The Pebble Ridge at Westward Ho! – the defence Northam Burrows has against the sea – was badly damaged by yesterday morning’s high tide.

The ridge, on which a £60,000 strengthening scheme is in progress, was flattened for much of its length and the Burrows extensively flooded.
The Burrows presented a desolate picture: the first and eighteenth fairways of the Royal North Devon Golf Club course were completely under water and there was extensive flooding on other parts of the Burrows where the sea had swept in over the flattened Ridge. The course was closed. ‘We can claim to be the only genuine sea-washed links in the country’ commented the RNDGC secretary, Mr John Linaker.
Under the scheme now in hand 40 additional groynes were being installed and this part of the work has now completed. ‘Unfortunately the damage occurred where the re-charging work had not been completed’ said Mr Barber.
Earlier in the week the emergency pumps installed on Bideford river bank were in action and successfully dispelled a possible build-up of flood water in the Kenwith valley.
The full Gazette article is dated 31 January 1975.