Bridestowe () is a

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 authorit ...

and village in the district of

West Devon West Devon is a local government district and borough in Devon, England. Towns and villages in the district include Chagford, Okehampton, Princetown and Tavistock, where the council is based. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the ...

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. Devo ...

, England. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of

Bratton Clovelly Bratton Clovelly is a village, parish and former manor in the west part of Devon, England. It is situated about south-west of Okehampton immediately north of the A30 road. The manor of Bratton Clovelly was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. T ...

Sourton Sourton is a small village and civil parish in West Devon, England. It lies about south-west of Okehampton. It is at the north-western extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England and Wales, and lies along the A386 road. The historic map ...

Bridestowe and Sourton Common Bridestowe and Sourton Common, also known as Common to Bridestowe and Sourton and Lands common to the Parishes of Bridestowe and Sourton, is a civil parish in the district of West Devon, Devon, England. It is surrounded by the parishes of Okeham ...

Lydford Lydford, sometimes spelled Lidford, is a village, once an important town, in Devon, north of Tavistock on the western fringe of Dartmoor in the West Devon district. There is an electoral ward with the same name which includes Princetown. The p ...

Lewtrenchard Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers h ...

and

Thrushelton Thrushelton or Thruselton is a village and civil parish about 2 and a half miles north of Coryton railway station, in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. In 2011 the parish had a population of 197. The parish touches Bratto ...

. The village is 6 miles south-west of

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and 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 in the town (east and west) ...

on the edge 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 P ...

and on the A30 main road. It has a primary school, pre-school, village stores and post office, a number of public houses and accommodation providers, Methodist chapel and village hall.

Landmarks

The parish church, St Bridget's Church, is mostly 13th and 15th century, with a west tower and some fragments of Norman work. It is dedicated to the Irish Saint Bride or Bridget, who is depicted in one of the stained glass windows, and from whom the place-name is derived. The church's distinctive gateway is described in

White's Directories ''White's Directories'' were a series of directory publications issued by William White of Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the a ...

as "a fine Norman arch". The village contains the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mansion Millaton House, the childhood home of

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton, (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secret ...

which served as a hospital run by American soldiers during the Second World War. Also within the parish are an Elizabethan mansion

Great Bidlake File:GBM high res main view.jpg Great Bidlake Manor is a Grade II* listed manor house in the parish of Bridestowe on the north western edge of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. It predominately dates from the 16th century though it ...

, the seat of the Bidlake family since 1268, and disused mine-workings which once produced

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. Bridestowe railway station was opened in 1874 and closed in 1968, together with the stretch of line from Okehampton station to

Bere Alston Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers. History and geography With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...

Today

The town has a parish council which meets monthly. The local paper is the Bridestowe and Sourton Extra. In 2001 the population of the parish was 552, compared with 457 in 1901. There is an electoral ward with the same name; its population at the 2011 census was 1610.

References

External links

Bridestowe village websiteBridestowe at GENUKIBridestowe census transcripts
{{Devon parishes Villages in the Borough of West Devon