Strete

{{Short description|Village in Devon, England}}

{{other uses}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox UK place

| country = England

| official_name = Strete

| coordinates = {{coord|50.310|-3.629|display=inline,title}}

| population = 474

| population_ref = (2011)

| shire_county = Devon

| shire_district = South Hams

| civil_parish = Strete

| region = South West England

| constituency_westminster = Totnes

| post_town = Dartmouth

| postcode_district = TQ6

| postcode_area = TQ

| dial_code = 01803

| static_image = Centre of Strete - geograph.org.uk - 1359456.jpg

| static_image_width = 240px

| static_image_caption = Looking down Church Hill, Strete

| os_grid_reference = SX841469

}}

Strete is a coastal village and civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, England, on the coast of Start Bay, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The village is about 5 miles south-west of the town of Dartmouth on the A379 road between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge, atop the cliffs behind Pilchard Cove at the north end of Slapton Sands,Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Outdoor leisure Map 20 which part of the beach is known locally as Strete Sands.{{cite web

|url=http://www.strete.org.uk/minutesapril.html

|title=Minutes of Strete Parish Council, 16 April 2015 (section 0414/10)

|access-date=28 July 2015}} The northern end of the beach has been a naturist beach for many years.{{cite web

|url=http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/clothes-free/beach/Slapton_Sands_South_Devon.shtml

|title=Clothes Free / Naturist / Nudist Beaches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - Slapton Sands - South Devon

|publisher=Saturday Walkers' Club

|access-date=31 August 2015}}

The parish of Strete was created out of the south-eastern part of Blackawton parish in 1935.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10078349|title=Relationships and changes Strete CP/Ch through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|access-date=16 December 2020}} There was a small medieval chapel of ease in the village until 1836 when the present church, dedicated to St Michael, was built on the same site, incorporating the chapel's tower.{{cite book

|title=The Buildings of England — Devon

|author=Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus

|publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth

|pages=770|year=1989 |isbn=0-14-071050-7}}

The population of the parish was 520 in 2001,{{Cite book

| last = Harris| first = Helen

| title = A Handbook of Devon Parishes

| publisher = Halsgrove| location = Tiverton| year = 2004

| page = 163| isbn = 1-84114-314-6}} decreasing to 474 in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11129236&c=Strete&d=16&e=62&g=6416596&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1428315745072&enc=1|title=Parish population 2011|access-date=6 April 2015}} Its western boundary is formed, in part, by the Gara Brook which separates it from the parish of Slapton, and it also has boundaries with the parishes of Blackawton and Stoke Fleming.{{cite web

|url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf

|title=Map of Devon Parishes

|publisher=Devon County Council

|access-date=27 July 2015}} The Gara Brook flows into the Higher Ley of Slapton Ley, part of which is in the parish and at the northern end of which is Strete Gate where there is a small, free and a larger, pay-and-display car park with access to Strete Sands and a woodland walk.{{cite web|url=http://www.southdevonaonb.org.uk/uploads/files/beach_guides/42_Strete_Gate.pdf|title=Teachers Beach Guide – Strete Gate|publisher=South Devon AONB|access-date=19 August 2015}}

The first documentary mention of the place was as Streta in 1194. In 1244 it was called Strete. The name derives from Old English Strǣt, meaning a road or Roman road; the village lies on an ancient trackway.{{cite book

|title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names

|last=Watts|first=Victor

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|edition=1st paperback|year=2010

|page=586|isbn=978-0-521-16855-7}} Donn's One-Inch map of 1765 records the village as Street,{{cite book

|last=Donn|first=Benjamin|author-link=Benjamin Donn

|title=A map of the County of Devon, 1765. Reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by W. L. D. Ravenhill.

|year=1965|publisher=Lund, Humphries|location=London}} which it remained until the late 19th century, when it was altered to be spelled Strete.{{efn|According to a District Council document published in 2009, the re-naming occurred in 1870,{{cite book

|title=Strete Conservation Area Appraisal

|publisher=South Hams District Council, July 2009

|url=http://www.southhams.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2070&p=0

|page=6

|access-date=1 August 2015}} but it is still shown as "Street" in White's Gazetteer of 1878.{{cite book

|last=White|first=William

|title=History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Devon

|pages=163–5|edition=2nd|year=1878

|publisher=Sheffield W. White

|url=https://archive.org/stream/historygazetteer00whituoft#page/164/mode/2up

}}}}

Strete was one of the parishes evacuated in December 1943 as part of Exercise Tiger.