Bellever Settlements, Bellever, Dartmoor National Park

Bellever Settlements, Bellever, Dartmoor National Park

Postbridge National Park Visitor Centre

There's a superb Dartmoor prehistory exhibition on the second floor of Postbridge National Park Visitor Centre. A section of the exhibition covers Dartmoor settlements. We'd recommend popping into the visitor centre before exploring Bellever's prehistory and settlements as it provides a great insight into the area. For example, 'it was not until the second millennium BC that people started to live in permanent settlements on Dartmoor ... Bronze Age settlements vary from signle buildings to groups of houses, and from large settlements within stone built enclosures, to settlements attached to small field systems'.

 

Recommended route to Bellever Settlements for the first time

Cross the B3212 and cattle grid into Bellever Forest. You'll see a car parking area to your right as you enter the forest. A forestry track starts/ends at this car parking area. Follow the forestry track all the way to the clearing at the top of which sits Bellever Tor. Once at the clearing, turn right, or west, for a short time on the ancient Lichway/Lych Way. There's a large settlement south of this ancient track and Kraps Ring Settlement to the north. Both are marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map.

We've also positioned one of the Bellever Settlements on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location. The enclosure walls are clearly visible on that satellite imagery.

Note that this is the easiest route to get to the stone row. There are quicker routes but some of the tracks cutting through Bellever Forest can get very boggy.

 

Learning more about settlements on Dartmoor

To learn more about settlements on Dartmoor, buy a copy of Phil Newman's 'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor'. Pages 66-81 of that book provide superb information. This site is a practical guide. Consult Newman's work for expertise.