High above the River Barle
Hawkridge
A small, unlit Exmoor village with a Norman church, ridge views and walking routes down to Tarr Steps.
- Best for
- Norman details, historic bridges and moorland walking
- Give it
- A half day, longer for riverside walks
- Don't miss
- St Giles' carved south doorway and Norman font
The Fox verdict
A quiet ridge village with one exceptional church
Hawkridge is a spare, rewarding base for St Giles, high moorland views and routes towards the River Barle.
The village itself has no pub, shop, cafe or public toilet, but its Grade II* church rewards a deliberate stop. Nearby, Tarr Steps, riverside inns, Withypool's practical food stops and bridges over the Barle and Danesbrook make a fuller visit possible.
Where to go
Places in Hawkridge
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesTarr Steps
Britain's longest surviving clapper bridge has 17 spans across 54 metres. It was first recorded in Tudor times and may be older.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Near Hawkridge
- Access
- The visitor car park and toilets are at the top, with a gentle descent to the bridge. The closure of Hinds Pitt bridge interrupts the signed short circuit; riverside walks continue as out-and-back routes.
Tarr Farm Inn
A 17th-century country inn with a bar, restaurant and local, sustainable cooking, offering local-meat Sunday roasts, cream teas and recurring seafood, curry and steak evenings.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Beside Tarr Steps
- Access
- Dogs are welcome, and outside tables in the garden overlook Tarr Steps.
Withypool Tea Rooms
An independent tea room serving homemade soups, savouries and cakes including coffee-and-walnut and lemon drizzle, plus the large Withybig cream tea.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Withypool
- Access
- The tea room is seasonal; families and dogs are welcome, with indoor and outdoor seating.
Food & drink
2 placesThe Royal Oak Inn
An 18th-century inn with two beamed, wood-burner bars, a dining room and an outdoor bar. Its dog menu includes Bark Burgers, Bark Bangers and a roast dinner bowl.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Withypool
- Access
- Dogs may dine in the bars or restaurant and have their own menu, treats and water bowls.
Withypool Village Shop
A village shop, Post Office and off-licence selling groceries and local farm produce; holiday visitors can send a shopping list for the shop to assemble.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- Withypool
History & heritage
2 placesChurch of St Giles
A Grade II* church with a zig-zag-moulded Norman south doorway, a Norman baluster font and a 13th-century coffin lid returned to the church in 1931.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 35 minutes
- Locality
- Hawkridge
Landacre Bridge
A five-arched late-medieval bridge over the Barle, listed Grade II* and protected as a Scheduled Monument; it was documented in use by 1610.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Over the River Barle
Things to do
1 placeWillingford Bridge
A small picnic place beside a shallow stretch of the Danesbrook where children and dogs can paddle.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- On the Danesbrook
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Three ways to explore Hawkridge
Signature outings
Norman Details at St Giles
Look for zig-zag moulding and incised capitals at the south door, then the cable-moulded Norman baluster font inside.
Seventeen Spans at Tarr Steps
The 54-metre clapper bridge is Britain's longest surviving example and was first recorded in Tudor times.
Five Arches at Landacre
Landacre Bridge retains its five late-medieval arches, original form and much original stonework over the Barle.
The village story
Hawkridge Village Guide
A ridge village of dark skies, Norman stonework, Barle crossings and long-held local traditions.
Starlight on Hawkridge Ridge
The only public light in Hawkridge is a five-watt LED bulb inside an abandoned telephone box. There is no street lighting anywhere else, and the village makes a plain offer to anyone arriving after dark: "No street lights – bring a torch or teach yourself to see in the dark, by starlight."
The village sits high on a ridge above the River Barle, about four miles north-west of Dulverton and less than half a mile from the Devon boundary. The name Hawkridge is locally interpreted as "the ridge visited by buzzards". Just over fifty people live here, some from families settled for generations. Look south and east from the top of the village and the land opens over the pale-gold grass of Anstey Common and Molland Moor, the greener Danesbrook corridor and a small dark patch of forestry. Exmoor ponies, red deer, brown hares and kestrels are among the wildlife recorded here.
A Village Without Frills, and St Giles
It helps to be clear about what Hawkridge does not have. There is no pub, no shop, no café and no public toilet, and parking is very limited. The village once supported its own school and post office; both have gone. What remains is a church, a village hall, a scatter of stone houses that an account from 1867 already described as good, with gardens and allotments, and quiet roads.
The church is St Giles, and it is the reason to stop. Its south doorway is Norman, carved with zig-zag moulding above incised capitals, and the font is a Norman baluster with cable moulding and an incised grid. In 1877 a thirteenth-century coffin lid was found behind the pulpit, probably cut for William de Plessy, lord of the manor, who died in 1274; it was taken out, then returned to the church in 1931. A painted royal arms of Queen Victoria carries the same date, 1877. The building is graded II*.
Food Beside the Barle
For food and drink you go out to the water. Tarr Farm Inn stands beside the River Barle in a seventeenth-century building, with a bar, a restaurant and a garden overlooking the clapper bridge. It serves local-meat Sunday roasts, cream teas and recurring seafood, curry and steak evenings, and made the UK's Top 50 Gastropubs in 2017. Dogs are welcome.
Withypool keeps a village shop and Post Office, a seasonal tea room and the eighteenth-century Royal Oak. The inn has a canine menu with Bark Burgers, Bark Bangers, a roast dinner bowl, a fish-and-chips bowl, Bark Brew and a Paw Star dog martini. At the tea room, cakes include coffee-and-walnut and lemon drizzle, alongside the "Withybig" cream tea.
Bridges and Moorland Routes
Tarr Steps itself is the landmark. A seventeen-span, fifty-four-metre clapper bridge, it is the longest surviving in Britain, first recorded in Tudor times and possibly much older. Floods have carried its slabs, some weighing two tonnes, fifty metres downstream. Local folklore holds that the Devil built it and keeps the right to sunbathe on it. There is a car park and toilets at the top and a gentle path down to the water.
Walkers have plenty. The Two Moors Way crosses the Barle at the clapper bridge and continues through Hawkridge. Village paths descend towards the river and climb back through woodland and moorland; local ground is steep and often wet underfoot, so boots matter. Willingford Bridge, on the Danesbrook, has a small picnic place and a shallow stretch where children and dogs can paddle.
Arrival, Revel and Antler Craft
Getting here takes some doing. The nearest mainline station is Tiverton Parkway, no regular bus runs through the village, and you arrive by car along quiet lanes. Once a year the hill fills for the Hawkridge Revel and Gymkhana, with show jumping, a dog show, Mountain and Moorland classes and stalls; the 2025 event, its seventy-ninth, drew a record crowd.
At the top of the village stands a copper beech, and in 2016 a Victorian workshop beneath it was still in use. Tom Lock, then ninety, and his grandson Rob Follett were working red-deer antler there, described that year as the last of Exmoor's antler men.
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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.
- Church of St Giles — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Tarr Steps — exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Tarr Farm Inn — tarrfarm.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Royal Oak Inn — royaloakwithypool.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Withypool Village Shop — withypoolexmoor.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Withypool Tea Rooms — withypoolexmoor.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Willingford Bridge — exmoorher.co.uk other published source
- Landacre Bridge — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access