Gidleigh 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 ...

in the West Devon district of

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. Located within Dartmoor National Park, the parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Throwleigh,

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 ...

and Dartmoor Forest. In 2001 its population was 116, little changed from 114 in 1901. Gidleigh

Historically the parish consisted of a number of farmsteads and associated cottages scattered around the focal point of

Holy Trinity church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

(late C15-early C16, with some C17 windows and C19 additions) and the adjacent

Gidleigh Castle Gidleigh Castle was the manor house of the manor of Gidleigh on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, about north-west of the town of Chagford, Devon, England. History The Prouz family had held the manor of Gidleigh from at least the later hal ...

, which is now in private hands. The population peaked at 180 in the mid 19th century. The 20th century saw the development of some substantial gentleman's residences - notably Gidleigh Park, which subsequently became a country house hotel - and the building of a village hall. Gidleigh lies on the Mariners' Way and there was a YHA Youth Hostel in the village from 1932 to 1988. A Methodist elementary school established in 1877 at Providence in Throwleigh parish, little more than a mile from Gidleigh, provided what became the Throwleigh and Gidleigh County Primary School, which closed in 1971 when the pupils were transferred to Chagford. Gidleigh has a nearby public house in the Northmore Arms, a mile from the village at Wonson in Throwleigh parish, but has no village shop. Residents rely on nearby Chagford for shops and other services. Scorhill, one of the largest and best preserved

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

s in Devon, is near the village on Gidleigh Common. In fiction, Gidleigh is the setting for "The Mad Monk of Gidleigh" by

Michael Jecks Michael Jecks (born 1960, Surrey) is an English writer of historical mystery novels. Early life The son of an actuary, and the fourth of four brothers, Jecks worked in the computer industry before becoming a novelist full-time in 1994 after h ...

, which is set in 1323.

References

Further reading