Beer, Devon

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Beer
Beach at Beer, with Beer Head behind (April 2006)
Beer Location within Devon
Area	6.7 km2 (2.6 sq mi) [1]
Population	1,317 (2011)
• Density	197/km2 (510/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SY2289
Civil parish	Beer [2]
District	East Devon
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SEATON
Postcode district	EX12
Dialling code	01297
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Honiton and Sidmouth
List of places UK England Devon 50°41′53″N 3°05′35″W / 50.698°N 3.093°W / 50.698; -3.093

Beer is a seaside village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England.^[3] The village faces Lyme Bay and is a little over 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the town of Seaton. It is situated on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and its picturesque cliffs, including Beer Head, form part of the South West Coast Path.^[4][5]

At the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,317.^[6]

Beer is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, at which time it was located within Colyton hundred and had 28 households.^[7] Its name is not derived from the drink, but from the Old English word bearu, meaning "grove" and referring to the original forestation that surrounded the village.^[8]

It is a coastal village that grew up around a smugglers' cove and caves which were once used to store contraband goods. These are now part of the attraction of the village.

Beer is home to a cave complex, the Beer Quarry Caves, resulting from the quarrying of Beer stone. This stone has been prized since Roman times, because of its workability for carving and for its gentle yellow colour on exposure to air. Beer stone was used in the construction of 24 cathedrals ^[9] around the UK, including Exeter Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, and was also used in the building of Christchurch Cathedral, St.Louis. Missouri, United States. Bovey House, an Elizabethan manor house, is a mile inland.

Historically, the main sources of income for the village included fishing and lace production.^[10]

Bacteria taken from cliffs at Beer on the south coast were launched to the International Space Station in 2008. The Beer microbes were placed on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Technology Exposure Facility and were sent up still sitting on, and in, small chunks of cliff rock from the Jurassic Coast. After 553-days scientists found that many were still alive. The survivors are now reproducing in a laboratory. This was part of an experiment to study the survival of microbes (which naturally live on the stone) in extreme conditions. A new species of cyanobacteria was isolated at the Open University that could be used in future space settlements on the Moon and Mars to produce oxygen and break down rocks.^[11]

Nowadays, the sources of income are mainly tourism and fishing. Beer is also the home of the Pecorama (run by the PECO model railway manufacturer), which includes pleasure gardens and the Beer Heights Light Railway.

The shape of the coastline allowed local seafarers to operate in weather conditions when other towns could not, because it is protected from the prevailing westerly winds by Beer Head and the chalk cliffs which are the westernmost outcrop of limestone on the southwest coast.^[12] Boats are winched up the beach as there is no harbour, and fresh fish is sold nearby. Nowadays small electrically-driven winches using steel cables or tractors are located on the beach to haul boats in. Higher up is an old manual capstan operated by up to 20 men, now disused.

Many of the buildings are faced with flint, a hard glassy stone found in the local chalk rock.^[13]

A brook winds its way in an open conduit alongside the main road down to the sea.

Beer has a steep pebble beach.

Beer is just off the A3052 which links Exeter to the West and Lyme Regis to the East.

Beer's nearest railway station is Axminster railway station, around 9 miles (14 km) away, which is on the Exeter to Waterloo line. There is a bus link from the rail station to Beer.

The bus services in the village are provided by locally based AVMT Buses who run services to many of the nearby towns and villages including Seaton, Axminster, Branscombe, Sidmouth, and Colyton.

• William George Aston (1841–1911), Irish diplomat and writer, died in Beer.
• Frederick T Durrant (1895–c. 1979), organist, born in Beer.
• Richard Gush (1789–1858), 1820 Settler, was born in Beer.
• Rowland Molony (born 1946), poet and novelist, lives in Beer.
• Charles William Peach (1800–1886), naturalist and geologist, lived in Beer.
• Jack Rattenbury (1778–1844), smuggler, was born in Beer.
• William Henry Woodgate (1827–1877), murderer, was born in Beer
• Innes FitzGerald (2006– ), athlete, brought-up in Beer^[14][15]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beer, Devon.

• Beer and Seaton Geology
• BBC heritage walk subpage
• Beer Parish Council Archived 13 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• Beer Village Website