of about nineteen fishermen’s cottages, which were built at intervals along the beach towards Shiphill Rock.  No doubt the cottages were washed away by the encroachment of the sea.

Village centre in 1928

In 1870, Street became Strete to avoid confusion in the postal address with Street in Somerset.  In an ancient book “Poles Collection” it states – “Street taking his name from ye great highway which leadeth from t’east unto the west”.

Village centre (probably late 1930's)

     The sea has an influence on the climate and fish from the sea and the Ley must have been always available.  When farming was at a “low”, fishing became the chief occupation and must have been a godsend to local communities.  In this area it appears that permanently inhabited fishing villages emerged quite late between the 15th and 17th centuries at or near sites which had previously been uninhabited and seasonally called “cellar” settlements.  Salt pans were essential in preserving fish and in the Domesday Book it states that Blackawton had a saltern or salt works but this could only have been at or near Street Gate as only there did Blackawton parish touch the sea.  Before the second World War Strete had two seine boats owned by villagers and large catches of fish, mainly mackerel were made.  The boats fell into disrepair and the last big catch was in the 1950’s.

     Throughout the South Hams, farmsteads were built in the traditional style usually in a sheltered position using locally quarried stone and Strete was no exception.  Many houses, if not all in Strete prior to the 1930’s were constructed from slate or stone from the quarry at Goldswell on the Slapton side of the Gara Brook along Gull Valley.  This “Dartmouth slate” also provided a base for the foundation of the Line, which was macadamised in 1837.  The Gara Brook is the boundary between the parishes of Slapton and Strete.

     Until the 1830’s, villagers had to travel to Slapton, Stoke Fleming or Blackawton to attend Church but a Wesleyan Chapel had been built around 1820 and this Chapel is still in constant use.  The village and Chapelry of Street was in the parish of Blackawton and remained so until 1881 when Strete was made an independent ecclesiastical parish.  The two villages had one parish council until 1935, St Michael’s Church was built in the years 1836/7 at a cost of just below £1,000.

Strete School in 1939.

Can you see yourself or a relative?

      The National School (now the Laughing Monk restaurant) was built and opened in 1839 and was a Church school, subject to “Scripture Inspections” until the 1940’s.  A school photograph of 1880 showed 88 children and 2 teachers, of 1905 66 children and of 1938, 48 children.  The school closed in 1965 and children of primary school age now attend Stoke Fleming Primary School.

      The 1891 census showed a population of 392 for Strete and in 1911, 340, the decrease being blamed on emigration and the search for employment.  At present the population is in excess of 540.

Asherne staff outing June 1920

     In 1857 there were 2 butchers, 2 shoemakers, a tailor, blacksmith, 2 shopkeepers and 2 victuallers one in the Kings Arms and one in the New Inn.  By 1870 there were also a baker, masons/carpenters working for 2 builders and gentry listed as Mrs Packe of Asherne and Mr Henry Limbrey Toll at the Manor, Strete Gate.

     There were 3 farms in the village prior to the second World War – Cox’s Farm, Manor or Higher Farm and Strete Barton.  The 2 builders were the Wills and Edgecombe families, Charlie Wills was a cobbler and part-time postman and there were 2 shops and a Post Office.

  

Coronation Arch of 1937. Percy Skinner, Werryss Edgecombe, Arch Edgecombe, Bert Yalland, Albert Jeffery, boy - Ken Parnell

 

The old W.I. Reading Room and Smithy

destroyed during WW2