Bellever
| Bellever | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Bellever Youth Hostel | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX6577 |
| Location: | 50°34’52"N, 3°54’4"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Yelverton |
| Postcode: | PL20 |
| Dialling code: | 01822 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Devon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Torridge and West Devon |
Bellever is a hamlet on Dartmoor in Devon. It is to be found (if it can be found) on the river East Dart about a mile and a half south of Postbridge.
On the river below the hamlet is the Bellever Clapper Bridge, a clapper bridge similar in design to the famous bridge upriver at Postbridge, though with its middle span missing.
Bellever Tor stands a mile to the south-west.
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'.
Until the period after the Second World War, 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.[1]
In 1931 the Forestry Commission bought the farm and began a large planting scheme here. In the 1950s, several houses were built to house the forestry workers.[2] The coniferous plantation known as Bellever Forest surrounds the hamlet on its north, west and south sides.
In 1934 some of the barns of Bellever Farm were let to the Youth Hostels Association and now form the oldest, still functioning youth hostel in Devon.[3]
As of 2016 the hamlet is served by a daily bus service that runs between Yelverton, Princetown, Postbridge and Tavistock. During the summer the Forestry Commission runs a small visitor centre by the East Dart river.[4]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bellever) |
References
- ↑ "The Bellever Bulls". http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/bell_bull.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ↑ "Introduction to Bellever Forest". http://www.virtuallydartmoor.org.uk/postbridge/transcripts/Bellever_Forest/audio01_pete_intro.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ↑ Maurice-Jones, Helen; Porter, Lindsey (2008). The Spirit of YHA. YHA. p. 149.
- ↑ "Bellever and Postbridge Trails". Moor than meets the eye. http://www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/575545/PB1-Bellever-and-Postbridge-Trails.pdf. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
- National Heritage List 1305963: Clapper Bridge, Bellever
