South Zeal

South Zeal is a village on the old Exeter to Okehampton road on the northern edge of Dartmoor. It lies in South Tawton parish, and the parish church is in the neighbouring village of South Tawton; South Zeal has a Church of England chapel and a Methodist chapel. It was laid out as a planned market town in the 13th century, and the long street still follows the narrow medieval burgage plots, thought to be among the best preserved in the country.

The Oxenham Arms was licensed as an inn in 1477 for John Oxenham and his wife Elizabeth. The pub's own history says Benedictine monks built a monastery around a prehistoric standing stone in the 12th century. The South Zeal Menhir is in the snug bar, and the information board says at least 14 feet of it is underground, found in an excavation in the 1930s (another account says the 1970s and 26 feet). The building is dated to the late 16th or early 17th century, and the Dartmoor walks site says the monastery claim has no documentary evidence. A separate stone in the dining room is probably an import of the 18th or 19th century.

St Mary's Chapel dates from the 15th century, with a granite cross of the 14th century. The Dartmoor Folk Festival was started in 1978 by the local musician Bob Cann, held for its first three years at Wood Country House near South Tawton and in South Zeal since 1981.