Martinhoe is a small settlement and

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 ...

North Devon North Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

district 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 ...

, England. Martinhoe is within the

Exmoor Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simons ...

National Park, the smallest

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in England. In the 2011 census Martinhoe Parish was recorded as having a population of 159. Martinhoe is in the

Combe Martin Combe Martin () is a village, Civil parishes in England, civil parish and former Manorialism, manor on the North Devon coast about east of Ilfracombe. It is a small seaside resort with a sheltered cove on the northwest edge of the Exmoor Nati ...

ward, for elections to the district council. Martinhoe's local government takes the form of a

parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

and as such has no parish council nor elected parish councillors. The northern boundary of the parish is the coast of the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

, along which goes the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

. The neighbouring parishes are

Lynton and Lynmouth Lynton and Lynmouth is a civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The parish is named after its two main settlements of Lynton, which stands on a plateau above the Glen Lyn Gorge, and Lynmouth which lies at the foot of the g ...

to the east, Parracombe to the south, Kentisbury to the south west, and

to the west. The parish church of St Martin dates in part from the late 13th or early 14th century and is Grade II* listed. It is in the

Diocese of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Provinc ...

, and services are held once a month. The boundaries of the church consist of Devon hedges. St Martin's churchyard once had two mature Irish Yew Trees, but one was lost in the winter storms of 2021. The one remaining is adjacent to the old rectory. Two English Yew tree saplings were planted in 2022. There are 16

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s in the parish, all at Grade II except the church. The Beacon Roman fortlet, above the coast to the north west of the village, was occupied for a short time in the first century AD and was excavated in the 1960s. The fort can only be accessed from the

and not from the Martinhoe settlement itself. Hannington Hall, opposite the church of St Martin, was named after

James Hannington James Hannington (3 September 1847 – 29 October 1885) was an English Anglican missionary and martyr. He was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa. Early life Hannington was born on 3 September 1847 at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, Englan ...

, a curate of Martinhoe and who lived in what is now The Old Rectory Hotel, next to St Martin's. Bishop Hannington was martyred in Uganda in 1885. A new access path was added to Hannington Hall in August 2024. Hilda Doolittle and her husband

Richard Aldington Richard Aldington (born Edward Godfree Aldington; 8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962) was an English writer and poet. He was an early associate of the Imagist movement. His 50-year writing career covered poetry, novels, criticism and biography. He ed ...

moved into the Martinhoe School House in 1916 and she wrote many of her poems and essays there. Woody Bay on the coast of the parish was the site of a failed development plan in the 1890s. It is now home to rare flora. Woody Bay is owned by the National Trust. Heddon Valley is in the Martinhoe Parish. The valley is home to rare butterflies. The valley is owned by the National Trust. The

River Heddon The River Heddon is a river in Devon, in the south of England. Running along the western edges of Exmoor, the river reaches the North Devon coast at Heddon's Mouth. The nearest road access to the beach is at ''Hunter's Inn'', approximately sou ...

flows through the Heddon Valley into the Bristol Channel at Heddon Mouth where there is an old lime kiln. The

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) was a single track (rail), single track, narrow gauge railway. It opened in May 1898 and ran for slightly more than through the area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although it opened afte ...

ran through the southern part of the parish, and Woody Bay railway station is in the parish; at it is said to be the highest railway station in southern England. The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust operates narrow gauge trains over one mile of track between the station and Killington Lane. The service runs mainly in the warmer months but has a Santa Express at Christmas. It recently had planning permission to extend the line to the Blackmoor Gate.
Hollow Brook (or Hollowbrook) Waterfall, that can be seen from the South West Coast Path, which drops to the sea due north of the village, is claimed to be "the westcountry's highest coastal waterfall, and one of the highest in Britain", dropping in a series of falls including two of , over horizontal distance.

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* * * {{authority control Villages in Devon Civil parishes in Devon North Devon

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