Moretonhampstead

Moretonhampstead is a market town, parish and former manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Drewsteignton, Dunsford, Bridford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, North Bovey and Chagford. At the 2011 census the population of the parish was 1, 703, and Moorland electoral ward, in which Moretonhampstead lies, had a population of 2, 806. The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew. Moretonhampstead is twinned with Betton in France. EtymologyThe Domesday Book of 1086 records the manor as MORTONE. This part of the name derives from the Old English for a farmstead in moorland, referring to the town's situation on the edge of Dartmoor. By 1493 "Hampstead" had been added to the name. This addition simply means "homestead", and The Oxford Names Companion (1991) speculates that this may be a family name, or a nearby place. However The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names (2004) simply says the reason for the addition is unknown.

Moretonhampstead is a market town, parish and former manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Drewsteignton, Dunsford, Bridford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, North Bovey and Chagford. At the 2011 census the population of the parish was 1, 703, and Moorland electoral ward, in which Moretonhampstead lies, had a population of 2, 806. The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew. Moretonhampstead is twinned with Betton in France. EtymologyThe Domesday Book of 1086 records the manor as MORTONE. This part of the name derives from the Old English for a farmstead in moorland, referring to the town's situation on the edge of Dartmoor. By 1493 "Hampstead" had been added to the name. This addition simply means "homestead", and The Oxford Names Companion (1991) speculates that this may be a family name, or a nearby place. However The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names (2004) simply says the reason for the addition is unknown.