Belstone, a parish in Devonshire, on the headstreams of the Taw and Okement rivers, 2 miles SE of Okehampton railway station on the L. & S.W.R., and 20 W by N of Exeter. It includes the hamlet of Prestacott. It has a post office under Okehampton, which is the telegraph office, money order office, Sticklepath. Acreage, 1790; population, 181. The surface lies within Dartmoor, and partakes of its striking scenery. Belstone Cleave, on the course of the Okement river, shows wild massings of rock, with impetuous current of the stream. The glen of St Michael of Hatstock has the influx of the Black Avon from the uplands of Yes Tor, and contains Chapel Ford, named from an extinct ancient chapel of St Michael. Belstone Tor, about 1 1/2 mile above the ford, has on its W side a Druidic circle of 17 stones, the highest not more than 2 1/2 feet above ground. Some of the inhabitants are employed in woollen manufacture. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter; gross value, £185 with residence. The church is a small edifice of nave and chancel, with a very low tower; has Norman work and a fine old carved screen; is traditionally said to have been built by Baldwin de Brioniis, and was repaired in 1855, and again in 1881. There is a Congregational chapel.
