| Official Name: | South Tawton |
| Country: | England |
| Region: | South West England |
| Static Image: | South Tawton church.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | St Andrew's Church |
| Population: | 1,683 |
| Population Ref: | [1] |
| Os Grid Reference: | SX653945 |
| Post Town: | Okehampton |
| Postcode Area: | EX |
| Postcode District: | EX20 |
| Dial Code: | 01837 |
| Constituency Westminster: | Central Devon (UK Parliament constituency) |
| Shire District: | West Devon |
| Shire County: | Devon |
| Coordinates: | 50.73°N -3.9°W |
South Tawton is a village, parish and former manor on the north edge of Dartmoor, Devon, England. An electoral ward bearing the same name exists. At the 2011 census the population was 1,683.[2] In front of the church is a "Crosstree", a feature dating from the Tudor period.Inscription:Cross Tree.a tree has stood here since the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the wall and seat were rebuilt to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953
Located in the parish of South Tawton are various historic estates including:
North Wyke was long a possession of the Wykes family. Worthy (1896) suggested this family, Latinized to de Wigornia ("from Worcester"), was descended from a certain William de Wigornia, a younger sons of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan (c. 1142-1204) and de jure Earl of Worcester, by his marriage with Maud FitzRoy, daughter of Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall.[3] The manor of South Tawton was anciently a possession of the Beaumont family.[4] The effigy of John Wykes (1520-1591) of North Wyke, known locally as "Old Warrior Wykes", survives in South Tawton Church, showing a recumbent figure dressed in full armour, under a low tester with three low Ionic columns.[5] He married Mary Giffard, a daughter of Sir Roger Giffard (d. 1547) of Brightley, Chittlehampton, Devon.[6]
The manor house of the Burgoyne family of South Zeal survives as the Oxenham Arms Public House, on the main street of the village of South Zeal, which is within the parish of South Tawton.[7] A mural monument to Robert Burgoyne, dated 1651, survives in St Andrew's Church, South Tawton.[8]
Since 1990, the highest recorded temperature was 27 °C (81 °F) in June 2017 and the lowest was -6 °C (21 °F) in March 2018.
South Tawton features in Landscapes of England DVD Series 2, Ep 6. by W.G. Hoskins. He observes that while South Tawton failed as a borough it spawned the nearby settlement of South Zeal which flourished being directly on the main route from London to Lands End.[9]