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Summary

Chapel in Belstone was built in 1841 and has had various uses, including as a Sunday School in the mid-19th century and a post office from the late 1930s. There is still a post box in the front wall of the building.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• METHODIST CHAPEL (XIX - 1840 AD to 1841 AD)
• SUNDAY SCHOOL (XIX - 1856 AD to 1899 AD)
• POST OFFICE (Mid 20th Century to Late 20th Century - 1937 AD to 1979 AD?)

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848, page 18/21 on pdf (Cartographic). SDV349431.

Depicted on the Tithe Map; 170 on the Belstone apportionment ('Chapel and yard').

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Zion Chapel (Wesleyan)' is depicted on the late 19th century historic map.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Early 20th century historic map appears to label the building as 'Parish Room'.

Ordnance Survey, 1930 - 1939, Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV336668.

Building depicted on the 1930s historic map. Not labelled.

Walpole, C. + Walpole, M., 2002, The Book of Belstone. Words and Images from a Dartmoor Village (Monograph). SDV357830.

Reference to Methodist preaching in Belstone in the early 19th century and the village appears on the Okehampton Circuit Chapel Account Books in 1837. The chapel was built in 1841 by another branch of non-conformists (the Calvanistic Independent Dissenters) popular in Belstone at the time. By 1847 it was the Wesleyans who were preaching in the chapel.
From 1856 the building was used as a Sunday school and in the early 1900s for evening classes. By the 1920s the chapel was brought from what was now the Congregational Union and from 1937 it was operated as the post office.

Google, 2015, Google Streetview (Website). SDV357604.

Image of the old chapel shows an attractive stone-built structure with a central arched door with two tall arched windows set either side. A third, central window has been blocked up. A sign on the frontage reads 'Telegraph Office' and the wall-mounted post box is visible, as well as a telephone box set outside. Looking back at the western rendered face of the building, there is a row of three arched windows which have been partly blocked in at the top sections, leaving three regular sized windows and a rear chimney stack.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Building is depicted on the modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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