Bickington

Bickington is a village and civil parish in Teignbridge, Devon, on the River Lemon. The parish council places Ashburton three miles to the south west and Newton Abbot five miles to the east, with the north of the parish inside the Dartmoor National Park boundary. Older spellings include Bichentone and Buketon.

The parish is small, about 1,590 acres, and hilly. The parish council gives the population as approximately 250, while the 2001 census recorded 311, so the figures do not agree. The 1870 to 1872 Imperial Gazetteer counted 294 people in 60 houses and noted a large serge manufactory and a small Wesleyan chapel.

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin is 15th century and almost certainly stands on the site of an earlier church. Its lychgate is built through a house, with a room over it. The Bickford family held land in the parish for more than 600 years, with their seat at Wrigwell, and memorials to them are in the church. The former church hall is held in trust for the community. The Dartmoor Half Way Inn is on Ashburton Road.

The sources found give no earlier history of the village itself beyond the church and the Bickfords.