View source for Belstone

{{Short description|Village in Devon, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Belstone Village Green - geograph.org.uk - 1273541.jpg|thumb|right|Belstone Village Green]]
[[File:Belstone Holy Well.jpg|thumb|The holy well at Belstone]]
'''Belstone''' is a small village and [[civil parish]] in the [[West Devon|West Devon District]] of [[Devon]], England.

== Location ==
Lying on the northern side of [[Dartmoor]], the western boundary of the parish is mostly formed by the [[East Okement River]] and the eastern by the [[River Taw]]. 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).<ref name="H">{{Cite book
| last = Harris| first = Helen
| title = A Handbook of Devon Parishes
| publisher = Halsgrove| location = Tiverton| year = 2004
| page = 16| isbn = 1-84114-314-6
}}</ref> The village is central in its parish, surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of [[Sticklepath]], [[South Tawton]], [[Dartmoor Forest]] and [[Okehampton Hamlets]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf
|title=Map of Devon Parishes
|publisher=Devon County Council
|access-date=20 June 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102183100/http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf
|archive-date=2 November 2013
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> It is only accessible by minor roads from the [[A30 road]], east of the town of [[Okehampton]], which is about three miles to the north-west. In 2001 its population was 257, relatively unchanged from the 1901 figure of 236.<ref name="H" /> 

== History ==
There are a number of Bronze Age remains within the parish, including the [[Nine Maidens stone circle]], the remains of the outer wall of a [[burial chamber]].<ref name="H" /> It is possible that Fatherford, in the north west of Belstone [[parish]], was one stage in a [[Roman road|Roman]] extension of the [[Fosse Way]] road from [[Exeter]] to [[Launceston, Cornwall|Launceston]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Belstone History |url=http://www.south-zeal.eu/page061.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706014142/http://www.south-zeal.eu/page061.html |archive-date=6 July 2016 |access-date=12 July 2016 |publisher=South Zeal & its Dartmoor Environment}}</ref>

The village was recorded as ''Bellestam'' in the 11th century [[Domesday Book]]. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, dates from the 13th century and has priests recorded from 1260.<ref name="H" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Belstone: Some Account of the Parish. Past and Present|last=Dorothea|first=James|publisher=Winchester: Warren and Son|year=1911}}</ref>

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.<ref name="H" />

[[File:Nine Stones - geograph.org.uk - 1517096.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nine Maidens stone circle]]]]
==Belstone in fiction==

*[[Agatha Christie]]'s 1931 novel ''[[The Sittaford Mystery]]'' 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]]'' in 1973.
*[[Michael Jecks]] made the village the setting for his 1999 novel ''Belladonna At Belstone''.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Stocks at Belstone.jpg|alt=|The Grade II listed [[stocks]] 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
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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

==External links==
{{Commons category|Belstone}}
*[http://www.belstonevillage.net/ Village community website]
*[http://belstonevillage.net/st-marys-church/ Parish Church website]

{{coord|50|43|N|3|57|W|region:GB_type:city|display=title}}
{{Settlements of Dartmoor}}
{{Devon parishes}}

[[Category:Villages in the Borough of West Devon]]
[[Category:Dartmoor]]