Sourton

---

title: "Sourton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-the-borough-of-west-devon", "civil-parishes-in-devon", "dartmoor"] description: "Village in Devon, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-the-borough-of-west-devon" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Devon, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
coordinates
official_name	Sourton
static_image_name	Bridge at Sourton - geograph.org.uk - 596486.jpg
static_image_caption	The bridge in Sourton
population	420
population_ref	2011 census
civil_parish	Sourton
shire_county	Devon
region	South West England
london_distance	205 mi
constituency_westminster	Torridge and West Devon
post_town	OKEHAMPTON
postcode_area	EX
postcode_district	EX20
::

| country = England | coordinates = | official_name = Sourton | static_image_name = Bridge at Sourton - geograph.org.uk - 596486.jpg | static_image_caption = The bridge in Sourton | population = 420 | population_ref = 2011 census | civil_parish = Sourton | shire_district = | shire_county = Devon | region = South West England | london_distance = 205 mi | constituency_westminster = Torridge and West Devon | post_town = OKEHAMPTON | postcode_area = EX | postcode_district = EX20 | dial_code = | os_grid_reference =

Sourton is a small village and civil parish in West Devon, England. It lies about 4 mi south-west of Okehampton. It is at the north-western extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England and Wales, and lies along the A386 road. The historic map of Sourton shows that it is located near a river and the Sourton forest this can be seen in the image below.[[File:Historical map of Sourton.JPG|thumb|200px|A historical map showing sourton]] According to the 2001 census Sourton parish had a population of 406, and according to the 2011 census it had a population of 420. There is a public house in Sourton. In the 1870s Sourton was described as

::quote

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One of Sourton's main tourist attractions is the Highwayman Inn which was built in 1812. In 1959 the inn was transformed into a fairy-tale and Aladdin's cave; this included the old Launceston to Tavistock coach being installed as the entrance to the inn. The main reason for the Highwayman Inn being a tourist attraction is due to the claims that it is the most unusual inn in Britain and is said to have a ghost.

Housing

Many of the houses in Sourton are bungalows with a count of 191 or detached households with a count of 146. This is typical of a small village parish. This also is supported by the occupations in Sourton showing that the income in the area fits with the fact that there are very few terraced houses which make up a total of 9 houses in Sourton. the majority of houses in Sourton are owned outright with very few council houses or rented houses recorded on the 2011 data set. The average number of rooms per house in Sourton is 5 or more. The number of houses in Sourton decreased from 135 in 1841 to just 86 in 1901 which is consistent with the decrease in population it then increases to 105 houses in 1931.

Occupations

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/1881_occupation_for_Sourton.jpg" caption="access-date=25 April 2015}}"] ::

Population

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Sourton_population_time_series_1881-2011.jpg" caption="access-date=26 March 2015}} this is also supported by the fact that there are only 62 dependants in Sourton according to the data available from the 2001 census data indicating that the area is attractive to an older population."] ::

The graph shows there is a population drop between 1841 and 1891 this could be due to a boundary change. Within 1901 the population had levelled out to around 400 up until 2011 where it has started to increase slightly. From the 2011 data available the main ethnic group is White:Irish/British with the main religion in Sourton being Christian

References

References

1. (2001-04-01). "Parish Headcounts". [[Office for National Statistics]].
2. "(parish):key figures for 2011 census: key statistics". office for national statistics.
3. (1870). "Gazetteer of England and Wales".
4. "Highwayman Inn".
5. "office for national statistics".
6. "Housing".
7. "Number of rooms".
8. "total number of houses".
9. "Vision of Britain".
10. "Distance travelled to work".
11. "Occupation".
12. "Occupation 2011".
13. "hours worked".
14. "age structure".
15. "Dependants".
16. "ethnic group".
17. "Religion".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::