Meeth is a small parish of 1,042 hectares (2,479 acres) located in West Devon District, approximately 4km north of the town of Hatherleigh. It is part of the Hatherleigh ward of West Devon Borough Council.

The population (2016) is approximately 200 parishioners.

It joins the Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area priority parishes of Petrockstowe, Huish, Hatherleigh, Dolton, Iddesleigh and Dowland. The village of Meeth is located in the east of the parish along the busy A386 main road, and lies in an elevated position. The village is small and has some traditional thatched buildings, The Bull and Dragon pub (ca 1490) and the parish church of St Michael and All Angels. The church contains Norman work. The nave is probably 12th century work; the chancel has been partly rebuilt.

In the churchyard is a monument to John Lempriere, who was rector here from 1811 to 1824, compiler of the famous classical dictionary Bibliotheca Classica, published in 1788.

The river Torridge forms the southern and eastern boundaries of the parish, and the Little Mere River some of the western boundary. The dominant land use in the parish is agriculturally improved grassland and arable, and much of the north part of the parish along the main road is quite intensively managed land with large fields.

The disused Torrington to Halwill Junction railway line (1925 to 1965) forms part of the Tarka Trail which currently begins/ends at Meeth Halt.

Meeth Quarry, from which ball clay was extracted, is a dominant feature of the parish and contains areas of open water, wet woodland, purple moor-grass & rush-pasture, lowland meadow, lowland mixed deciduous woodland and lowland fen. This site is a County Wildlife Site and a Devon Wildlife Trust nature reserve. There are two other County Wildlife Sites in the parish – Friar’s Hele Cross and Crockers Hele. These sites contain important areas of Culm grassland and wet woodland.

Parish council meetings will be held every other month from April 2022. Please see Agenda page for details.

parish-map

Meeth Parish Church
The Church Bells
Bull & Dragon
Meeth Quarry

Latest News

Welcome to the Meeth Parish Council website. The next parish council meeting will be on Thursday 28 March 2024 at 8.00pm.
There are currently two Parish Councillor vacancies, See NEWS page for details.