Baggy Point

Baggy Point is the Southern Headland that encloses Woolacombe Bay. It is longer, wider and generally higher at 300ft than its Northern neighbour Morte Point and with a greater proportion of cultivated land. At its base and located at the southern most end of Woolacombe Bay is Putsborough. Form Baggy Point you can view the whole of Woolacombe Bay and looking to the south the larger Bideford and Barnstaple Bay.

The thin, acidic soils, swept by salt winds from the Atlantic are inhospitable to all but the hardiest of plants growing in an intricate tapestry of grassland, heath, gorse and scrub. Maritime plants such as thrift, sea campion and wild carrot thrive in these conditions, as do a range of maritime grasses, predonvinantly red fescue. This grassland is particularly well-developed around the Baggy Point cliff slopes, which in spring and early summer are ablaze with flowers.

Baggy Point is very different in character from Morte Point. On Baggy, the path climbs higher as one nears the Point, with vertical cliffs dropping precipitously away, until suddenly the end of land is reached with the sea way below. The west-facing cliffs are the haunt of seabirds: herring gull, fulmar, shag, cormorant and occasionally peregrine are known to nest here. Grey seals are regularly seen offshore. Down below is Baggy Leap, a shoal running north-westwards from the end of the Point. In 1799 the H.M.S. Weazle was driven onto it during a severe gale, and all 106 people on board were drowned. One of the guns from the 'Weazle' was retrieved in 1996 by members of the local sub-aqua club and now stands outside the Cart Linhay Heritage Centre at Mortehoe.

The dangers of the sea are not just a thing of the past. A little inland from the top of the Point is a wreck post, a tall white post with steps, which was used in coastguard training exercises to simulate the mast of a ship.

The coastline from Baggy Point south to Saunton Sands is a magnificent sight. The rocks are about 370 million years old (Devonian) and include a wide range of sedimentary rock types such as sandstones, shales, slates and limestones. The bulk of these were probably laid down in shallow marine or brackish waters. Today, the effect is impressive and the coastline boasts rugged cliffs rising in places to 60m. There is evidence of the past stresses and pressures that have been at work here, with dramatic folding and fractures in the rocks being quite common.

Of particular interest are the signs of Ice Age activity in the area. Raised platforms cut by wave action at times of high sea levels are now home to a number of large boulders transported here by ice. Some of these may have been carried considerable distances. The most famous, the Saunton Pink Granite (SS 44013787), weighs in at 12 tonnes and is likely to have come all the way from the northwest highlands of Scotland. This can be viewe from the foreshore but if visiting the erratic please check the incoming tide as there is the risk of being cut off from the beach.

For further information see Devon County Council's geo-SAU.pdf

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