Princetown
![](/Images/godic/202502/04/Princetown3918.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202502/04/Devon_UK_location_map.svg3918.png")
![Photograph of prisoners on a work party at Dartmoor Prison about 1900](/Images/godic/202502/04/1900_Princetown,_Prison_Gate3918.jpg")
![Church of St Michael, Princetown](/Images/godic/202502/04/Church_St_Michael_Princetown3918.jpg")
Princetown is a village situated in the Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the principal settlement of the civil parish of Dartmoor Forest.
The village has its origins in 1785, when Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, leased a large area of moorland from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, hoping to convert it into good farmland. He encouraged people to live in the area and suggested that a prison be built there. He called the settlement Princetown after the Prince of Wales.