diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e1052630c..473f40b99 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2015-09-21  Dirk Eddelbuettel  <edd@debian.org>
+
+        * inst/include/Rcpp/String.h: Before assigning ensure we received
+        exactly one string argument
+
 2015-09-10  Dirk Eddelbuettel  <edd@debian.org>
 
         * DESCRIPTION: Release 0.12.1
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 8def0b7d6..e057e02b2 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: Rcpp
 Title: Seamless R and C++ Integration
-Version: 0.12.1
-Date: 2015-09-10
+Version: 0.12.1.1
+Date: 2015-09-21
 Author: Dirk Eddelbuettel, Romain Francois, JJ Allaire, Kevin Ushey, 
  Qiang Kou, Douglas Bates and John Chambers
 Maintainer: Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@debian.org>
diff --git a/inst/NEWS.Rd b/inst/NEWS.Rd
index 9199882ed..0413e393b 100644
--- a/inst/NEWS.Rd
+++ b/inst/NEWS.Rd
@@ -2,6 +2,16 @@
 \title{News for Package 'Rcpp'}
 \newcommand{\cpkg}{\href{http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=#1}{\pkg{#1}}}
 
+\section{Changes in Rcpp version 0.12.2 (expected 2015-11-01 or later)}{
+  \itemize{
+    \item Changes in Rcpp API:
+    \itemize{
+      \item Before creating a single String object from a \code{SEXP}, ensure
+      that it is from a vector of length one (issue #375)
+    }
+  }
+}
+      
 \section{Changes in Rcpp version 0.12.1 (2015-09-10)}{
   \itemize{
     \item Changes in Rcpp API:
diff --git a/inst/include/Rcpp/String.h b/inst/include/Rcpp/String.h
index 9825aeb3d..d49f2663d 100644
--- a/inst/include/Rcpp/String.h
+++ b/inst/include/Rcpp/String.h
@@ -72,11 +72,15 @@ namespace Rcpp {
 
         /** construct a string from a single CHARSXP SEXP */
         String(SEXP charsxp) : data(charsxp), valid(true), buffer_ready(false), enc(Rf_getCharCE(charsxp)) {
-            Rcpp_PreserveObject( data );
+            if (::Rf_isString(data) && ::Rf_length(data) != 1)
+                throw ::Rcpp::not_compatible("expecting a single value");
+            Rcpp_PreserveObject(data);
             RCPP_STRING_DEBUG( "String(SEXP)" ) ;
         }
 
         String(SEXP charsxp, const std::string& enc) : data(charsxp), valid(true), buffer_ready(false) {
+            if (::Rf_isString(data) && ::Rf_length(data) != 1)
+                throw ::Rcpp::not_compatible("expecting a single value");
             Rcpp_PreserveObject( data );
             set_encoding(enc);
             RCPP_STRING_DEBUG( "String(SEXP)" ) ;