Burrator is a

grouped parish council A parish council is a civil local authority found in England, which is the lowest tier of local government. Parish councils are elected corporate bodies, with variable tax raising powers, and they carry out beneficial public activities in geogr ...

in the English county of

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 ...

. It is entirely within the boundaries of the

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 ...

National Park and was formed in 1973 as a result of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

from the older councils of

Meavy Meavy is a small village, civil parish and former manor in the English county of Devon. Meavy forms part of the district of West Devon. It lies a mile or so east of Yelverton. The River Meavy runs near the village. For administrative purposes ...

, Sheepstor and Walkhampton. The parish has an area of 59.45 km² (23 sq miles), and is one of the most sparsely populated. The population count in 2001 found that 1,540 people lived in the parish. The parish coincides with the similarly named electoral ward, and at the 2011 census the population had decreased to 1,445. The ward contains the villages of Dousland,

, Sheepstor and Walkhampton, and also Burrator Reservoir which is the main water supply for

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. The parish is twinned with the municipality of Mathieu, in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, France. Burrator Parish Council holds the ownership of the Royal Oak Inn at Meavy, which dates back to the 16th Century. The Inn is leased to a tenant publican and the council's ownership and administration of the Inn is managed by its Royal Oak Inn committee, composed of Meavy parish councillors. The parish of Burrator is named after Burra Tor, a large

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor ...

that is exposed from the field to the woodland by the dam; located at Grid Reference 553679 at the southern end of the reservoir and about halfway between its two dams blocking the outlets to the River Meavy and the Sheepstor Brook.

James Brooke James Brooke (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajahs, White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was born and ra ...

, the first white

Rajah of Sarawak The White Rajahs of Sarawak were a hereditary monarchy of the Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak as a sovereign state, located on the northwest coast of the island of Borneo in Maritime Southeast Asia, from 1841 to 1946. Of ...

, died in Burrator.Barley, p. 228.

References

External links

Burrator Parish Council
Dartmoor Local government in Devon Tors of Dartmoor {{UK-geology-stub

References

Further reading

External links