Sheepstor is a village,

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

and former manor on the western side of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

in the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. In 2001, its population was 53, down from 95 in 1901. For administrative purposes the parish is grouped with the parishes of Meavy and Walkhampton to form Burrator Parish Council, and for electoral purposes it is grouped with the same two parishes to form Burrator

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

. Burrator Reservoir, constructed in 1898, is to the north of the village and forms part of the northern boundary of the parish. The name ''Sheepstor'' has evolved considerably since the first reference to a settlement here which was recorded in a pipe roll of 1168 as ''Sitelestorra''. In a document of 1262, it was ''Skytelestor'', ''Shittestorre'' in 1474, ''Shistor'' in 1547 and in c. 1620

Tristram Risdon Tristram Risdon (c. 1580 – 1640) was an English antiquarian and topographer, and the author of ''Survey of the County of Devon''. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated a ...

called it ''Shetelstor now Shepstor''. The name probably derives from the Old English ''scyttel(s)'' meaning a bar or bolt, reflecting the shape of the nearby Sheeps Tor.

Manor

The manor of Sheepstor was held by the Scudamore family, whose heirs were the Elford family.

Sheepstor Church

The village church, dedicated to

St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Ha ...

, is built of granite and dates from the 15th century, though a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the com ...

was first documented here in 1240. The church contains a fine

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, ...

which was reconstructed in 1914 by the then vicar Hugh Breton from drawings made of the original that had been removed in a 19th-century restoration. Buried in the churchyard are

James Brooke Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was ...

, Charles Brooke and

Charles Vyner Brooke Vyner, Rajah of Sarawak, GCMG, full name Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke (26 September 1874 – 9 May 1963) was the third and last White Rajah of the Raj of Sarawak. Early life The son of Charles Brooke and his wife Margaret de Windt ( Ranee ...

, the three

White Rajahs The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward f ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

(now part of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

), as well as

Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke Captain Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, Tuan Muda of Sarawak (8 August 1876, in Kuching – 15 September 1965, in Weybridge, Surrey) was a member of the family of White Rajahs who ruled Sarawak for a hundred years. Life Brooke was the son of ...

, another member of the family. The graves of the Rajahs have been designated Grade II listed monuments by English Heritage. There are currently six bells in the church tower, five of which were cast in 1769, with a sixth hung in 1904; one of the older bells has inscribed on it the words 'I call the quick to church and the dead to grave'. A local legend tells that the bell ropes of the church were once tied together and lowered into Crazywell Pool, 3.6 km to the north east of Sheepstor, in order to determine the depth. According to the legend the ropes descended as much as 90 fathoms without reaching the bottom, causing people to believe the pool is bottomless. The church has been renovated several times, the most thorough of which was in 1861 at a cost of £590.

Sheeps Tor

Sheeps Tor, from which the village is named, is a prominent outcrop about half a mile north east of the village. The summit is 369m above sea level and it is one of the area's most prominent tors.

Sheepstor in popular culture

In 2010 Sheepstor was one of the filming locations for the

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spi ...

film ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...

'', and the village with its prominent church tower features in an aerial shot in the trailer for the film which was released on 29 June 2011.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Devon Dartmoor