Bridestowe
| Bridestowe | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Bridestowe church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX513893 |
| Location: | 50°41’4"N, 4°6’20"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Okehampton |
| Postcode: | EX20 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Devon |
Bridestowe is a village in western Devon, on the west side of Dartmoor, on the River Lew. The village is six miles south-west of Okehampton, close to the A30 main road.
The wider parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Bratton Clovelly, Sourton, Bridestowe and Sourton Common, Lydford, Lewtrenchard and Thrushelton. In 2001 the population of the parish was 552, compared with 457 in 1901.[1]
Bridestowe has a primary school, pre-school, village stores and post office,[2] a number of public houses and accommodation providers, Methodist chapel and village hall.
Parish church
The parish church is mostly 13th and 15th century, with a west tower and some fragments of Norman work.[3] It is dedicated to the Irish St Bride or Bridget, who is depicted in one of the stained glass windows, and from whom the place-name is derived.[4]
About the village
Within the parish is an Elizabethan mansion, Great Bidlake, which has been the seat of the Bidlake family since 1268. Also there are disused mine-workings which once produced lead and copper.
Bridestowe railway station was opened in 1874 and closed in 1968, together with the stretch of line from Okehampton station to Bere Alston.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bridestowe) |
References
- ↑ Harris, Helen (2004). A Handbook of Devon Parishes. Tiverton: Halsgrove. p. 29. ISBN 1-84114-314-6.
- ↑ www.riverside-stores.co.uk
- ↑ Pevsner, N. (1952) South Devon. Penguin Books; p. 62
- ↑ Watts, Victor (2010). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names (1st paperback ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7.