Bridestowe () is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
and village in the district of
West Devon
West Devon is a local government district with borough status in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tavistock, the borough's largest town. The borough also includes the towns of Hatherleigh, North Tawton and Okehampton, along with nume ...
,
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, England. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of
Bratton Clovelly,
Sourton,
Bridestowe and Sourton Common,
Lydford,
Lewtrenchard
Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers h ...
and
Thrushelton.
The village is 6 miles south-west of
Okehampton
Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...
on the edge of
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...
and on the
A30 main road. It has a primary school, pre-school, village stores and post office, a number of public houses and accommodation providers, Methodist chapel and village hall.
Landmarks
The parish church,
St Bridget's Church, is mostly 13th and 15th century, with a west tower and some fragments of Norman work. It is dedicated to the Irish
Saint Bride or Bridget, who is depicted in one of the stained glass windows, and from whom the place-name is derived. The church's distinctive gateway is described in
White's Directories as "a fine Norman arch".
The village contains the
Georgian mansion Millaton House, the childhood home of
Lord Carrington
Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...
which served as a hospital run by American soldiers during the Second World War. Also within the parish are an
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
mansion
Great Bidlake, the seat of the Bidlake family since 1268, and disused mine-workings which once produced
lead
Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
.
Bridestowe railway station was opened in 1874 and closed in 1968, together with the stretch of line from
Okehampton station to
Bere Alston.
Today
The town has a
parish council which meets monthly. The local paper is the Bridestowe and Sourton Extra.
In 2021 the population of the parish was 656, compared with 457 in 1901.
There is an electoral ward with the same name; its population at the 2011 census was 1610.
References
External links
Bridestowe village websiteBridestowe at GENUKIBridestowe census transcripts
{{Devon parishes
Villages in the Borough of West Devon