Beacon Cove

Beacon Cove is a beach near Torquay in Devon located to the east of town, near The Imperial Hotel. Like the hotel, Beacon Cove is a landmark on the Agatha Christie Mile.

During Agatha Christie's youth, Beacon Cove was a ladies only beach. She describes in An Autobiography the intricacies of using the bathing machines at the Cove which were let into the water and allowed the ladies to change in private and step from the machines directly into the water. According to Christie, there was a raft in the water which one could aim for. Although Christie bathed in Beacon Cove frequently, she preferred the larger and wider Meadfoot Beach which was also one of the first beaches in Torquay where mixed-bathing was allowed.

Christie describes how she almost drowned once while swimming at Beacon Cove. She had been carrying her nephew Jack on her back as he was not able to swim confidently. However the water was choppy that day and she soon got into difficulty. She yelled to Jack to get off her and head for the raft which he finally did, although he did not understand what was happening. Christie was rescued by an old man she called the "old Sea-Horse", presumably an attendant or life-guard. He set out for her and pulled her into his boat. Christie recounts that they all thought highly of the old Sea-Horse thereafter. Of her near drowning experience, Christie said the overarching emotion was one of indignation. She had been told that when one was about to drown, one's whole past life parade through and one could hear beautiful music. Only for her, there was no past life and no beautiful music, only blackness and the thought of getting air into the lungs.

This near drowning incident possibly provided the inspiration for the backstory of Vera Claythorne in And Then There Were None.

Beacon Cove circa 1890s. The bathing machines are typical of what Agatha Christie would have used. In the centre is the Imperial Hotel. End House is unfortunately covered by trees. Note to the right a small structure by the sea. This is at the end of a descent leading to the sea from the Coastal Path above. Perhaps this is the place mentioned by Nick Buckley: "There’s a scrambly cliff path down to the sea. I go down that way to bathe. There’s a rock you can dive off. A boulder got dislodged somehow and came roaring down just missing me."

External links

• Lisa Waller Rogers, "Agatha Christie: Swimming in Lead Chains", Lisa's History Room (blog), 22 Apr 2014. URL - has photos and a detailed description of the kind of swimming Agatha Christie would have experienced.