Meldon is a hamlet in

West Devon West Devon is a local government district with borough status in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tavistock, the borough's largest town. The borough also includes the towns of Hatherleigh, North Tawton and Okehampton, along with nume ...

, on the edge of

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

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is 4 km south-west of

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...

. Its main features are the Meldon Quarry and

Meldon Reservoir Meldon Reservoir is a man-made fresh water reservoir near Okehampton, Devon. The reservoir is the last of eight reservoirs to be constructed within the Dartmoor National Park. The reservoir was built to dam the Meldon Gorge, through which the W ...

and the nearby

Meldon Viaduct Meldon Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct crossing the West Okement River at Meldon, Devon, Meldon, south-west of Okehampton, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, South West England. This truss bridge was constructed from wrought iron, instead o ...

Quarries

Granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

is still extracted from Meldon Quarry. The now disused Meldon Aplite Quarry has been designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

because of its exposures of

aplite Aplite () is an intrusive igneous rock that has a granitic composition. Aplites are fine-grained to aphanitic Aphanites (adj. ''aphanitic''; ) are igneous rocks that are so fine-grained that their component mineral crystals are not vi ...

and other rocks. The Dartmoor Railway terminates at Meldon Quarry; the former continuation of the line to

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards (N ...

and Plymouth continues as a cycle path. The former railway line crosses the

West Okement River The West Okement is a river in north Dartmoor in Devon in south-west England. It rises at West Okement Head near Cranmere Pool and flows in a generally NW direction past Black-a-Tor Copse and into Meldon Reservoir. After exiting the reservoir i ...

on the

just before reaching the quarry from the west.

Reservoir

The

was formed by damming the West Okement River. It is about 1.2 km long and 300 metres wide, and extends from the West Okement valley into a small side valley.

Firing range

Immediately to the south-east is the area of the Okehampton military firing range, which is sometimes closed to the public. At other times, a footpath along the west side of the reservoir can be used to access the open moor.

Civil parish

In 1850, the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Oakhampton, or Okehampton, consisted of of land, which encompassed several villages including Meldon. The hamlet is now part of the civil parish of Okehampton Hamlets.

References

External links