The Exeter archives reveal that there has been an Inn on the site of the Ring O’Bells since well before the sixteenth
century although it was much smaller than it is today and has twice in it’s history been destroyed by fire. The upper
part of the front of the building was a site of the Stannary Courts where matters were dealt with relating to the Stannary
parliaments. These were the body of people who were responsible for the weighing and assaying of tin and silver found on Dartmoor
which would by law, have to receive the Kings Stamp before being sold. The Royal personage received a tax from the Tinners
as a result of their endeavours! The middle upper part of the pub was used as a holding prison for miscreants en route to
Okehampton Assizes. They were kept overnight here having been marched on foot over the moor. Our welcoming walls have not
allowed some to escape. At the rear, again on the first floor was a Crowner Court ( known today as a Coroners Court ) also
a mortuary and the place where post mortems were carried out in the event of any unusual deaths or suicides.
Things that go bump in the night are not unusual !! Should a death have been a result of a suicide then the unfortunate departed
could not, at one time, be buried in the churchyard. Custom dictated the body be taken to a Crossroads and buried there in
the presence of the local constable.
Today
the Ring O’Bells encompasses the whole site although in years past the ground floor rear was occupied by the Butcher
and the beasts were slaughtered in the barn which used to stand in the rear courtyard. Not so many years ago the stone barn
was demolished and now there is a pretty walled courtyard garden to the rear of the building instead.
