Weare Giffard

Beam is an historic estate in the parish of Great Torrington, Devon, England. Beam House is situated about 1 1/2 miles north-west and downstream of that town, on the right-bank of the River Torridge. Both the Rolle Canal and the railway crossed the river nearby. It occupies a particularly beautiful setting, described by Lauder (1986) thus: "For lovers of rivers and woodland there can be few lovlier settings for a house than this. Steeply wooded banks shelter the valley and the house is situated on slightly higher ground above lush water meadows, almost completely surrounded by the Torridge" The estate was a subsidiary seat of the Rolle family, lords of the manor of Great Torrington, whose main seat was Stevenstone on the other (south) side of that town and therefore upstream from Beam. It was an outpost of the Royalists during the Civil War. Much of the estate is today owned by Baron Clinton, as heir to the Rolles, but it has had many occupants, including use by the army in both world wars and as a borstal. Tarka the Otter was born at Beam, by what the author Henry Williamson called the "Canal Bridge" (i.e. the Beam Aqueduct) and particularly favoured the River Torridge at Beam Weir. Thus the cycleway which crosses the river at Beam, formerly the railway line, was named the "Tarka Trail", due to its association with these and other haunts of the fictional animal. Today Beam is used as an adventure centre for young people.

Frithelstock Priory was founded in about 1220 at Frithelstock, Devon, England, by Sir Robert de Beauchamp for Augustinian Canons Regular, as an indulgence to ensure intercessions for the repose of his soul. Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, is considered a co-founder, for increasing the priory's endowments. The priory was dissolved in 1536 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and only ruins remain.

Monkleigh is a village, parish and former manor in north Devon, England, situated 2 1/2 miles north-west of Great Torrington and 3 1/2 miles south-east of Bideford. An electoral ward exists titled Monkleigh and Littleham. The population at the 2011 census was 1,488.

Annery kiln is a former limekiln of the estate of Annery, in the parish of Monkleigh, North Devon. It is situated on the left bank of the River Torridge near Half-Penny Bridge, built in 1835, which connects the parishes of Monkleigh and Weare Giffard. Running by it today is A386 road from Bideford to Great Torrington. Weare Giffard is the start of the tidal section of the River Torridge, and thus the kiln was sited here to import by river raw materials for the kiln, the product of which was lime fertiliser for use on inland agricultural fields. The old lime kiln is thus situated between the River Torridge and the now filled-in Rolle Canal built circa 1827 and railway that ran formerly from Bideford to Torrington, opened in 1872 and closed in 1966. The old trackbed now forms a stretch of the Tarka Trail.

Torrington railway station was a railway station located in Great Torrington, Devon. It was closed by British Railways in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.

Annery was an historic estate in the parish of Monkleigh, North Devon. It was one of the original endowments of Tavistock Abbey, founded in 961. The first recorded tenant of the estate was Osbert de Annery, who took his name from the estate. By 1260 the estate was held by the Stapeldons; Bishop of Exeter Walter de Stapeldon (1261–1326) was born at Annery. From the Stapeldons, it was inherited by the Hankfords, amongst whom were the judge Sir William Hankford (ca. 1350 – 1423). In about 1800 the mansion house was rebuilt or significantly remodelled in the neo-classical style by the Tardrews. It was demolished in the late 1950s. The estate was split-up and is now in multiple ownership. A bungalow occupies the site of the former manor house. Three of the Victorian gatehouses survive as does the Georgian dower house and the stable-block.

Frithelstock (pronounced Frizzlestock) is a village, civil parish and former manor in Devon, England. It is located within Torridge local authority area and formed part of the historic Shebbear hundred. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Monkleigh, Great Torrington, Little Torrington, Langtree and Buckland Brewer. In 2001 its population was 366, down from 429 in 1901.The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Frithulac's Stocc. The ruins of Frithelstock Priory are adjacent to the north east side of the parish church of St Mary and St Gregory, and represent the only substantial remains of a monastic house in Devon.As of 2013 the village had one public house, the Clinton Arms, which since closed in 2018. The parish church of St. Mary & St. Gregory was enlarged in the 15th century and underwent a Victorian restoration in about 1870.

Watergate Halt was an intermediate halt on the initially privately run North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway. "It was one of those moments you always remember – a first glimpse, caught through the dappled sunlight of a woodland glade. Deep within the heart of North Devon, I came across this tiny wayside halt, no longer than a single carriage length." A remote rural station with one small siding used by a local farmer, it was closed in 1965 and now forms part of the popular Tarka trail, a route for ramblers promoted by the local council.

Landcross is a hamlet and civil parish in the local government district of Torridge, Devon, England. The parish, which is the smallest in Devon, lies just south of the town of Bideford. It is bordered clockwise from the north by the parishes of Bideford, Weare Giffard, Monkleigh, and Littleham, its eastern border being formed by a meander of the River Torridge and the western by the River Yeo. In 2001 its population was 70, compared to 58 in 1901. The small parish church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has ancient origins; it was rebuilt in 1435 but retains its Norman font. It also contains some finely carved early 16th-century bench-ends. General George Monck, who lived at Great Potheridge in Merton parish to the south, was baptised here in 1608. Its tower was replaced by a turret after it was destroyed by a lightning strike in the 1820s. Near to Pillmouth on the River Torridge was the entrance to the Rolle Canal, opened in 1827. An extension of the London and South Western Railway between Bideford and Great Torrington was opened in 1872, and the line which ran through the parish now forms part of the Tarka Trail of footpaths and cycle routes.

Taddiport is a hamlet in North Devon, England, near Great Torrington. The name is believed to derive from toad, a place where toads were found. In the Middle Ages it was a leper colony. A field system next to the hamlet is still divided up as for the medieval strip system of farming. During the years of operation of the Rolle Canal the canal had a quay across the river Torridge from Taddiport. Taddiport appears on the early 15th century Evesham world map; its inclusion has led many to believe that the map-maker hailed from the small hamlet.

The Torrington and Marland Railway was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge built to carry clay from the quarries at Clay Moor to Torrington in north Devon.

Berry Castle is an Iron Age Hill fort in the civil parish of Huntshaw, close to Weare Giffard in Devon, England, to the north of Great Torrington. The fort takes the form of an oval enclosure situated on a promontory in Huntshaw Wood some 95 Metres above Sea Level. Recent tree clearance (2015) has revealed that the 'fort' is rectangular in shape with entrances at either end, and may be a Roman camp or a local example of a neolithic sky burial enclosure.