An Exhibition of Archive Photos of the Moorland Village of Belstone
The Dartmoor Trust has joined forces with West Devon Methodist Circuit, the Belstone Community Archive and Okehampton’s Museum of Dartmoor Life to mount an exhibition of Belstone and wider-Dartmoor photos at the Methodist Chapel in the centre of the village. The exhibition runs from 1st July to the end of October and is open every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 2pm to 5pm. Entry is free. Delicious afternoon teas will be available in the Old School Tearoom behind the chapel. Dogs welcome.
Around 50 images, mostly with the theme ‘people doing things in the past’ and covering the last 130 years, are included from the Belstone Archive. A similar number of images from the Dartmoor Trust’s extensive archive are also displayed, many with the theme ‘then and now’. The Dartmoor Trust is a local charity which aims to support projects that benefit Dartmoor, its landscape, communities and visitors. The trust’s ambition in digitising its collection, which is available through the website www.dartmoortrust.org.uk, is to ensure that these photos remain available for everyone to enjoy.
The Belstone Community Archive was established in 1998 when research for The Book of Belstone (2002) began. It now consists of around 20 box files of documents, memories and photos, and around 7000 digitised images. If anyone has any information, stories or photos that they would like to add to the archive please contact the custodian Chris Walpole on 01837 840498 or . In particular, Chris will be at the exhibition on Saturday 12 August with a scanner so that any precious documents can be copied and returned on the spot.
Chris Walpole
