Whitstone is a village 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 ...

in east

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is roughly halfway between the towns of

Bude Bude (, locally or ; Cornish language, Cornish ) is a seaside town in north Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as ...

and Launceston. The population at the 2011 census was 590.

History

The earliest mention of the village is in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, when Whitstone was called 'Witestan', and was held by Ralph from the

Count of Mortain The County of Mortain was a medieval county in the Duchy of Normandy in France centered on the town of Mortain, disputed between France and England during parts of the Hundred Years' War. A choice landholding, usually either kept within the family ...

. There was 1 furlong of land and half a plough, 1 serf, 12 acres of woodland, 8 cattle, 8 pigs, 40 sheep and 40 goats. The value of the manor was 15 shillings though it had formerly been worth £1 sterling. In the 19th century, the parish was called Whitstone. There were around 500 villagers, and a post office, and the entire parish comprised around . The

Bude Canal The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Cornwall and Devon border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser. The Bude Canal system was one of the most unusual ...

passed through it. Froxton Farmhouse (19th century) is a Grade II* listed building. Froxton was also a manor recorded in the Domesday Book when it was held by Thurstan from Judhael of Totnes. There were 3 furlongs of land and land for 3 ploughs. There was half a plough, 4 serfs, 2 smallholders, 50 acres of woodland, 40 acres of underwood, 8 cattle and 12 pigs. The value of the manor was 11 shillings though it had formerly been worth 15 shillings.

Geography

Whitstone is situated on the B3254 road, halfway between

(a major tourist destination) and Launceston (a former capital of Cornwall). Whitstone is around three miles (5 km) from the coast, at Widemouth and surrounded by rolling hills and fields. From the higher points of the village, you can see as far as

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 ...

(to the east) and

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor () is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geology, geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough To ...

(to the south). Down a minor road, from the B3254, is the entrance to Whitstone Woods, which reaches over to Week St Mary, and includes a river that creates the border to Whitstone parish and is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

for the larger river that runs through

, the River Neet. In the village, Launceston and

are both 9 miles away. The Parish Plan 2010 states that Whitstone has 582 inhabitants in 207 households. The proportion of 18- to 30-year-olds is well below the national average and the opposite is true of those of pension age. The parish of Whitstone is bounded to the east by the river Tamar and the Devon county border, to the north by Bridgerule, northwest Marhamchurch, southwest Week St Mary and southeast Boynton and North Tamerton. The B3254 carries about 3000 vehicles per day of which 150 are HGVs (based on the last traffic count which was outside the tourist season). The main employment is agriculture and agricultural services, with construction and public sector employment (the two schools) roughly equal second; tourism and haulage are also important to the village. Self-employment is 3 times the national average.

Layout and communications

The village is built along the B3254, with houses, detached or semi-detached,

bungalows A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide verandas. Th ...

and terraces. There are two small housing estates off the main road, and several farms on the outskirts of the village. The adjoining roads in the village are home to most of the population. Whitstone and Bridgerule railway station on the line from

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 ...

served the village, opening in 1898 and closing in 1966.

Places of worship

Whitstone has two places of

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...

, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Chapel and a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Church. The Methodist Chapel is at the centre of the village. The Anglican Church of St Anne is in one of the smaller lanes off the main road. There is a long path by the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

leading down to the church. The church is one of the oldest buildings in the village, built around 1400: it has two aisles and a west tower. Notable features are the Norman doorway and the Norman font. The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

in 1882.Pevsner, N. (1970) ''Cornwall'', 2nd ed. Penguin Books; pp. 240-241 There is also a separate cemetery for non-churchgoers (given to the village in 1926).

Business and economics

The village has around nine businesses, including a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

and a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

owned by international singer/songwriter

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

References

External links

*
Whitstone Village Website
{{coord, 50.760, -4.459, display=title Civil parishes in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall Manors in Cornwall