Bellever Forest
The Bellever Forest is a forestry plantation in the middle of Dartmoor, created and owned by the Forestry Commission along the west side of the East Dart River and the slopes of Bellever Tor and Laughter Tor.
At the edge of the forest is the hamlet of Bellever which in its current form was largely created by the Forestry Commission for its activities.
Forestry and leisure
Bellever is a working forest, created by the Commission in 1931. It produces softwood for the construction industry and may other uses throughout the West Country.
There is a large car park in the edge of the forest at the south-west end of Postbridge, from which a number of trails have been provided, running into the forest and up to Bellever Tor. One ancient track, the Lich Way, runs across the forest; this was the route by which moorland folk used to bring their dead for burial at the parish church in distant Lydford.
Historical landscape
Within the forest are many remains of past ages – ancient field boundaries, cist burials, stone circles, hut circles and other prehistoric remains amongst them.
The Bellever Clapper Bridge over the East Dart at Bellever, now incomplete, is believed to be mediæval. The more famous Post Bridge at Postbridge, just outside the forest boundary, may be of the same age, though local tradition insists that it is Neolithic.
Outside links
- Location: 50°34’38"N, 3°54’37"W
- Forestry Commission:
- Bellever
- About the Bellever Forest (leaflet; PDF)