Davidstow
is situated a short distance from the coast of north Cornwall
about twelve miles southwest of Launceston.
It has no village centre as such and is spread over an area of
about 7000 acres.
The main industry is farming. There is also a factory manufacturing
dairy products which is the largest employer in the area.
Davidstow
is well known for it's airfield on the northern edge of Bodmin
Moor. Davidstow airfield was in use for the last three years of
the last war and was, for a short time in the fifties, home to
formula one motor racing. There is now a flying club occupying
one of the ex MOD buildings and there are two museums, The
Davidstow Moor RAF Memorial Museum and The
Davidstow Airfield & Cornwall At War Museum .
On
the A395 from Launceston stands St David's
Church and close by is a Holy Well
restored in 1871. The parish is now part of Boscastle-with-Davidstow
ecclesiastical parish.
Davidstow is surrounded by the parishes of Lesnewth, St Juliot
and Otterham, Warbstow, Treneglos, St Clether, Advent, Lanteglos-by-Camelford
and Minster.
Local
landmarks include St Kitt's Hill , Rough Tor, Brown Willy and
Crowdy Resevoir - famous in the winter months for it's impressive
flocks of starlings which roost there and whose flight patterns
are the subject of many photographs.
The
nearest shop is at Marshgate. There are more shops in Camelford,
five miles south on the A39 now known as the Atlantic Highway
and one of the three major routes into Cornwall.
Local
history includes The Charlotte
Dymond murder of 1844 Her ghost is said to walk the slopes
of Rough Tor where the murder was committed.
The
population of Davidstow is approximately 407 and is little more
than double that in 1801.
