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Summary

No longer extant, this chapel is only known from documentary sources and precise location has not been confirmed. According to the 1240 Perambulation of Dartmoor, an ancient chapel stood at Halstock dedicated to St. Michael. In the area surrounding Lower Halstock Farm there are the remains of Medieval settlement. Crossing suggests that a cross from near the chapel was taken to Friar's Well. Nearby Chapel Ford has been suggested as a possible location.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX69SW31
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444192
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SW/58
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX69SW31

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CHAPEL (XII to XIII - 1140 AD? (Between) to 1240 AD (Between))

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

Site of the chapel is not depicted on the Tithe Map in this area.

Whale, T. W., 1893, Some Remarks on the Bounds of the Forest of Dartmoor, 529 (Article in Serial). SDV343740.

SX 607934. Chapel of St Michael of Halgestone. The old map places the chapel exactly on the boundary. Its site has not been ascertained.
.... by West Mill torr to the "radum proximum in orientale parte capelle sancte Michaelis de Halgestoke" called also Chapel Ford.(SX 60619212).

Rowe, S., 1896, A Perambulation of the Royal Forest of Dartmoor and the venville precincts (Monograph). SDV249697.

(SX 601936) There was an ancient chapel at Halstock dedicated to St Michael, which is mentioned in the 1240 Perambulation of Dartmoor. (Chapel Ford is at SX 60789344).

Crossing, W., 1902, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor, 105? (Monograph). SDV178385.

Crossing quotes an old tradition that a cross which once stood near the chapel was taken to Friar's Well.

Gover, J. E. B. + Mawer, A. + Stenton, F. M., 1931, The Place-Names of Devon: Part One, 203 (Monograph). SDV1312.

Halstock is 'Halgestoke' in 1240, 'Holstocke Ball' in 1622, meaning 'Holy Place'. There was an ancient chapel here, dedicated to St. Michael, which is mentioned in the 1240 Perambulation of Dartmoor.

Linehan, C. D., 1966, Deserted Sites and Rabbit-Warrens on Dartmoor, Devon, 127 (Article in Serial). SDV307246.

Halstock Chapel was part of a former village where six tenements were recorded in 1586. The chapel of St Michael of Halgestoke is named in the account of a perambulation of Dartmoor Forest made in 1240.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX69SW31 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV269434.

(27/01/1978) Chapel Ford (MDV6932), SX 60789344; there are no visible remains on the ground, but the land to the west of the stream would afford a place for a chapel. In old SMR reference, the Chapel name should be Halgestoke.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 866-7 (Monograph). SDV249702.

The Perambulation return of 1240 records a 'capelle Soreti Michaelis de Halgestake', and in the 1609 Perambulation there is a Chapple of Halstocke'. Traditionally the chapel is associated with Chapel Lands, a field which lies to the south-east of Lower Halstock Farm. Several longhouses can be seen on earthworks over a large area. Several lie near Lower Halstock Farm. In the field below (east of) Chapel Lands are two longhouses, lying end to end, 30 feet apart (MDV13058). The eastern measures 30 feet by 15 feet, the western 27 feet by 15 feet. These lie near the well known as Chapel Lands Spring. The outline of several enclosures also lie in this field.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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