POLICE are reminding people that Hallsands is private property and travelling down to the old village is dangerous.

PCSO Paul O’Dwyer, based in Kingsbridge, said: ‘With the success of the BBC’s The Coroner, which featured Hallsands in its second episode, and the upcoming 100 year anniversary of the destruction of the village, more people are breaking through the gate to get down to the old village.

‘The area is monitored by the police and is private property, so going down there is trespassing. Its also dangerous. The area is unstable and there are holes with vertical drops.

‘We want to encourage people to go and see Hallsands and make use of the viewing platform, but people should not be going through the gates, and we will be dealing robustly with people who do trespass.’

Hallsands was a small fishing village until it was destroyed by a storm in January 1917, with residents resting the blame at the feet of the dredging operation in 1987, when tonnes of shingle was removed to build Devonport Dockyard.

The Gazette led the day after the storm with the headline ‘The beach went to Devonport and the cottages went to the sea’.

January will mark 100 years since the village was destroyed.