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. 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 provided employment now exist as relics and landscape features softened by time.
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.