North Bovey 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

situated on the south-eastern side of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

National Park,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, about 11 miles WSW of the city of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and 1.5 miles SSW of

Moretonhampstead Moretonhampstead (anciently ''Moreton Hampstead'') is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe (), and i ...

. The village lies above the eastern bank of the

River Bovey The River Bovey rises on the eastern side of Dartmoor in Devon, England, and is the largest tributary to the River Teign. The river has two main source streams, both rising within a mile of each other, either side of the B3212 road between Moret ...

from which it takes its name. In 2001 the population of the parish was 274, compared to 418 in 1901 and 519 in 1801. North Bovey church

The parish church is built of granite and is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It dates from the 14th century, and was

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

early in the 20th century by Sir Charles Nicholson. It is one of the several churches around Dartmoor that has a representation of the tinners rabbits on one of its roof bosses. On the village green is an ancient stone cross which was thrown down during the Civil War and spent some time afterwards as a bridge over a local stream. In 1829 it was retrieved and installed into a socket-stone which had remained in situ on the village green, though it is not considered likely that it is the original cross that was mounted here as it appears to be older than the base. Sanders - Lettaford - geograph

The parish encompasses part of the eastern side of Dartmoor, an area rich in

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

remains such as

Grimspound Grimspound is a late Bronze Age settlement, situated on Dartmoor in Devon, England. It consists of a set of 24 hut circles surrounded by a low stone wall. The name was first recorded by the Reverend Richard Polwhele in 1797; it was probably ...

, right on its boundary. The medieval Bennett's Cross, on the road between Moretonhampstead and Two Bridges is one of the markers of the parish boundary, and the Birch Tor and Vitifer tin mining area is nearby. In the north of the parish, the small settlements of Beeson and Shapley were mentioned 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. There are several preserved

Dartmoor longhouse The Dartmoor longhouse is a type of traditional stone-built home, typically found on the high ground of Dartmoor, in Devon, England and belonging to a wider tradition of combining human residences with those of livestock (cattle or sheep) under ...

s in the parish, notably at Lettaford and Westcombe. Also within the parish is

Bovey Castle Bovey Castle is a large early 20th-century mansion on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, near Moretonhampstead, Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is now a hotel with 59 individually designed bedrooms in the hotel and 22 t ...

, designed by

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

and built in 1905–7 for Viscount Hambledon, son of

W. H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

, the newsagent. It is now a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and a hotel with an 18-hole championship golf course.

Church history

The Rev. William Henry Thornton was rector of North Bovey for fifty years. He was the author of ''Reminiscences and Reflections of an Old West-country Clergyman''; Torquay, 1897 & 1899.Transcript of The Rev. William Henry Thornton; ''Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries''; 9:3, (1916) pp. 65-68
Genuki

References

External links

Author:William Henry Thornton
wikisource {{authority control Dartmoor Villages in Devon