Dean Prior

Dean Prior is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, beside the A38 between Buckfastleigh and South Brent. The post town is Buckfastleigh. The 2021 census gives the parish 220 residents, up from 201 in 2011. The parish covers about 1,672 hectares, and the church describes it as stretching west into the centre of Dartmoor, so the settlement is on the edge of the moor and the parish runs well onto it.

The church of St George the Martyr is Grade I listed and stands right beside the dual carriageway. It was first recorded in 1186 as part of the possessions of Plympton Priory. The first known priest, Gervase of Crediton, was ordained in 1261, and the west tower and the red sandstone font survive from the earlier church. The rest was largely rebuilt in the 15th century. Parish registers begin in 1557, and the churchyard yew was planted in 1780.

The poet Robert Herrick was vicar here from 1629 to 1646 and again from 1660 to 1674, and is buried in an unmarked grave. He was removed in 1647 for refusing the Solemn League and Covenant. He did not much like the place, writing that he had never had more discontents than here, though he admitted his best verse was written there. The church history page puts the parish at about 400 people in his day. No dated history of the village itself, apart from the church, has turned up.