Church Rocks Wreck
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Church Rocks Wreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nearest coast | England | official dataset |
| Position | 50.5491, -3.4873 | Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3) |
| Protected Wreck | List entry 1000064 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1977-08-03 | Historic England |
| Restricted area | 2.69 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SX 94725 73210 | Historic England |
About the wreck
The remains of an unknown wreck were discovered on Church Rocks, off Teignmouth in 1975. The site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 3 August 1977. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
Diving & visiting
This is a designated Protected Wreck under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Under the Act, diving on or otherwise interfering with the wreck inside its restricted area requires a licence; see the Historic England list entry for details.
The site is the wreck of a late sixteenth century armed cargo vessel. It is believed to be that of a Venetian trading galley dating to after 1582 based on recovered artefacts. The identity of the wreck is unknown.
The site was discovered in 1975 approximately 150 m off-shore. Although the site was designated in 1977, prohibiting removal of artifacts without authorization, 120 round shot, six guns, three anchors, pottery shards, a gold seal, nails, a steelyard weight, and copper alloy pots were recovered from the site between 1975 and 1983. In 1996, the site was featured in an episode of UK archaeology programme Time Team.
In 2009, Historic England provided funding for conservation work for a number of artefacts recovered from the wreck.
Location
- Recorded position: 50.5491, -3.4873 (Historic England Protected Wreck Sites, listed latitude/longitude (OGL v3); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: England
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Church Rocks Wreck (revision 1243334815), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “The wreck”, “Discovery and investigation”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Protected Wreck data © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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