Church of St Michael & All Angels, Princetown

2013-06-26

A church built by prisoners of war

This simple, slender-towered Dartmoor church was built between 1812-14 by prisoners captured in the Napoleonic Wars with France, and the War of 1812 with the United States - they were held at Dartmoor prison.

Cherry and Pevsner describe the location on Dartmoor as 'unquestionably the bleakest place in Devon'. It is 436 metres above sea level and exposed to high winds and twice the national average rain fall.

The walls are of local granite and the interior is as plain as the exterior. The east window contains stained glass of 1910 in memory of the American prisoners who helped to build the church.