Exciting new Museum displays about kite ballooning in 1917, and the Church Rocks Wreck

When: 04 July 2023 to 31 December 2024
Where: Teign Heritage, 29 French Street, Teignmouth TQ14 8ST
Time: 10.30 am - 3 pm
Cost: Normal admission charges apply
Suitable for: Family friendly

A spectacular Virtual Reality experience and a new interactive multimedia touchscreen about the local Church Rocks Wreck are two new displays for Museum visitors.

At a recent event to mark the end of this long-term project, Teign Heritage proudly presented the displays to invited local guests and representatives of the funders - Devon County Council, Historic England, and TIDE – EU Atlantic Consortium of Maritime Museums.

The VR experience lets viewers take on the challenging role of a ‘kite-balloon’ observer in 1917, flying in a balloon basket attached to a ship sailing down the Devon coast, hunting for U-boats. The simulated video shows how local First World War coastal defences protected British merchant ships and fishing vessels from German submarine attacks off the South Coast.  

When researching information about this VR project, Museum staff were surprised to find that there were as many as 8 ships torpedoed or mined off Teignmouth and more in Torbay. Local divers can dive on some of these wrecks, such as the wreck of the merchant ship Peronne, which sank in 1917. A very large gun from this ship was brought up by divers many years ago and is on display in the Museum.

The story of the Church Rocks Wreck off the beach in Teignmouth is amazing and still a mystery.  In 1975, a bronze cannon was initially discovered by 13-year-old Simon Burton, when he was out snorkeling and spearfishing with his father off St. Michael’s Church in Teignmouth.

At first, Simon thought it was a lamp-post in the water, but then found it was the barrel of a cannon! The family brought it ashore and then spent several years searching for more items to prove that there was a shipwreck under the shifting sands. Eventually, 6 cannons were found in all, and the remains of a wreck of a 16th-century sailing vessel.

At the time, Simon’s story became national news and he appeared on television in “Blue Peter”. Later in 1995, the Time Team made a programme about the wreck.

Now the Museum has installed a multimedia interactive screen that visitors can use to see filmed interviews with Simon, a short film made about the wreck by Shaldon School, photographs, research documents, and several maps of the coast and other wrecks.

Both the new displays are part of the permanent Sea Gallery at the Museum, which will be open till December 20^th.