East Prawle History Society
Encompassing the Chivelstone Parish and the surrounding districts
Wednesday 29 May: Tim Noyce - The Noyce Family from 1895

To see photographs click the links below:

Events - see our forthcoming events

New page: Coastguards/LSA Rocket Apparatus

RAF and the Wars

Farming

Fishing

Wrecks

Buildings

Transport (general)

Transport (horses)

Contact us

The photographs are stored on our database if further information on specific photographs is required.

In particular we have been researching the World War II period. If anyone has any photographs or can put us in touch with people who were at the RAF camp during the war we would be very pleased to hear from them.

We are also planning a project for people to research the history of their homes; to research the graveyard at St Sylvester's, Chivelstone, and many other projects are in the pipeline.

We have created a database, aided by the Cookworthy Museum in Kingsbridge, with all the photographs and documents, of any sort, catalogued in it. This display represents a fraction of our records so far. Any documents or photographs sent to us will be scanned and returned to their owners.

Photographs are subject to copyright and must not be copied, re-distributed or used without the owner's permission.

We have regular meetings held in the Chivelstone Community Hall in East Prawle. Everyone is welcome.

The parish of Chivelstone is in the district of South Hams, and the South Hams name comes from the old English word "hamme" or “hamm” meaning a low lying meadow or enclosed pasture. The South Hams is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a stunning coastline, rivers and estuaries, golden beaches and wonderful countryside.

Prawle Point is the southernmost tip of Devon – because of its position it has served as a lookout since ancient times, and appropriately enough, the word ‘Prawle’ is old English for ‘lookout’ or ‘look-out hill’ and must have been used in Saxon times.

It is quite possible that most of the farms date back to Saxon times, although evidence is lacking. The name of the parish, first recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, derives from Coefel’s farm, while Prawle may derive from Præwhyll, meaning a look-out hill, perhaps dating from the period of the Danish incursions.