Bellever

Bellever

Bellever Youth Hostel
Bellever
Bellever shown within Devon
OS grid reference SX6577
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town YELVERTON
Postcode district PL20
Dialling code 01822
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Devon and Somerset
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK Parliament

Bellever is a hamlet in Dartmoor, Devon, England. It is located on the river East Dart about 2 kilometres (1 mi) south of Postbridge.

The first mention of a settlement at this location is in a Duchy of Cornwall record from 1355 which gives the name of a farm here as Welford, a contraction of wielle (spring) and ford.[1] However, in his High Dartmoor (1983), Eric Hemery proposed that the name comes from bal (mine) and ford, meaning the mine by the ford.[2]

The River East Dart at Bellever looking upstream. Forestry Commission land on the left, open moorland on the right
The River East Dart at Bellever

Until the period after World War II the hamlet consisted of Bellever Farm (owned by the Duchy of Cornwall) and its outbuildings, with a small number of cottages for the farm workers. The farm gained a reputation for the introduction of Galloway and Aberdeen Angus cattle onto Dartmoor.[3] However, in 1931 the Forestry Commission bought the farm and began a large planting scheme here; several houses were built in the 1950s to house the forestry workers.[4] The coniferous plantation known as Bellever Forest[4] surrounds the hamlet on its north, west and south sides.

In 1934 some of the barns of Bellever Farm were let to Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales) and now form the oldest, still functioning youth hostel in Devon.[5]

As of 2016 the hamlet is served by a daily bus service that runs between Yelverton, Princetown, Postbridge and Tavistock.[6] During the summer the Forestry Commission run a small visitor centre by the East Dart river.[7]

Bellever Tor lies 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) to the southwest.

References

  1. ↑ Gover, John; Mawer, Allan; Stenton, Sir Frank Merry (1932). Place-names of Devon. English Place-Name Society. 8. Cambridge University Press. p. 192.
  2. ↑ Hemery, Eric (March 1983). High Dartmoor: Land and People. Robert Hale. p. 486. ISBN 0-7091-8859-5.
  3. ↑ "The Bellever Bulls". Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  4. 1 2 "Introduction to Bellever Forest" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  5. ↑ Maurice-Jones, Helen; Porter, Lindsey (2008). The Spirit of YHA. YHA. p. 149.
  6. ↑ "98 - Tavistock". Target Travel. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Bellever and Postbridge Trails" (PDF). Moor than meets the eye. Retrieved 3 July 2016.

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