Formerly this was a station on the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway. At the time this photo was taken, the buildings were used for Bed & Breakfast accommodation but are now closed to the public.

Photograph by Roger Comfoot

Used, with thanks, under the Creative Commons License

The hamlets of North and South Brentor, in the parish of Lamerton and the district of West Black Down, in Mary Tavy, were added to this parish  for ecclesiastical purposes in 1879, and for civil purposes by local government order 15033 on 25 March 1885.

The church of St Michael de Rupe is a very small edifice in the Norman and Perpendicular styles, the interior measuring only 37 feet by 14½ and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and a low embattled western tower of Early English date, only 32 feet in height and containing 3 bells; it is built almost on the edge of a precipitous rock, on the summit of a very steep and tall conical hill, 1130 feet above the sea level, which is said to have been the first spot of land seen by a merchant from Plymouth Sound, who, during a storm at sea, vowed to build a church thereon if he were safely landed. On the tower is a sun-dial. The church was restored in 1889/90 by the 9th Duke of Bedford KG at a cost of £765 and affords 50 sittings. Around the church is a small graveyard with a few ancient gravestones. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £210, including 2 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, but by the Crown by lapse and held since 1881 by the Rev. Robert Joseph French Smith MA of Clare College, Cambridge, who resides at North Brentor.

There is a Bible Christian Chapel, erected in 1841, and a Wesleyan chapel at Heathfield seating 100 people. The Poor have about £14 yearly from Miss Zoë Herring's charity and £20 from Mrs Holwell-Holwell's charity. The Duke of Bedford is lord of the manor, and the principal  landowners are Frank Ward Esq,, William Henry Chichester Esq of Grenofen, Tavistock, and Arthur Crabb Esq.

The soil is loamy; subsoil is various, partly clay and partly slate. The chief crop is pasture. The area is 3556 acres; rateable value £4930. The population in 1891 was 476 in the civil and 575 in the ecclesiastical parish.

Parish Clerk and Sexton: Frank Honey

The children of the parish attend the school at North Brentor.

Police Station: John Bastin

Railway Station: John Jenkins, Station Master.

RESIDENTS

Adams, Henry James, Rossmoyne

Batchelor, Reginald Lewis JP, Langstone House

Chowen, John, Torside

Ward, Miss, Torside

COMMERCIAL

Batten, Daniel, shopkeeper

Bickell, Daniel, farmer, Holyeat

Bickle, Richard, farmer Bowden Hill Farm, Liddaton

Brendon, El;izabeth (Mrs) farmer, Waterfield

Brooks, Edwin, farmer

Chowen, John, farmer, Woodman's Well

Chubb, George, farmer, Waterville

Doidge, Richard, farmer, Wood Park

Eastcott, William farmer, Woodman's Well

Glover, Walter, The Herring Arms

Greening, Edwin, farmer, Liddaton

Hill, George, farmer, Hall

Medland, James, farmer, Prescombe

Medland, John, farmer, Wood Park

Parsons, James, farmer, Broad Park

Pearce, Joseph, farmer, Burcombe

Pengelly, Robert, farmer

Rice, Roger and Samuel, carpenters, Burn Lane

Spear, William, Brinsabatch

Symons, John, farmer, Liddaton

Vigars, Jones, mason

Ward & Chowen, auctioneers etc. Burnville

Willcocke, Walter, farmer, Westor

Yelland, Edwin Benjamin, farmer, Torr Park