West Down is a small 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 authorit ...

located in North Devon, England. It is to be found on the route between

Braunton Braunton is a large village, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish and former manor in Devon. The village is situated west of Barnstaple. It is one of the largest villages in Devon with a population at the 2021 census of 10,217 people. There ...

and

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along t ...

, north-west of Barnstaple. The village sits in a bowl in the hills at above sea level. In 2011 its population was 671. West Down's church is dedicated to Saint Callixtus and its first recorded priest was in 1272. The present church dates from the 14th century, partly rebuilt in 1712. Its Norman font was buried in the churchyard in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and only rediscovered in the 19th century. Many of the village's other older buildings date back to the 17th century.West Down
''North Devon Journal''. Retrieved 15 October 2014. Archived at

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Fullabrook Wind Farm

For many years controversy surrounded the proposed erection of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s at the local Fullabrook Wind Farm.Paul Eccleston
Controversial Devon Wind Farm Approved
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 9 October 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2014. Archived at

. There was opposition on the grounds that the wind farm would spoil the surrounding landscape and thereby disrupt tourism on which the local economy depends. However, in 2007 the proposals to build 22 wind turbines were given the go-ahead, to become fully operational in 2010.

References

External links

* http://www.westdown.org.uk/ * https://www.westdownparishcouncil.org.uk Civil parishes in Devon Villages in Devon {{devon-geo-stub