Belstone Devon
Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Belstone Devon,    &quot;Bellestam&quot;  in the 1086 Domesday Survey, dates from the late 12c / early 13c with some 15c windows remaining at the time the tower was built.  It is, however, believed to be a lot older.  Priests are recorded from 1260 when the rector  William de Speccot was appointed.
Before the Conquest Osfrith of Okehampton owned the manor and he was replaced by &quot;Richard&quot; after 1066 .  At this time there were `7 households comprising of 8 villagers, 5 smallholders and 4 slaves.   A medium sized settlement, however it was taxed at the small rate of half a geld 
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.  Its highest point is Belstone Tor in the south, 
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.  It lies near the Roman extension of the Fosse Way road from Exeter to Launceston.

There is no documented trace as to when and to who the church was originally dedicated until the year 1738 when it appears in ‘Ecton’s Thesaurus’ as to St. Mary the Virgin’ and was perhaps one of 3 &quot;daughter&quot; chapels al with the same dedication, to the mother church of Sampford Courtenay.  

It now consists of a 15c low tower; early 16c south aisle; the nave, chancel , flat roofed vestry &amp;  north porch being rebuilt during major renovation of 1881. 

In 1850 White’s Devonshire Directory described the church thus; “The interior was newly seated with deal a few years ago, but still retains some of the ancient oak seats, with carved ends, and a finely carved oak screen. The chancel has two windows, a sedilla, and a few panes of painted glass.“
A report in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1862 comments: &quot;The church is a diminutive structure, and without any external pretensions to beauty: it has but one entrance, namely, through a porch at the north-west end....Whatever its age may be, it is clear that the Belstone ladies of those days were not encumbered with hoops or other like superfluous array, for the inner door of the porch is certainly not more than 2ft wide.

By 1871 it was reported that poultry had got into the porch and made it filthy and that if the fabric of the church was not restored it was in danger of collapse.   Another damning report stated that some window glass was broken in the east window, the floor was damp, the bell frames in a dangerous state of repair, the south aisle roof was rotting and the ceiling falling . <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/84b3P9Wk3P">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/84b3P9Wk3P</a>   To add further insult to injury the church wardens had complained that no sermon had been delivered on the Sunday morning. 
In 1873 another inspection reported that the books were torn and the bible imperfect.   The bell ropes had rotted away and the only way any of the bells could be rung was by someone climbing into the tower and physically whacking the bells with some heavy object. (! )   There had been a drastic fall in the congregation and most of the blame fell on the ncumbent rector Thomas Roberts,;  Indeed the flock had  diminished to just the rector and one old lady who was asked as to the format of the Sunday services.   Her reply was; “Parson, he says the glory be’s, and I do say the as it was‘.”   If  the Sunday service coincided with a spell of wet weather the rector would conduct the service from inside the altar rails, this being the only shelter from the rain in the entire building,   The diminishing congregation was also possibly due local converts defecting to the Wesleyan Methodist and other such non-conformist faiths now in the village .

Except for the tower which was left alone, restoration / rebuilding took place in 1881 at a cost of £800 paid for by subscription, but not to everyone's liking: 
According to W.G.Hoskins, writing in 1954:  &quot;The granite church was deprived of nearly all its interest by a drastic restoration which &quot;swept away everything indiscriminately&quot;   The oak screen was removed the rood screen and the gallery, the bells were re-hung and the whole floor re-laid and internal graves in the central aisle were covered over. .   The pews were removed and replaced by chairs until the present pews were installed in 1960  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/vJF3UNDr42">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/vJF3UNDr42</a>

In the 1400s the church possessed 3 bells which were recast in 1761 by the Pennington foundry , with 2 more added at that time.     They were inscribed  1- “God bless the church&quot; 2 – “Prosperity to this parish&quot; 3 – “God Save the King &quot;4 – “Robert Redaway and Thomas Coomb C.Wardens &quot;  5 – “I Call the quick to church, and dead to grave&quot; (All followed by &quot;F Pennington fecit 1761 &quot;)    In 1955 a further bell was added in memory of Francis Gotch Robinson inscribed: “God bless the parish&quot;   The bells were described as “somewhat light in tone, but very sweet as they sound across the moor on Sunday evening.”.

Picture with thanks - copyright Ethan Doyle White CCL <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_St_Mary_the_Virgin,_Belstone.jpg" rel="noreferrer nofollow">commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_St_Mary_the_Vir...</a>
belstone devon church