Iddesleigh

Coordinates: 50°51′N 4°02′W / 50.85°N 04.04°W / 50.85; -04.04

Iddesleigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Devon, England. The settlement has ancient origins and is listed in the Domesday Book. The village lies on the B3217 road, roughly central in its parish of around 2,900 acres, about eight miles north of the town of Okehampton.

Iddesleigh has been described as an attractive small village, with good views of Dartmoor to the south. Its church is a grade I listed building and there are a number of other listed buildings in the parish.

Sir Stafford Northcote owned most of the parish at one time and took the title of Earl of Iddesleigh, though he never lived here. Author Michael Morpurgo has lived here since the 1970s.

Toponymy and early history

The name Iddesleigh derives from the Old English personal name, Ēadwīġ (or perhaps Ēadwulf), and lēah, a wood or clearing. The first documentary evidence of the settlement appears in the Domesday Book (1086), where it is referred to twice, as Edeslege and as Iweslei. By the 13th century its name was recorded as Edulvesly and in 1428 as Yeddeslegh.