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
Cosdon Hill highest point at , but it was now known that the neighbouring High Willhays was yet higher, at . From the summit of Cosdon it is often possible to see the English Channel from Teignmouth to Start Point, and on a clear day the Bristol Channel may be visible. The hill provides an excellent view over Dartmoor. As Thomas Clifton Paris wrote in 1865, "Far and wide stretch its desolate hills, the ancient haunt of wolves and wild deer, and barbarians as untamed ; a solitary wondrous region, everywhere darkened by morasses, but piled with fantastic rocks and glowing with