Drewsteignton

Drewsteignton is a village in the valley of the River Teign, in Dartmoor National Park, 13 miles west of Exeter. In Domesday Book (1086) the manor of Taintone was one of Baldwin the Sheriff's Devon holdings, and the parish had five manors. The later name comes from Drogo or Drew, a sub-tenant of Tainton in the twelfth century. It was 'Drogo's farm on the Teign' by 1275 and Drewsteignton by 1327. The village centre has been a conservation area since 1972.

The church of Holy Trinity is mostly fifteenth century and has a four-pinnacled tower on the village square. Its dedication was first recorded in 1742. Inside are nine ledger stones and the Ponsford chest tombs, said to be the only ones of their kind on Dartmoor. Six bells were recast in 1784. The Golden Lion inn was a staging post for the Trafalgar dispatch carried to London in 1805, and a plaque was unveiled in 2005.

Spinsters' Rock, a Neolithic chambered tomb, is on Shilstone land in the parish. Three uprights carry a capstone about 4.5 by 3.1 metres. It fell in 1862 after the field was ploughed in a wet season, and was put back later that year at the Rev. William Ponsford's expense. The uprights were not necessarily replaced where they were, so it may not be as originally built.

Castle Drogo, designed by Edwin Lutyens for Julius Drewe, founder of Home and Colonial Stores, was built from 1911 to 1930 and passed to the National Trust in 1974. It is often called the last castle built in England. Fingle Bridge, a Grade II* listed granite bridge over the Teign, was in decay by 1665 and is thought to be early seventeenth century. It was used by packhorses carrying tan bark. The Fingle Bridge Inn began in 1897 as a tea shop.