Church of St James, Iddesleigh

Iddesleigh ( IDZ-lee) is a village and civil parish in the county of Devon, England. The settlement has ancient origins and is listed in the Domesday Book. The village lies on the B3217 road, roughly central in its parish of around 2,900 acres (1,200 ha), about 8 miles (13 km) north of the town of Okehampton. Iddesleigh has been described as an attractive small village, with good views of Dartmoor to the south. Its church is a Grade I listed building and there are a number of other listed buildings in the parish.

The River Okement is a tributary of the River Torridge in Devon, England. It rises at two places in Dartmoor, as the West Okement and the East Okement. These meet with other minor streams and join together at Okehampton. The river flows generally north, past the villages of Jacobstowe and Monkokehampton, and has its confluence with the River Torridge near Meeth.

Dowland is a civil parish in Devon, situated near Winkleigh. It is also the name of a hamlet in the parish.

Dolton is a small village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, south-west England, surrounded, clockwise from the north, by Beaford, Ashreigney, Winkleigh, Dowland, Meeth, Huish and Merton. It has a population of around 900.Dolton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Duueltone. The name may mean "farmstead in the open country frequented by doves" (Old English dūfe + feld + tūn). The Tarka Trail passes by Dolton. The parish church is dedicated to St Edmund. The historic stately home Stafford Barton is close by. Dolton is twinned with Amfreville in France, and Hillerse in Germany. Anthony Horneck FRS, the Protestant theologian, lived in Dolton between 1670 and 1671. Henry Bentinck, 11th Earl of Portland, lived at a house called Little Cudworthy and died there in 1997. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts lived at Halsdon House near the village for some years until his death in 2021.

Monkokehampton is a village and civil parish in West Devon, England. The village lies on the River Okement, about 3 miles (4.8 km) east-north-east of Hatherleigh. The parish is bounded by Hatherleigh, Exbourne, Broadwoodkelly and Iddesleigh, and had a population of 139 at the 2011 Census.Alternative names for Monkokehampton are "Monk Okehampton", "Okehampton" and "Okehampton Monk".

Opened in 1925, Meeth Halt was a small railway station on the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway, a private line until it became part of the Southern Region of British Railways in 1948. The line was built in part over a narrow gauge line that was used from 1881 to take ball clay from claypits at Marland and Meeth to Torrington, which was until 1925 the terminus of a branch from Barnstaple. The line was closed to passenger traffic in 1965 as part of the Beeching proposals, but remained open for freight from the Meeth clay workings north of Meeth Halt through Torrington to Barnstaple until 1982. The station consisted of a simple short concrete platform and a stone shelter and remains as a recognisable landmark on the Tarka Trail, a very popular destination for long-distance walkers and cyclists. As a result it is in the process of a major renovation.

Meeth is a small village roughly 13.5 km (8.4 mi) north-northwest of Okehampton and 40.7 km (25.3 mi) west-northwest of Exeter. It lies to the west of the River Torridge. In the past, ball clay mines were a major source of employment in the village, lying just to the west, however these closed in 2004. Their site is now a nature reserve owned by the Devon Wildlife Trust, called Meeth Quarry. The Trust's Ash Moor reserve is also located close to the village. From 1925 until 1982, the branch railway line from Halwill Junction to Torrington, the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway, ran through Meeth, allowing clay from the mines to be transported to Bideford for onward transport by sea; passenger service was available until 1965 from Meeth Halt railway station. The Tarka Trail long-distance footpath now finishes/starts in Meeth, using the route of the former railway to reach Bideford, and skirting the Meeth Quarry and Ash Moor nature reserves. A one time notable resident was John Lemprière who is buried and has a monument in the church yard. The village has a small centre which encompasses the recently re-opened church, village hall and village pub (The Bull and Dragon, ca. 1490). A good local bus service runs daily and a small B&B has just opened in the village.

Stafford (anciently Stowford) is an historic manor in the parish of Dolton in Devon, England. The present manor house known as Stafford Barton is a grade II* listed building. A house of some form has existed on the manor probably since the Norman Conquest in the 11th century. Surviving walls can be dated to the 16th century. Many additions and renovations have taken place in the intervening years, and in the early 20th century Charles Luxmoore made many alterations and extensions and imported several major architectural features from ancient local mansions undergoing demolition so that "it has become somewhat difficult to discern its original form". In the nineteenth century the estate was very substantial, with 400 acres of associated farmland and a large staff, and by 1956, at the end of the Luxmoore tenure, it had grown to 1,460 acres with 7 farms, several cottages and smallholdings.

The River Lew can refer to either of two short rivers that lie close to each other in Devon, England. The more northerly of the two rises just south of the village of Beaworthy, and flows east, then turns north to run past Hatherleigh before joining the River Torridge about 1 km north of the town. Its name is incorporated into that of the village of Northlew. The more southerly of the two rises on the northwest corner of Dartmoor, near Sourton, and flows west and somewhat south, through the Lew Valley past Lewtrenchard and south of Lewdown before joining the River Lyd near Marystow. It has in earlier times also been known as Lew Water. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a battle in 825 in which Devon forces loyal to Egbert of Wessex defeated the Cornish at Gafulford; and this is thought to be Galford on the banks of this river, though some translations render it as Camelford, some 20 miles further west. At their nearest point the two rivers are not much more than 10 km apart. Domesday Book mentions a Lew Manor in this area, and it may be that both rivers take their name from it. Ekwall enters the southerly river as Lew Water and gives a derivation from British 'Lliw' for both (other river names are known to have the same origin). The manor cannot have been named any earlier than the Anglo-Saxon period

Hatherleigh is a small market town in west Devon, England. It hosts an arts festival in July, and a carnival in November featuring two flaming tar barrel runs. The Walruses meet on New Year's Day to jump into the River Lew to raise money for local good causes, this tradition which started in the 1980s came to end on January 1, 2018. An annual half-marathon called the Ruby Run takes place usually in June between Holsworthy and Hatherleigh, starting from each town in alternate years. Hatherleigh Market has weekly sales of sheep, cattle and poultry with increased sales on Tuesdays. It is the smallest town in Devon. The market formally closed in February 2018 due to the site being sold to make way for a new housing development, the Tuesday pannier market continues and there will be provision and a new building in the development. In September 2019 the demolition of the site began as of March 2020 only one building of the market remains to temporary house the pannier market, the new development is moving at pace with many of the new buildings now rising from the ground. Hatherleigh is home to two pubs, The Tally Ho and The George. The George was burned down in an arson attack on 23 December 2008 and has subsequently been rebuilt and re-opened in 2010. More than 100 firefighters from across the county were drafted in to help fight the blaze which was still burning well into the early hours of Christmas Eve. Hatherleigh also has a cafe, two hairdressers, craft shops, a beauty salon, a butcher, a newsagency, a vets, medical centre, a convenience shop and a petrol station. The parish church is dedicated to St John the Baptist and has a western tower topped by a shingled spire. The spire was destroyed in the Burns' Day Storm of 1990 and a replica of the original now stands in its place. The nave and aisles are divided by granite arcades. The font is Norman and the original wagon roofs remain.An impressive obelisk one mile (1.6 km) east of the town commemorates Lt Col. William Morris (d. 1858 in India): it was built in 1860.Hatherleigh was the beginning of the 7th stage of the Tour of Britain in September 2009 and record numbers turned out to watch the famous race begin. Hatherleigh had often been on the course of the Tour but this was the first time a stage had started in the town. Hatherleigh saw the Olympic torch pass through the town on 21 May 2012.There is an electoral ward with the same name. The population at the 2011 census was 2,218.There is no railway station within Hatherleigh's boundaries. However residents can use the nearby railway station in Okehampton now that the Dartmoor Line has reopened with regular services to Exeter. The village is part of the Ruby Country which covers 45 parishes around the market towns of Holsworthy and Hatherleigh. These two towns were at the centre of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak, and although agriculture was directly affected, most local businesses suffered considerable financial hardship. As a result, the Ruby Country Initiative was established, a not for profit partnership, to help create a more robust and sustainable local economy, and to create an identity for the area.

Hatherleigh Railway Station was a station on the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway between Torrington and Halwill Junction, serving the town of Hatherleigh. Hatherleigh was the largest place with a station on the line, though the town was almost two miles away. Like others on this line, the station itself was small but it was a passing place on the mainly single-track railway. The stationmaster at Hatherleigh also looked after the other stations on the line, even those, such as Petrockstow and Hole, that were staffed. The line was opened in 1925 and was operated by the Southern Railway, though it remained a private line until it became part of the Southern Region of British Railways in 1948. The line closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching proposals, goods services having been withdrawn the previous year.