Welcome to Sourton Parish Council's Community website. We hope you find this a useful source of parish information and news.
The Parish of Sourton is a civil parish in the borough of West Devon. It lies about 4 miles (6.4km) south-west of Okehampton and is at the north-western extremity of Dartmoor National Park, part of which lies within the parish. The northern moor has a particular wild and rugged beauty of its own which is an integral part of Sourton. There is a population of over 400, which is widely dispersed throughout the parish, within the hamlets of Boasley, Thorndon, Bowerland, Week, Lake, Southerley Prewley and Forda. Agriculture is very much at the heart of the community.
Our Village - Sourton lies below Sourton Tors astride the A386. It is therefore within easy reach of Exeter and Plymouth as well as Cornwall and the coast. It has the 14th century church of St Thomas a Becket, a well used Village Hall, and the famous 12th century Highwayman Inn all surrounding the village green, from where there is easy access to the moor.
The village developed to support farming and associated trades including lime production. It also lay on the turnpike road between Okehampton and Tavistock. In the latter part of the 19th century until its closure in the mid 20th century the line of the Southern Railway skirted the village on the moor side.
Activities - The most popular activities within the parish include walking, horse riding and cycling. There are many footpaths and bridleways as well as the open moor. The cycle route known as the 'Granite Way', which forms part of the National Cycle Network, Route 27, skirts the edge of the village in the bed of the old Southern Railway line. Bicycles can be hired from Devon Cycle Hire at Sourton Down. Hang gliding is popular from Sourton Tor and there are several locations for fishing in the surrounding area.
There is an active church community, an annual produce show as well as various activities that take place in Sourton Hall.
Schools - An excellent pre-school, Treetops, in the neighbouring parish of Bridestowe also serves Sourton and Lydford. This also provides breakfast and after school clubs. Primary school children attend Boasley or Bridestowe Schools which feed into Okehampton and Tavistock Colleges.
The village developed to support farming and associated trades including lime production. It also lay on the turnpike road between Okehampton and Tavistock. In the latter part of the 19th century until its closure in the mid 20th century the line of the Southern Railway skirted the village on the moor side.
Activities - The most popular activities within the parish include walking, horse riding and cycling. There are many footpaths and bridleways as well as the open moor. The cycle route known as the 'Granite Way', which forms part of the National Cycle Network, Route 27, skirts the edge of the village in the bed of the old Southern Railway line. Bicycles can be hired from Devon Cycle Hire at Sourton Down. Hang gliding is popular from Sourton Tor and there are several locations for fishing in the surrounding area.
There is an active church community, an annual produce show as well as various activities that take place in Sourton Hall.
Schools - An excellent pre-school, Treetops, in the neighbouring parish of Bridestowe also serves Sourton and Lydford. This also provides breakfast and after school clubs. Primary school children attend Boasley or Bridestowe Schools which feed into Okehampton and Tavistock Colleges.
Accessibility Statement
Accessibility Statement for Sourton Parish Council website This accessibility statement applies to the Sourton Parish Council website at https://www.sourtonpc.org.uk
This website is run by Sourton Parish Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
How accessible this website is We know some parts of this website may not be fully accessible: • some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
This site is available in three versions which duplicate all textual information: • large screen/desktop site, includes graphics and photos. Some pages may require horizontal scrolling at high zoom.
• small screen/mobile site, formatted to display on small screens in portrait or landscape format • text only site, no graphics, photos or text formatting. Text font, size and background contrast may be adjusted by means of user browser controls
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format please contact the Parish Clerk
• by email: parishclerk@sourtonpc.org.uk
• by phone: 7792958675
• by post: Coombe Farm, Lake, Sourton, Okehampton EX20 4HQ
We will consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website We seek to maintain and improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the Parish Clerk – contact details above.
Enforcement procedure The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Sourton Parish Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below:
Non-accessible content The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations Some PDF documents, especially those containing graphics and images, may not be fully accessible to screen readers
PDFs and other documents Some of our PDFs documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards where possible, except where these are supplied by other organisations over which we have no control.
Preparation of this accessibility statement This statement was prepared on 1st April 2023. The test was carried out by Besthost.
All pages on the public facing web site, excluding PDF documents, were tested using the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool and manual inspection. All pages passed.
Accessibility Statement for Sourton Parish Council website This accessibility statement applies to the Sourton Parish Council website at https://www.sourtonpc.org.uk
This website is run by Sourton Parish Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
How accessible this website is We know some parts of this website may not be fully accessible: • some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
This site is available in three versions which duplicate all textual information: • large screen/desktop site, includes graphics and photos. Some pages may require horizontal scrolling at high zoom.
• small screen/mobile site, formatted to display on small screens in portrait or landscape format • text only site, no graphics, photos or text formatting. Text font, size and background contrast may be adjusted by means of user browser controls
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format please contact the Parish Clerk
• by email: parishclerk@sourtonpc.org.uk
• by phone: 7792958675
• by post: Coombe Farm, Lake, Sourton, Okehampton EX20 4HQ
We will consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website We seek to maintain and improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the Parish Clerk – contact details above.
Enforcement procedure The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Sourton Parish Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below:
Non-accessible content The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations Some PDF documents, especially those containing graphics and images, may not be fully accessible to screen readers
PDFs and other documents Some of our PDFs documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards where possible, except where these are supplied by other organisations over which we have no control.
Preparation of this accessibility statement This statement was prepared on 1st April 2023. The test was carried out by Besthost.
All pages on the public facing web site, excluding PDF documents, were tested using the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool and manual inspection. All pages passed.