Sticklepath Devon: Located on the old ridgeway path in Devon, midway between Launceston and Exeter (exactly 23 miles from each), the small village of Sticklepath is on the northern edge of Dartmoor to the east of Okehampton.
Perhaps best known as the location of the Finch Foundry Museum, which is now run by the National Trust, Sticklepath has an interesting history, which goes back to Anglo-Saxon times, when it acquired its name from the Anglo-Saxon “staecle” (“steep”), referring to its position at the base of a steep hill.
In the 12th century, permission was given to build a chantry chapel between the stream and the pathway. At this time Sticklepath was within the Manor of Sampford, but from 1242 until the middle of the 16th century, came under the control of the Courtenay family, and after this belonging, rather strangely, to King’s College, Cambridge.
Its location led to its being a purely agricultural community with milling capabilities due to its position on the River Taw (at its crossing point with the ridgeway). At one time there were ten water mills on the stream which flows into the River Taw.
During the 17th century Sticklepath became a refuge for a group of Quakers, as they tried to escape persecution in surrounding towns, such as Launceston and Exeter. This Quaker group grew to a community of over two hundred, some are even though to have sailed to the New World in the Mayflower, with the Pilgrim Fathers.
The founder of Methodism, John Wesley passed through Sticklepath in 1743, and in 1744, preached a sermon from the hill above the village.
In 1814 a family by the name of Finch acquired the lease of the Manor Mills and subsequently turned some of it into a factory (foundry), making agricultural tools (now the Finch Foundry Museum), the remainder of the mill was also converted as the wool industry declined in the region.
The Finch Foundry finally closed for business in 1960, after the rear wall of the building collapsed. It was later turned into the Finch Foundry Museum, now run by the National Trust.
Sticklepath is also the location of “The Lady Well”, standing beside the A30, it is a pipe which constantly trickles water into a small stone trough, and is said to never dry up, it has the inscription “Lady Well, Drink and be Thankful”.
Sticklepath is situated on the northern edge of Dartmoor, three and a half miles east of Okehampton, and surrounded by the hamlets of Tongue End, South Tawton, Belstone and South Zeal.
© Sticklepath Devon 2012