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Summary

Human bones found at the back of Rapparee Cove beach in 1997. The recovered bones represent at least three individuals, two adults and a child. The bones were found in loose material deriving from an area of slippage, formerly retained by a stone wall that collapsed some years ago. It is thought that the bones may be the remains of local fishermen or victims of a wrecks.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS54NW/147/1

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BURIAL (XVIII - 1796 AD (Between) to 1796 AD (Between))

Full description

Mills, A., 1995 - 2009, The Wreck of the London at Rapparee Cove, Ilfracombe - Summary of Historical Evidence (Un-published). SDV346521.

Human bones found at the back of Rapparee Cove beach in February 1997. A number of bones recovered together with nodules of lime and an iron object. The latter was found in a cleft in the cliffs some yards from the bones. The recovered bones represent at least three individuals, two adults and a child. The bones were found in loose material deriving from an area of slippage, formerly retained by a stone wall that collapsed some years ago. There is no evidence of archaeological remains in the face of the slippage. It is thought that the bones may be victims of the London which was wrecked in October 1796. A number of jumbled bones were also found at Rapparee Cove in 1856.

Blue, L, 1997, Maritime archaeology in Britain and Ireland 1996 (Article in Serial). SDV361583.

Rapparee Cove near Ilfracombe. Graves, bones and fetters exposed on the shore. Thought to belong to The London.

Collings, A. G. + Manning, P. T. + Valentin, J., 2007, The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Phase 1. Archaeological Survey. Summary Report, No. 1458 (Report - Assessment). SDV339712.

Human bones of at least three individuals, two adults and a child found at the back of Rapparee Cove beach in 1997 in area of slippage. Possible victims of wreck Londoner which foundered 1796. Many bones found in the same cove in 1856.

National Monument Record, 2014, Pastscape, 878080 (Website). SDV355682.

A number of contemporary newspaper reports including the Exeter Flying Post, the Sherborne Mercury and the Chronical reported on the wreck of the London in 1796. One such report wrote, 'This evening a very melancholy accident happened at Ilfracombe: a ship called the LONDON, from St. Kitts [sic] having on board a considerable number of blacks (French prisoners) was driven on the rocks, near the entrance of the pier, by a violent gale of wind, by which about 50 of the prisoners were drowned; those who got on shore exhibited a most wretched spectacle; and the scene altogether was too shocking for description'.

Two hundred years later, in 1997, newspapers reported that human bones were discovered when part of a sea wall at Rapparee Beach collapsed. The bones are undergoing DNA analysis by Bristol University archaeologists in the hope they can identify where the people originated from and if indeed they belonged to the London, other wrecks, or local fishermen. Please see the report for further details.

Historic England, 2022, Historic England Research Record, 1078671 (Website). SDV365221.

A number of human bones were found on the beach at Rapparee Cove in 1997. It has been suggested that they belong to the victims of the wreck of the London, wrecked at Rapparee Cove in 1796, a cartel or prisoner-of-war exchange ship, bringing French prisoners back from St. Lucia or St. Kitts during the Napoleonic Wars. Subsequent DNA testing, which remains unpublished was inconclusive but sugessted that the bones were those of white European origin and may be the remains of local fishermen or from other known wrecks at Rapparee Cove such as the wreck carrying the original 'rapparees' (Irish Jacobite soldiers), lost in 1691, or the wreck of a Portuguese vessel, the Bom Successo, wrecked in 1780. Please see the report for further details.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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