Iddesleigh S. H. Burton wrote that it gave the appearance of being "thatchier" than anywhere else in Devon. Situated on a south-facing slope, the village has good views of northern Dartmoor, including its highest point, High Willhays. The Church of St James, the parish church, is at the western edge of the village, and is a grade I listed building. With 13th-century origins, but mostly dating from the 15th century, it has wagon roofs in its nave and north aisle. A recumbent effigy of a knight with a plain shield, lying under an arch has been dated to and is believed
High Willhays England south of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales, but since then surveys have shown that Kinder Scout is also higher (albeit less prominent). The geology of High Willhays, like most of Dartmoor, consists of granite intruded about 280 million years ago. However High Willhays is in an area of the northern plateau of the moor where the exposed rock has noticeably fewer of the large feldspar megacrysts that are typical of most of Dartmoor's tors. Each of the outcrops displays lamellar bedding. High Willhays is within one of Dartmoor's Danger Zones, areas used periodically by the British Army for exercises.