West Devon

Lydford Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Lydford, Devon, England. The first castle in Lydford, sometimes termed the Norman fort, was a small ringwork built in a corner of the Anglo-Saxon fortified burh in the years after the Norman conquest of England. It was intended to help control Devon following the widespread revolt against Norman rule in 1068. The Norman fort had been abandoned by the middle of the 12th century. The second castle in Lydford was constructed in 1195 following a wave of law and order problems across England. It included a stone tower with a surrounding bailey, and rapidly became used as a prison and court to administer the laws in the Forest of Dartmoor and the Devon stannaries. The tower was rebuilt in the middle of the 13th century, probably in the 1260s by Richard, the Earl of Cornwall. It was redesigned to resemble a motte and bailey castle, an antiquated design for the period but one that was heavily symbolic of authority and power. In 1342 the castle, still being used as a prison and courtroom, passed to the Duchy of Cornwall, who owned it until the 20th century. The castle was repeatedly renovated and then left to deteriorate, so its condition varied considerably over time. Nonetheless, other than a period during the English Civil War and the Restoration in the 17th century, Lydford Castle played an important part in stannary and forest administration until the 19th century. The castle acquired a bad reputation for injustice in the 14th century, and complaints about "Lydford Law" persisted for centuries. In the early 19th century, however, Dartmoor Prison was constructed, and Lydford ceased to be the centre for legal administration. The castle had fallen into ruin by the middle of the century. In 1932, Lydford Castle passed into the hands of the state, and in the 21st century is run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction. Historian Andrew Saunders has described the castle as architecturally significant, being "the earliest example of a purpose-built gaol" in England. The earthworks of the Norman fort are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public.

Lydford railway station was a junction at Lydford between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and South Western Railway (LSWR) situated in a remote part of north-west Dartmoor in Devon, England.

Devon United Mine (grid reference SX521795) is a 1.0 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Devon, England, notified in 1987.

Burnville House (or Farm) in Brentor, West Devon, England, is a building of historical significance and is Grade II listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in about 1800, possibly by William Sleman, who was a wealthy landowner and described as "a gentleman". It was the home of several notable families over the next two centuries. Today it provides bed and breakfast accommodation and has self-catering cottages.

Cudlipptown or Cudliptown is a small village located near the western edge of Dartmoor National Park, northeast of Tavistock, and approximately one mile northeast of Peter Tavy. The village comprises a few houses, with a post box embedded in the front garden wall of one of the houses. A 15th-century inn, the Peter Tavy Inn, is found in the village of Peter Tavy nearby.

Mary Tavy () is a village with a population of around 600, located four miles north of Tavistock in Devon in south-west England; it is named after the River Tavy. There is an electoral ward with the same name. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,559. Mary Tavy used to be home to the world's largest copper mine Wheal Friendship, as well as a number of lead and tin mines. It lies within Dartmoor National Park. The village lies a mile or two north of Peter Tavy; both were shown as separate settlements in the Domesday Book entry of 1086. St Mary's Parish Church has a pinnacled west tower built of granite, a south porch with old wagon roof and a south transept built in 1893. To deter highwaymen from attacking travellers along the road between Tavistock and Okehampton, captured highwaymen were hanged from a gibbet on what is now known as 'Gibbet Hill'. Mary Tavy hydro-electric power station was built in the 1930s. The station uses water from reservoirs to generate electricity. The Mary Tavy set is rated at 2,622 kW, the Chagford set is rated at 26 kW and the Morwelham set at 700 kW. In the year 1980-81 the total electricity output was 11.91 GWh.

Brentor railway station used to serve the village of Brentor in Devon, England. It was on the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway's line from Lydford to Plymouth, between Lydford and Tavistock. It opened on 1 June 1890 and closed on 6 May 1968. After closure and the track was removed, the space between the platforms filled in and the station building converted to a private house.

Brentor is a village in West Devon, England. Its population in 2001 was 423. The village is dominated by the hill of Brent Tor, topped by the village's church. The origins of the name Brentor are Southwestern Brittonic, an extinct Brythonic Celtic language related to Cornish, Welsh and Breton and spoken in isolated parts of Devon until the early Middle Ages. 'Bryn' and 'tor' translate to 'hill of the rock tower'. There is a farm near Brentor, which is named Brinsabach, from 'Bryn' and 'bach', meaning 'small hill' (named after the Tor). The village used to be part of Tavistock Hundred. Brentor railway station served the village. The topographer William Crossing was for part of his life resident at Brentor. Burnville House (or Farm) was built in about 1800 and is listed on the English Heritage Register

Peter Tavy () is a village 3 miles (4.8 km) along the A386, northeast of Tavistock, Devon, England. It is named after the River Tavy. St Peter's Parish Church is largely built of granite and has a buttressed west tower. Near Peter Tavy Moor, marked by a granite post, is the grave of George Stephens (d. 1763), who is said to have committed suicide after losing the prospect of marriage to Mary Bray, a farmer's daughter. He was buried outside the parish boundary, as was the custom for suicides, and it is said that his ghost still haunts the nearby moor to this day. At Willsworthy is a former manor house with a chapel (converted into a house). The village has a 15th-century inn, the Peter Tavy Inn.

The Collybrooke or Colly Brook is a brook on Dartmoor in Devon, England. It is a tributary of the River Tavy.

Brent Tor is a tor on the western edge of Dartmoor, approximately four miles (6.5 km) north of Tavistock, rising to 1100 ft (330m) above sea level. The Tor is surmounted by the Church of St Michael, the parish church of the village of Brentor, which lies below the Tor.

Wilminstone is a village in the civil parish of Mary Tavy in the West Devon district of Devon, England. Its nearest town is Tavistock, which lies approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) south-west of the hamlet. Wilminstone is situated on the C157 a few hundred yards north of the A386; this is also part of National Cycle Route No.27. The River Wallabrooke flows alongside. Just to the north was Wilminstone Quarry, which once provided more than 1,200 tonnes of roadstone per week; it is now abandoned and flooded. Wilminstone stood on the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway line from Bere Alston to Lydford; the line and the station closed in 1968. The large railway viaduct (Bridge No.652) where the line crossed the Wallabrooke still exists today.