Sticklepath Parish Council

Sticklepath is a small Dartmoor village on the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park, near Okehampton, with a history traced back to the 11th century, though it has only been its own separate civil parish since the mid-1980s, having previously been split between South Tawton, Belstone and Sampford Courtenay parishes. The parish covers about 400 acres and has a population of around 450. For centuries the village lay on the main coaching road west from Exeter, and the itinerant preacher John Wesley is recorded to have preached here from the open place known as White Rock. Quakerism took hold in the village during the 17th century, later giving way to Methodism, and the Methodist Chapel of 1816 still stands opposite the Victorian village hall. Today Sticklepath is best known for the Finch Foundry, a 19th-century water-powered forge now cared for by the National Trust, which draws many visitors. The village also has an outreach post office, a village shop, and sits beside the River Taw with popular riverside walks toward neighbouring Belstone. Sticklepath Parish Council looks after local services and facilities, including the Playing Field and Sticklepath Moor Nature Reserve, and works on residents' behalf with district, county and national park authorities. Cover photograph: Finch Foundry, Sticklepath, by Chris Allen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.