About Burrator

BURRATOR PARISH AND ITS COMMUNITY

The Parish of Burrator is in the south west corner of the county of Devon, wholly within the Dartmoor National Park. Our lands straddle the upper reaches of the Meavy, and are framed by the Walkham and Plym rivers. The ancient stannary town of Tavistock, the port of Plymouth and the Napoleonic settlement at Princetown on Dartmoor are within easy reach.

Our terrain is of moorland, dry stone enclosed farmland and wooded river valleys. The eastern and northern skylines are broken by the granite hill top tors for which Dartmoor is famous. The granite quarries, tin mines and railways that once employed our people now exist as relics and landscape features softened by time. In the west is the dip of the Tamar valley and swell of Bodmin moor while to the south lies the gap that forms Plymouth Sound.

Burrator is a place of both natural beauty and artifice. The parish is home to the reservoir at Burrator after which the parish takes its name. The lake formed by flooding the Meavy valley at the end of the 19th century with its many surrounding granite tors, moorland and woodlands provide a famous beauty spot attracting walkers, cyclists, horse riders and those who just come to look in all seasons of the year.

In all Burrator is one of the largest and the most sparsely populated parishes in England, our 5945 hectares is home to just 1540 inhabitants (2001 census) in 637 households. We have farmsteads dotted around our hillsides and river valleys. Ancient manors and hamlets are found at Hoo Meavy, Meavy Barton, Goodameavy, Lovaton and Welltown. There are three larger settlements within the parish comprising the ancient villages of Meavy, Sheepstor and Walkhampton with their fine churches dating back to Saxon times. The largest settlement is at Dousland built following the arrival of rail travel.

In recent years it has been Dousland and Walkhampton that have seen the increase in new building so that these two communities now form the largest populations. Many families new to the area have joined us in recent times.

More information about the parish is contained in the Burrator Parish Appraisal, which was undertaken in 1998.  The report based on the responses gained from the appraisal questionnaire was published in 1999.

Statistics: 1540 habitants for 5945 hectares giving a population density of 0.26
Adult population age 18 to 65 of 900
For a statistics profile of Burrator see Neighbourhood Statistics for Burrator available from the government National Statistics website.  (Please note that this link opens in a new window.)