Whiddon Down is a hamlet within the parish of

Drewsteignton Drewsteignton is a village, civil parish and former manor within the administrative area of West Devon, England, also lying within the Dartmoor National Park. It is located in the valley of the River Teign, west of Exeter and south east of Ok ...

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 ...

Location

The hamlet lies on the old east–west A30 (London-Penzance) road, between

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

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based i ...

at the cross-roads with the south–north route up to Bideford. The 'down' itself is a ridge of high farmland some 800 feet above sea level with commanding views. Recorded as Whyddon Doune in 1535 and as Whiddon Downe in 1661, it is named after its medieval landowners, the

Whiddon Whiddon is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Frederick Palmer Whiddon (1930–2002), American university founder and president * Harry Whiddon (1878–1935), Australian cricketer * Horace Whiddon (1879–1955), Australian politi ...

family of nearby

Chagford Chagford is a market town and civil parish on the north-east edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, close to the River Teign and the A382, 4 miles (6 km) west of Moretonhampstead. The name is derived from ''chag'', meaning gorse or broom, and ...

History

There have been scattered farms in the area since Saxon times, but the hamlet was only established with the turn-piking of the south–north road in the 18th century, when a 15th-century crossroads dwelling became a coaching inn and post point (The Post Inn). In the modern era, the village has long been well-served by buses due to its location. The dualling of this section of the A30 in the late 1980s means that the hamlet is now bypassed by the A30 itself, but it remains a major road junction point, with a service station (Whiddon Down Service Area) and

Travelodge Travelodge (formerly TraveLodge) refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several countries in Asia. However, many of t ...

. Population growth in the 19th century was sufficient for the establishment of a small primary school in 1879 and a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church in 1906. The school closed in 1959 and now serves as a village hall. The community was expanded with council housing in the 1970s. There is a small number of agricultural businesses in the hamlet, and a caravan park, but there are no longer any shops apart from the nearby service station.

Chagstock music festival

Farmland on the south side of the hamlet provides the setting for the annual Chagstock music festival, held in July.

References

External links

Post Inn web site

Chagstock Music festival web site

Dartmoor Villages in Devon {{devon-geo-stub