Stokenham () is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district, in the county of Devon, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 1,895.
Pronunciation
For the great majority of towns in England with names ending in -ham the suffix is very weakly pronounced as /əm/ and the stress is always earlier in the word. In Birmingham, for example, the stress is on the first syllable. Stokenham is a clear exception, with the -ham fully enunciated and stressed.
Places in the parish
As well as Stokenham the civil parish includes the settlements of
Torcross,
Beesands,
Hallsands, Kellaton, Kernborough, Dunstone, Beeson and Chillington and Bickerton.
[ Stokenham Parish Council] It forms part of the
South Hams.
History
The village of Stokenham was known in Saxon Times as Stoc or
Stoc Hamme ("meaning Stoc meadows").
[ Stokenham Devon England Photos.] By the 13th century the town was called Stoke in Hamme.
[ Stokenham at Devon County Council website.] An
electoral ward has the same name. The ward population at the 2011 census was 1,895.
In Mediaeval times St. Humbert the Confessor (d.1188AD)[Nicholas Orme, English Church Dedications: With a Survey of Cornwall and Devon (University of Exeter Press, 1996) page 24] was locally veneration as patron saint in the town.
The area was known in the 19th century for the fine crabs, and in World War II local residents were evacuated from the area, on the eve of D-day.
Geography
To the east of the parish is
Start Bay in the
English Channel. The principal road in the parish is the A379 running between the nearest towns of
Kingsbridge (to the west) and Dartmouth to the north.
Local landmarks
The parish church
The present church dates from 1431;
[ Stokenham Devon England Photos.] an earlier
Normans church predated it.
[ Stokenham Parish Church website.]
"The church as it stands today, is a fine example of the perpendicular style of medieval architecture. It is built on the side of a hill so that its whole length can be seen from below and is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, which was common practice for churches standing on elevated sites. It was, however, dedicated to St Barnabas and prior to that to St Humbert the Confessor."[ The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Stokenham at Geograph.org.uk.]
Stokenham manor house
Immediately to the east of the
church building is the site of Stokenham
manor house, abandoned in 1585 but possibly dating back to at least the 12th century.
[ Excavations and Survey around the Village of Stokenham, Devon Department of Archaeology, The University of Exeter.]
Local pub
The Tradesman's Arms is an imposing 14th-century, part-
pub and restaurant.
On the 27 September 2021, a fire believed to have originated in the kitchen destroyed much of the pub alongside three neighbouring homes. The Tradesman's Arms was repaired having undergone a three-year restoration and building reconstruction, along with the fire damaged adjoining cottages which all reopened in May 2024.
