Widecome-in-the-Moor

Widecombe-in-the-Moor is a large parish (by area) located within the heart of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon in the United Kingdom. The village of Widecombe lies within the beautiful valley of the East Webburn river (stream!). Its name is thought to derive from ‘Withy-combe’ which means Willow Valley.

The village is world-famous for its fair, held annually in September, which gave rise to the well-known folk song ‘Widecombe Fair’ and the characters of Uncle Tom Cobley and All.

For such a small village it has a large and splendid church, known as ‘The Cathedral of the Moor’, has recently undergone some urgent restoration.
Widecombe-in-the-Moor is a well-known all-year-round tourist spot and the village population is more than doubled by the daily visitors.

activities.

The Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor is still largely a farming community, although upland stock farming was never easy and it is particularly difficult at the moment. However, farmers are a resourceful lot and engage in a variety of activities to supplement the farming.

There is also much more to Widecombe Parish than Widecombe itself. See Around and About the Parish for some information on the other villages and hamlets in the area. For instance, Leusdon, with its Church and the Memorial Hall, where arts groups perform regularly, and Poundsgate, which both look down on the Dart River, itself worthy of its own web site and which forms a southern boundary of the Parish. And we must not forget Ponsworthy, nor the various individual manors which together make up the Parish.