Tavistock, a large and populous town, situated on the left side of the Tavy; the houses have in general the appearance of antiquity, and the streets are narrow. The church is a large building, dedicated to St. Eustatius: it has four aisles, a chancel, and a tower at the west end, raised on arches. In the church there are some curious monuments, and some human bones preserved, of gigantic size, found in a stone coffin dug out of the ruins of the abbey; supposed, from some traditionary authority, to be those of Adulph, whom William of Malmsbury describes as being of so immense a stature, that he could stride over rivers ten feet wide.

This borough has sent representatives to parliament ever since the twenty-first of Edward the First, although it does not appear to have been then incorporated. The number of voters is about 110. The town is governed by a portreeve, elected annually at the lord’s court, by twenty-four freeholders. He is also the returning officer.

The manufacture of serges and coarse woollen cloth is carried on here to a considerable extent. The mining business begins to find employment for many of the inhabitants. A canal runs from hence to the Tamar, a distance of four miles, two of which pass through a rock, in which they found several lodes or veins of copper-ore. This canal was opened for the navigation of boats on the 24th of June, 1817.

Tavistock has a very large market, and is one of the most improving towns in Devonshire.

A new road from Tavistock to Launceston was begun in 1822. Towards this improvement the Duke of Bedford contributed 1000l.

In the summer of 1822 an elegant building, in the Greek style, was opened at this place as a public library, under the direction of a number of gentlemen, with the Vicar, the Rev. Mr. Bray.

About three miles from Tavistock is Morwell-house, anciently a hunting-seat belonging to the abbots of Tavistock; it is situated near Morwell Down and the woods on the banks of the Tamar.

Near this place is Morwell-rock, thus described by the Rev. Mr. Polwhele: "Morwell-rock is an eminence projecting almost perpendicularly over the river Tamar, and exhibiting at once so romantic a scene as, in the opinion of good travelled judges, is not to be equalled even in Europe. The scene is tremendous, and yet beautiful several hundred yards under our feet. ’’

Tavistock is celebrated for its Abbey, of which some remains are still to be seen. The abbey-lands were granted, on the dissolution, to the Russel family. The Duke of Bedford has lately built a handsome house on the banks of the Tamar. This is of a very singular description: it consists of a large cluster of elegant cottages connected by covered verandas, so that each person of the family has his separate lodgings under separate roofs.

Brent-Tor is four miles north of Tavistock. This is a mass of craggy rock, which rising in the midst of an elevated down to a considerable height, is a good sea-mark for mariners in the British Channel, though more than twenty miles distant. Upon the very top of the rock, within a few feet of the edge on its steepest side, and a basis of little more extent than the building, stands the parish church, upon which is appositely inscribed from Scripture, "Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It is said of the parishioners here, that they make weekly atonement for their sins, as they cannot go to church without the previous penance of climbing up this steep; and the worthy pastor is frequently obliged to go on all-fours previous to his being exalted in the pulpit. When not enveloped in clouds, the prospect here is very extensive and interesting, including the ships in Plymouth harbour, &c.

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TAVISTOCK is an ancient prescriptive borough, one of the four stannary towns of Devonshire, a parish, head of a union, county court district and petty sessional division, in the Western division of the county, Tavistock hundred, rural deanery of Tavistock, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter, 15 miles north from Plymouth, 205 from London, 14 south-east from Launceston, 9 north east from Callington, 16 south-west from Okehampton, 23 west from Ashburton and 33 west-south-west from Exeter. It is picturesquely situated in the valley of the Tavy, from which its name is derived, amongst the downs and hills on the western border of Dartmoor. Cudliptown, an outlying manor, about 5 miles north-east from the town, was, by an Order, 25th March, 1884, added to Peter Tavy, under the Divided Parishes Act (45 and 46 Vict. c. 58). The parish is bounded on the west by the navigable river Tamar, to which a canal (four miles in length) was cut in 1817 from Tavistock to Morwellham, where the Tamar is navigable for vessels of 200 tons burthen. In 1859 the town obtained railway communication by the opening of a branch line of the South Devon (Great Western) railway from Plymouth, afterwards continued to Launceston, with which traffic commenced in 1865. In 1889, the London and South Western railway company constructed an independent line to Plymouth from Lidford, passing through Tavistock.

Under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict. ch. 73), the ancient parish of Tavistock has been divided into two, Tavistock Urban and Tavistock Hamlets.

The borough formerly returned two members to Parliament, but under the provisions of the “Representation of the People Act, 1867,” the number was reduced to one, and by the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” the representation was merged into that of the Western or Tavistock Division of the County.

The government of the borough, formerly vested in a portreeve, and later by the Rural Sanitary Authority, was, under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894,” held by a Rural District Council until 1894, but from that date to 1898 by a Parish Council, when the Local Government Board conferred Urban powers on the town, which is now governed by an Urban District Council of fifteen members. The municipal character of the town was abolished by the “Unreformed Corporations Act, 1883” (46 and 47 Vict. c. 18), and a Highway Board, the latter constituted No. 10. 1863, but the duties were transferred to the Rural District Council.

The parish of Tavistock Hamlets is governed under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894,” by the Parish Council.

The town was vastly improved in the year 1845, principally at the cost of Francis, 7th Duke of Bedford, who established a complete system of sewerage, furnished the town with a plentiful supply of pure water, and undertook the erection of improved dwellings for labourers, in addition to various improvements in the Abbey buildings and Market. The town is well lighted with gas, for which works were established in 1831.

Tavistock gives the title of marquess to the Russells, dukes of Bedford.

The parish church of St. Eustachius is a large and handsome building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel with aisles, nave, one north and two south aisles and an embattled western tower 106 feet in height, with pinnacles, supported on four open arches, forming a west porch and constituting the principal entrance to the church: the tower contains an illuminated clock, with chimes and a peal of 8 bells, all cast in 1769: in the chancel is a monument of alabaster and Devonshire marble to John Glanville, a Justice of the Common Pleas, ob. July 27, 1600, with his recumbent effigy, attired in judicial robes; and at the base of the monument is the kneeling figure of his wife Alice (Skirret), who erected it: opposite is another memorial with the recumbent figures of John Fytz, of Fytzford, ob. 8 Jan. 1589, and his wife Mary, daughter and heiress of John Sydenham, of Brimpton, Somerset; at the back is a figure of their son John, a lad kneeling before a desk with a book open upon it; this was the unfortunate Sir John Fytz, father of the notorious Lady Howard, who killed himself at Twickenham, where he was buried, and with him the Fytz family of Tavistock came to an end: there are also memorials to the families of Wellisford, Fortescue and Manaton: in the church are preserved some human bones of unusual size, found in a stone coffin during excavations for the foundation of the Bedford hotel, said to be the bones of Ordulph, son of the founder of the Abbey, who is known to have been a man of immense stature, and of his wife. The church was thoroughly renovated in 1844—5, when a carved stone pulpit and organ screen and open seats of oak were introduced: more recently a brass eagle lectern, an exact facsimile of that at Southwell Minster, originally in Newstead Abbey, has been presented by the 9th Duke of Bedford K.G.: the west window was restored and filled with stained glass by the late Mr. W. Lethbridge, of London, a native of Tavistock, in memory of his father. Mr. Reginald Gill, banker, of this town, erected a stained window, designed by his brother-in-law, the late Wm. Morris F.S.A, author of “The Earthly Paradise,” as a memorial to his father, John Hornbrook Gill esq. d. 1874, to whose memory another window of Munich glass has also been erected by his personal friends: and there are several other stained windows. In 1879, the organ of 1844 was repaired, enlarged and improved at a cost of over £500, half of which was contributed by the 9th Duke of Bedford; the oak screen was at the same time completed, and filled in with figures and musical emblems exquisitely carved. In 1890 a monument in alabaster and white marble was erected to the Bredall family, many of whom were medical men in Tavistock; the work, carefully executed by Mr. Harry Hems, of Exeter, is a fine rendering in sculpture of Max’s painting of “Christ the Healer”: the church affords sittings for 1,030 persons. The register dates from the year 1614; there are also churchwardens' accounts from 1385, and in the care of the vicar are a number of deeds dating from 1285 (Edward I.). The living is a vicarage, net yearly value, £471, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, and held since 1895 by the Rev. Henry Godfray Le Neveu M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford, rural dean of Tavistock and surrogate. In the vicarage garden are three ancient inscribed stones, two of which were formerly at Buckland Monachorum.

Fitzford church, at the west end of the town, near the site of the old Fitzford mansion, was erected in 1866—7, as a chapel of ease to the parish church, by William, 8th Duke of Bedford, at a cost of £15,000: it is a building of stone, in the Lombardo-Venetian style, consisting of chancel, nave and aisles, south porch and a detached tower containing one bell.

The Congregational church, in Brook street, opened August 13, 1873, is a building of native stone, with granite and Portland and Bath stone dressings, in the Gothic style, erected from designs by Messrs. J. Tarring and Son, architects, of London, at a cost of about £6,600, on a site granted by the 9th Duke of Bedford K.G. who was also a liberal contributor; one end of the edifice is apsidal and is lighted by stained windows, erected as memorials to Mr. Alfred Rooker, who died of fever in Syria: the tower and spire, 133 feet high, are built of limestone with granite bands: there are sittings for about 700 persons: the adjoining schools include a large lecture hall, capable of holding 500 children, an infants’ schoolroom and eight excellent class-rooms.

The Wesleyan chapel, in Chapel street, has 580 sittings. The Unitarian (formerly Presbyterian) chapel, at Abbey buildings, has 250 sittings. The United Methodist Free-Church chape], in Russell street, will seat 500 persons. The Bible Christian chapel is in Bannawell street, and holds 400 persons. The Brethren meet in rooms over the old Butter Market.

The Cemetery, in Dolvin road, was opened in 1834, the site being given by John, 6th Duke of Bedford K.G.

The New Cemetery, in Plymouth road, contains between five and six acres, given by the 9th Duke of Bedford K.G.; it has a mortuary chapel and gate house, of Dartmoor granite; the total cost was £10,000. Both cemeteries are under the control of a joint burial committee appointed by the Urban District Council and the Tavistock Hamlets Parish Council.

The Guildhall, erected in 1848, on part of the site of the Abbey, and in a similar style, comprises a petty sessions and county court, magistrates’ room, six cells, a dwelling for the police sergeant and a fire engine station: in front of this building is a bronze statue, mounted on a granite pedestal, of Francis, 7th Duke of Bedford, who died May 14, 1861. The common seal of the borough displays the coat of the Russells, surmounted by an earl’s coronet, and surrounded by the legend, “ARMA. DNI. LIBERT’ DE TAVISTOKE.”

The New Hall, a noble building of stone, also erected on part of the site of the ancient abbey, is a building in the Gothic style, and contains a very fine room, in which concerts and other entertainments are held, holding about 800 persons; the rooms below are used as an armoury by the K and L Companies 2nd (Prince of Wales’s) Volunteer Battalion Devonshire Regiment.

The main industry on which Tavistock depends, i.e. copper mining, is in a depressed condition. There are still over 400 persons employed by the Devon Great Consols Co. but the profit is made by the sale of arsenic, which is extracted from the copper ore. Gawton, from which large returns of arsenic are making, and the Wheal Crebor Copper Mining Co. are also working. There is a small brewery, an iron foundry, engineering works and a steam laundry; woolcombing is also carried on.

The market is held on Friday in each week for vegetables, corn, cattle and general produce. Early closing day, Wednesday, at 2 p.m.

Large and convenient market buildings, covering more than two acres of ground, were erected in 1858 by Francis, 7th Duke of Bedford K.G.; the centre is a general market, whilst around are stalls for butchers, earthenware dealers and others; there is also a weighing house, a shed for hanging carcases, and good standing room for carts, whilst adjoining are spacious slaughter houses. The cattle market is at Crelake, contiguous to the railway station; cattle fairs are held on the second Wednesday in every month. The goose fair takes place on the second Wednesday in October, for cattle, horses and pleasure.

The Corn Market is a building of granite, erected in 1838.

The public swimming bath, in Trelawny road, formed by Francis, 9th Duke of Bedford K.G. in 1883, at a cost of nearly £500, is 80 feet long and 40 feet wide, and has a varying depth of from 3 to 6 feet 6 inches; dressing boxes and other conveniences are attached: the property as vested in a committee of management.

An exhibition of flowers and vegetable produce is held yearly in the Market house by the Tavistock Cottage Garden Society.

The Bedford hotel, a large castellated building, with which some portions of the abbey are incorporated, was erected about 1720, by Wriothesley, 3rd Duke of Bedford, who intended it as an occasional residence; it was enlarged by Francis, 7th Duke of Bedford K.G. and is elegantly appointed.

The Queen’s Head family and commercial hotel, in the centre of the town, has been greatly improved, and new rooms added; fishing, hunting and golf may be obtained in the immediate neighbourhood.

A newspaper, “The Tavistock Gazette,” is published every Friday, by Mr. T. W. Greenfield, for the Tavistock Printing Company Limited, of 4 Bedford square.

The Tavistock Library and Recreation Rooms, established in 1799, are in the Abbey buildings: the library contains 15,000 volumes, and there are 125 members. A meteorological register has been kept by the librarian since 1841.

The Constitutional Club, in Drake road, was erected in 1896.

A bronze statue of Admiral Sir Francis Drake, the work of the late Sir J. E. Boehm bart. R.A. was erected at Fitzford, at the west end of the town, in 1883, by the 9th Duke of Bedford K.G.: the statue represents the admiral with a mariner’s compass in his hand, and stands on a massive granite pedestal 10 feet in height, which is ornamented with scenes in relief from his career.

The Mechanics’ and Literary Institution and Recreation Rooms, established in 1834, are in Duke street, and include a library of 3,000 volumes; there are 150 members.

Watt’s charity consists of a considerable quantity of land and houses, with a present income of nearly £270 yearly, applied to the relief of poor people, and is managed by a body of 20 trustees. The Ford Street charity originally consisted of property which was bought up some years since, but the Duke of Bedford, having purchased the rent-charge, the money therefrom arising has been invested in the name of the official receiver and the in-come is paid to the trustees and given by them to the poor. Maynard’s charity supports an almshouse occupied by four couples; and another almshouse, for four widows, the gift of Lord Courtenay.

Tavistock Cottage Hospital and Dispensary, at Spring Hill, was erected in 1896 at a cost of about £3,000, and has 14 beds.

The Meadows Pleasure Grounds, consisting of about 10 acres, have been leased to the Urban District Council by the present Duke of Bedford for 21 years from 1898, at a nominal rent.

Here once stood the magnificent Benedictine abbey of SS. Mary and Rumon, supposed to have been first founded in 961 by Ordgar, Earl of Devon, father of Elfrida, queen of King Edgar, and Ordulf, his son, and re-established as a Benedictine monastery in 1457—8; it was one of the richest monastic establishments in the West of England, and in 997 the Danish fleet, under Sweyn, anchoring at the mouth of the Tamar, landed a marauding band, by whom the abbey was plundered and burnt: it became a mitred abbey, 22nd Jan. 1513, when Henry VIII. bestowed this distinction on Abbot Richard Banham: the abbey was surrendered, 26th April, 1540, by his successor, John Peryn, its revenues being then valued at £902 5s. 7d. a year, and there being then 22 monks; it was subsequently given to John Lord Russell, Ann, his wife, and their heirs male, from whom it has descended to the present Duke of Bedford: the remains of this once splendid abbey are now inconsiderable; the great church, said to have been 378 feet long, exclusive of the lady chapel, was finally removed in 1670, and the only fragment of it now existing is a small portion of one of its walls, with a sepulchral recess formed by an arch of Early English character, within which is an arcading of small trefoiled arches on corbels; other portions of the buildings have been incorporated, as before stated, in the Bedford hotel; the Perpendicular north gateway has been completely restored: the frater (refectory) serves as a Unitarian chapel, and has a fine portico. In the vicarage ground are the ivy-covered ruins known as “Betsy Grimbal’s tower,” and the still-house, the former being so called from some vague tradition that a female of that name once made it her abode. The second printing press set up in England was at this abbey.

Fitzford, at the west end of the town, was the seat from the time of Henry VI. of the Fitz family: the ancient gateway still remains. Kilworthy House, 1 ½ miles north of the town, long the seat of the Glanville family, is the property of the Duke of Bedford, and now occupied by George Bland Battams esq. Morwell House, about 3 miles west of the town, now occupied by a farmer, was the country seat of the Abbots of Tavistock, and is a quadrangular building of stone, with an interior court and a gate house, erected in the 15th century. Mount Tavy, about a mile east of the town, the property and residence of William Holzapfel esq. is seated on an eminence and commands a delightful view of the town.

The Duke of Bedford is lord of the manor and owner of most of the parish.

The area of the Urban parish is 1,551 acres, of which about 152 acres are comprised within the town, 21 of tidal water; rateable value, £20,341; the population in 1891 was 6,252, including 5 officers and 96 inmates in the workhouse, in 1901 was 4,728.

The population of the ecclesiastical parishes in 1891 was, St. Eustachius (parish church), 5,439 and St. Paul, 884.

By Local Government Board Order 15,033, Cudliptown, which then included Tavistock Hamlets, was transferred from the parish of Tavistock to Petertavy, March 25th, 1885.

The parish of Tavistock Hamlets, since formed, has an area of 9,952 acres, 42 of water, 21 of tidal water and 8 of foreshore; rateable value, £12,278.

Petty Sessions are held at the Guildhall every alternate Wednesday at 11 a.m.. The following places are included in the petty sessional division:-Beer Ferris, Brentor, Lamerton, Lidford, Mary Tavy, Milton Abbot, Peter Tavy, Sampford Spiney, Sydenham, Tavistock, Whitchurch.

VOLUNTEERS

2nd (Prince of Wales’s) Volunteer Battalion Devonshire Regiment (K & L companies), head quarters, Bedford square; Capt. Reginald Wilson Fox, commanding detachment.

TAVISTOCK UNION

Board day, alternate Fri. at 2 p.m. at the Union workhouse.

The Tavistock union comprises the following parishes, viz:-Beerferris (or Bere Ferrers), Bradstone, Brentor, Buckland Monachorum, Calstock (Cornwall), Coryton, Dunterton, Kelly, Lamerton, Lewtrenchard, Lydford, Lifton, Marystow, Meavy, Milton Abbot, Mary Tavy, Peter Tavy, Sampford Spiney, Sheepstor, Stowford, Sydenham Damerel, Tavistock, Tavistock Hamlets, Thrushelton or Thurshelton, Walkhampton, Whitchurch. The population of the union in 1891 was 27,110 & in 1901 was 26,910; area, 159,039 acres; rateable value in 1901 £144,234.

The Workhouse, a large structure at the top of Bannawell street, was built in 1837 a cost of £7,000, & will hold 210 inmates.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of services

Parish Church of St. Eustachius, Rev. Henry Godfray Le Neveu M.A. vicar; Rev. Thomas Oswald Wonnacott M.A. & Rev. William James Leigh Phillips B.A. curates; 11 a.m.. 3 & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 11.30 a.m.. & 5 or 5.30 p.m.

Fitzford Chapel of Ease; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m. St. Paul’s Church, Gulworthy Cross, Rev. Ernest Edward B. Skinner M.A. vicar; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.

Bible Christian, Bannawell street, Rev. John Rawlings; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, Brook street; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.15 p.m.

Brethren, Higher Market street; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. & Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Unitarian, Abbey Bridge, Rev. John Barron; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.

United Methodist Free Church, Russell street; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Chapel street, Rev. Charles Holman; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7 p.m.

Salvation Army, Kilworthy hill; Sun. 7 & 11 a.m.. 3 & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 8 p.m.

SCHOOLS

The Grammar School, endowed by Francis, Duke of Bedford, with £20,000 per cent. Consols, was opened in 1895, and supplies a higher class of education than elementary to boys of Tavistock & neighbourhood. The buildings are situated on the Plymouth road, near Drake’s statue. Pupils are prepared for commercial & other careers, as well as for various Local Examinations. The school receives an annual grant from the Devon County Council, in connection with which instruction in drawing is given at the Tavistock Art School.

Kelly College, founded in accordance with a bequest of the late Admiral Benedictus Marwood Kelly, & opened in Sept. 1877, is about a mile from the centre of the town, on the Okehampton road: the buildings, including the school house & the headmaster’s house, stand on a raised terrace on the side of a hill, overlooking the valley of the Tavy & commanding a splendid view of the borders & some of the “tors” of Dartmoor, & are constructed of Hurdwick & Ham Hill stone, in the Early Perpendicular style: they consist of two distinct blocks, connected by an open corridor; that on the right is the college proper, containing two ante-rooms, twelve class rooms & a large school room, 73 ½ feet by 30 & 50 feet high; there is also a fine library, with open timber roof, a museum & a laboratory; the headmaster’s house has provision for about fifty boarders: between the college & the road is a spacious playground of 10 acres, containing a cricket pavilion, a gymnasium 55 feet by 25 feet, a large swimming bath filled by a pure stream of water, fives courts, a carpenter’s shop, smithy & golf links, & a second boarding house added in 1890, for 50 additional boarders, & was named “Courtenay House,” in memory of the Earl of Devon, one of the original trustees: the endowments of the foundation are devoted to the education of the founder’s kin & of the orphan sons of naval officers; but with this is combined full provision for a first-grade public school, preparing pupils for the universities & for the army or navy & other examinations. The School Cadet Corps is attached to the 2nd Vol. Batt. Devon Regiment, Rev. William Hermann David M.A. of New College, Oxford, headmaster.

School of Art, West street, William Middleton, master; Miss M. L. A. Boggis, hon. sec.

A School Board of 7 members was formed March 14, 1874; E. Horswill, clerk & attendance officer to the board, 3 Chapel street.

Board (mixed), Gulworthy, erected in 1854, for 100 children; average attendance, 52.

Board (mixed), Morwellham, for 60 children; average attendance, 26.

Board, Plymouth road, for 750 children; average attendance, 108 boys, 109 girls & 95 infants; the building was originally erected in 1856, for the British & Foreign Schools Society, by Francis, 7th Duke of Bedford, at a cost of nearly £5,000.

National (or Church), Dolvin road, erected in 1847, for 580 children; average attendance, 115 boys, 94 girls & 90 infants.