Granite, moor and medieval detail
Throwleigh
A hillside Dartmoor village where a granite church, thatched farmsteads and open moorland meet.
- Best for
- High-moor walking and medieval church detail
- On foot
- A loop via Cosdon Beacon
- Don't miss
- The Three Hares roof boss in St Mary
The Fox verdict
Come for the walking; linger over the granite
Throwleigh pairs a small granite village with immediate access to the open high moor.
The church supplies the close-up detail, from its medieval screen remnants and bench-end pulpit to the Three Hares and Green Man roof bosses. West of the village, a loop via Shilstone Tor and Cosdon Beacon crosses Throwleigh Common and reaches the triple stone row known locally as The Cemetery.
Where to go
Places in Throwleigh
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesSt Mary the Virgin
A mostly fifteenth-century granite church with a majestic west tower, medieval screen remnants, a bench-end pulpit and roof bosses showing the Three Hares and a Green Man.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- on the village square
Shilstone Tor and Cosdon Beacon loop
A loop up to Cosdon Beacon, down to the triple stone row known locally as The Cemetery, and back across Throwleigh Common.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Around 2 hours
- Locality
- Throwleigh Common, immediately west of Throwleigh
Scorhill Stone Circle
A stone circle on the longer route from Gidleigh to Kestor Rocks, with views across Gidleigh Common to Dartmoor's northern tors.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- at Scorhill, near Gidleigh
Food & drink
1 placeNorthmore Arms
The parish's only pub is an unspoilt rustic country pub serving home-cooked food, Dartmoor IPA and Dartmoor Jail Ale from the cask, plus two local ciders.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- the neighbouring hamlet of Wonson
- Access
- Booking is advised, particularly in summer.
Walks & outdoors
1 placeFingle Bridge
A picturesque seventeenth-century stone arch bridge over the Teign and the start of the Teign Gorge circular walk.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- at Fingle Bridge on the River Teign
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Three ways to explore Throwleigh
Signature outings
Raise a cask in Wonson
The Northmore Arms pours Dartmoor IPA and Dartmoor Jail Ale straight from the cask and keeps two local ciders.
Meet Scorhill's stones
A longer walk from Gidleigh passes Scorhill Stone Circle on its way to Kestor Rocks, with views across Gidleigh Common to the northern tors.
Cross into the gorge
The seventeenth-century stone arch of Fingle Bridge stands beside the inn at the start of the Teign Gorge circular walk.
The village story
A granite village under the open moor
Granite farmsteads, a medieval church and paths onto the high moor shape a visit to Throwleigh.
Granite on the hillside
The village square has a granite cross, a pond, and a church that towers over everything around it. Throwleigh arranges itself on a hillside in the northeast corner of Dartmoor, a few miles southeast of Okehampton, and almost every building is made of the same local granite as the moor above. Thatched farmsteads cling to the slope. High open moorland begins immediately to the west.
Throwleigh has no village shop. Chagford, three miles away, has butchers, a deli and an ironmonger; Okehampton is six miles away. Rural buses are very limited, so a car is the practical way to get here.
Ale and medieval stone
The Northmore Arms, the parish's only pub, stands in neighbouring Wonson. This rustic pub serves food with Dartmoor IPA and Dartmoor Jail Ale from the cask and two local ciders. It also has a garden, parking and guest rooms.
St Mary the Virgin is the building on the square you can't ignore. Grade I listed, mostly fifteenth-century granite with a majestic west tower, first recorded in 1268. Inside there are remnants of a medieval rood screen carved with naturalistic leaves in 1544, a pulpit assembled from old bench-ends, a granite Easter Sepulchre niche, and a Ninian Comper window of St Cecilia. The roof bosses include a Green Man and the Three Hares — three rabbits sharing three ears between them in a circle, an emblem of the moor's medieval tin miners.
Doorways and Church House
Around 1908, antiquarian John Stabb judged the church's priest's doorway among Devon's finest, surprised to find such craftsmanship in a remote village.
Across the square is Church House, an early-sixteenth-century granite building under thatch. It spent years divided into three cottages before being reunited into one.
Common paths, ancient records
The reason to come is the walking. Throwleigh Common rises to the west, open high moorland scattered with prehistoric habitation and the remains of old tinstreaming works. A loop via Shilstone Tor above the village reaches Cosdon Beacon and a remarkable triple stone row that locals call The Cemetery, then returns across the common. A longer route from Gidleigh takes in Scorhill stone circle and Kestor Rocks.
When the Domesday surveyors reached here in 1086 they counted ten villagers, a smallholder, three slaves, four cattle and thirty-two sheep, and valued the whole place at four pounds.
Wonson and a spring churchyard
The village hall in Wonson was built in 1949 from a Second World War Nissen hut. In spring, daffodils spread through the churchyard.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- St Mary the Virgin — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Northmore Arms — camra.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Shilstone Tor and Cosdon Beacon loop — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Scorhill Stone Circle — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Fingle Bridge — dartmoor.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access