Belstone is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the West Devon District of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England.

Location

Lying on the northern side of

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

, the western boundary of the parish is mostly formed by the

East Okement River The East Okement is a river in the Dartmoor moors in Devon in south-west England. It joins the West Okement at Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. A ...

and the eastern by the

River Taw The River Taw () in England rises at Taw Head, a spring on the central northern flanks of Dartmoor, crosses North Devon and at the town of Barnstaple, formerly a significant port, empties into Barnstaple Bay in the Bristol Channel, having form ...

. The village lies at around 300m (990 feet) above sea level with its highest point being Belstone Tor in the south, at 460m (1,508 feet). The village is central in its parish, surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of

Sticklepath Sticklepath is a village and civil parish on Dartmoor, in the county of Devon, England. It gives its name to one of the most important geological faults in south-west England, thought to have originated during the Tertiary period and known vario ...

South Tawton South Tawton is a village, parish and former Manorialism, 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. In front of the church is a "Crosstree", ...

Dartmoor Forest Dartmoor Forest is a civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It was formed on 1 April 1987 by the splitting of the parishes of Lydford and Walkhampton. It covers about entirely within Dartmoor, Dartmoor Nation ...

and

Okehampton Hamlets Okehampton Hamlets is a civil parish in the Borough of West Devon and the English county of Devon, it runs independently from the Okehampton Town Council, meetings are held at the Meldon Village Hall. The Parish of Okehampton Hamlets is a rur ...

. It is only accessible by minor roads from the

A30 road The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End. The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route and post road. It used to provide the fastest r ...

, east of the town of

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...

, which is about three miles to the north-west. In 2001 its population was 257, relatively unchanged from the 1901 figure of 236.

History

There are a number of Bronze Age remains within the parish, including the

Nine Maidens stone circle The Nine Maidens, also known as the Seventeen Brothers, is a Bronze Age stone circle located near the village of Belstone on Dartmoor in Devon, England. The stone circle functioned as a burial chamber, although the cairn has since been robbed a ...

, the remains of the outer wall of a

burial chamber A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could ...

. It is possible that Fatherford, in the north west of Belstone

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, was one stage in a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

extension of the

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

road from

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

to Launceston. The village was recorded as ''Bellestam'' in the 11th century

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, dates from the 13th century and has priests recorded from 1260. In the 19th century, copper was worked on the moor at Taw River mine which closed in 1892, and at Greenhill in the north-east. Nine Stones - geograph

Belstone in fiction

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

's 1931 novel ''

The Sittaford Mystery ''The Sittaford Mystery'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of ''The Murder at Hazelmoor'' and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 S ...

'' would appear to use Belstone as the location of the fictional settlement of Sittaford. *The story of ''The Ballad of the Belstone Fox'' (1970) by David Rook was based on the area, later made into a film ''

The Belstone Fox ''The Belstone Fox'' (also known as ''Free Spirit'') is a 1973 British film directed by James Hill and starring Eric Porter, Jeremy Kemp and Bill Travers. It was written by Hill based on David Rook's 1970 novel, ''The Ballad of the Belstone Fox ...

'' in 1973. * Michael Jecks made the village the setting for his 1999 novel ''Belladonna At Belstone''.

Gallery

File:Stocks at Belstone.jpg, alt=, The Grade II listed

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

at Belstone File:Church of St Mary the Virgin, Belstone.jpg, alt=, Church of St Mary the Virgin, Belstone File:The Belstone Ring-Cross.jpg, alt=, Early medieval ring-cross in Belstone's Church of St Mary the Virgin

References

Sources

*''The Book of Belstone'' by Chris and Marion Walpole, 2002

External links

Village community websiteParish Church website
{{Devon parishes Villages in the Borough of West Devon Dartmoor