Dowland, Devon

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.

St James' Church, Iddesleigh, is a church in the small village of Iddesleigh, Devon, England. It dates back to the 13th century, although most of the structure dates from the 15th century, and there have been various changes since then.

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.

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.

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.

Beaford is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village is about five miles south-east of Great Torrington, on the A3124 road towards Exeter. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 393, compared to 428 in 1901. The western boundary of the parish is formed by the River Torridge and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of St Giles in the Wood, Roborough, Ashreigney, Dolton, Merton and Little Torrington.The parish church, which is in the village, is dedicated to All Saints, though before the Reformation it was dedicated to St George. It has a 15th-century doorway, arches and windows, as well as a Norman font, but according to W. G. Hoskins (writing in 1954) it is otherwise dull, having been heavily restored. Its tower was rebuilt with a small spire in 1910.Greenwarren House in the village is the former home of Beaford Arts, the country's longest established rural arts centre. It is now a private family house.Beaford House was host to some of the Great Train Robbers, who are understood to have buried more than £200,000 of the stolen money in nearby woods.Beaford has a cricket team which competes in division 2 of the North Devon League.

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".

Brealeys is a village in Devon, England.

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 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.