St Michael and All Angels Church Princetown - Dartmoor Granite on Waymarking.com

Princetown Church Dartmoor is a unique monument to the French and American Prisoners of War who built the church from Dartmoor Granite in 1813. The French prisoners build the church, and then 250 American Prisoners arrived and finished the furnishings in readiness for its first service on 2nd January 1814.
On the 10th February 1816 the last prisoners left Dartmoor, the church was then closed and locked. (Nearly 1,500 French prisoners and 218 Americans died while incarcerated in Dartmoor War Prison and were buried in a file beyond the prison walls.)

In 1831 the villagers re opened the church and it was re-consecrated for use. Many years later in 1994 St Michael and All Angels Church once again closed for worship and offered for sale. No purchaser was found so the church was taken over by the Church of England’s Historic Buildings Trust and work commenced to restore the steeple and make the building waterproof.
Work on the outside of the building has been completed showing off some beautiful stonework.
The church is still closed but at least the building is preserved for future generations.

Ordnance Survey map reference (10 figure) if within DNP – If outside the Park, add N/A: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
A current photo of the way mark would be good but is optional.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   04/09/2016 SMacB visited it 03/15/2008 plymplodder visited it 02/02/2008 Sir Lose-a-lot visited it 08/31/2007 Brentorboxer visited it

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