Place:Tavistock, Devon, England

Watchers
NameTavistock
Alt namesTavestocsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 87
Tavestochasource: Domesday Book (1985) p 87
Morwellhamsource: settlement in parish
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish, Urban district
Coordinates50.545°N 4.15°W
Located inDevon, England
See alsoTavistock Hundred, Devon, Englandhundred in which the town was originally located
Tavistock Rural, Devon, Englandrural district 1894-1898
Tavistock Rural, Devon, Englandrural district 1966-1974
West Devon District, Devon, Englanddistrict municipality in which it is now located


the following article is based on one in Wikipedia

Tavistock is an ancient market town which, since 1974 has been located within the District of West Devon, in Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2001 census it had a population of 11,018. It traces its recorded history back to at least AD 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.

In addition to being the name of an ancient hundred, Tavistock was a Poor Law Union and Registration District from 1837 until 1930, and an Urban District from 1898 until 1966. In 1966 it joined Tavistock Rural District and the whole area became part of West Devon District in 1974.

History

Markets

In 1105 a Royal Charter was granted by Henry I to the monks of Tavistock (the abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon was founded in 961) to run a weekly "Pannier Market" (so called after the baskets used to carry goods) on a Friday. This market still takes place today. In 1116 a three-day fair was also granted to mark the feast of Saint Rumon, another tradition that is still maintained in the shape of the annual "Goosey" fair on the second Wednesday in October.

In the 17th century great quantities of cloth were sold at the Friday market and four fairs were held at the feasts of Saint Michael, Epiphany, Saint Mark, and the Decollation of John the Baptist. The charter of Charles II instituted a Tuesday market, and fairs on the Thursday after Whitsunday and at the feast of Saint Swithin.

Image:Tavistock small.png

In 1305, with the growing importance of the area as one of Europe's richest sources of tin, Tavistock was one of the four stannary towns appointed by charter of Edward I, where tin was stamped and weighed and monthly courts were held for the regulation of mining affairs.

The town continued to prosper in the charge of the abbots, acquiring one of England's first printing presses in 1525. Tavistock remained an important centre of both trade and religion until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The abbey was demolished in 1539, leaving the ruins still to be seen around the centre of the town.

The Russell Family

From this time on, the dominant force in the town became the Russell family, Earls and, later, Dukes of Bedford, who took over much of the land following the Dissolution.

Tavistock is tied from late medieval times with the Russells, the family name of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford. This is clearly seen from the history of the town. The second title of the Duke of Bedford is the Marquess of Tavistock, taken as the courtesy title of the eldest son and heir to the dukedom, and illustrates the importance of this Devon town, its hinterland and the minerals beneath it to the family's fortunes. It is believed that the Russell family retains considerable interests in the locality. Most recently, Robin, the short-lived 14th Duke, as Marquess of Tavistock, was a frequent visitor to the town along with his wife, Henrietta. Andrew Russell is the 15th Duke of Bedford and Marquess of Tavistock.

Francis Drake

Around 1540 (some sources state 1542 as the exact year), Sir Francis Drake was born at Crowndale Farm, just to the west of what is now Tavistock College. He became a prominent figure of his age, a champion of Queen Elizabeth, the first Englishman to [wikipedia:circumnavigate|circumnavigate]] the world and one of the English commanders in the famously decisive victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Tavistock, Devon.

Research Tips

(revised Jul 2021)

  • Ordnance Survey Map of Devonshire North and Devonshire South are large-scale maps covering the whole of Devon between them. They show the parish boundaries when Rural Districts were still in existence and before the mergers of parishes that took place in 1935 and 1974. When expanded the maps can show many of the small villages and hamlets inside the parishes. These maps are now downloadable for personal use but they can take up a lot of computer memory.
  • GENUKI has a selection of maps showing the boundaries of parishes in the 19th century. The contribution from "Know Your Place" on Devon is a huge website yet to be discovered in detail by this contributor.
  • Devon has three repositories for hands-on investigation of county records. Each has a website which holds their catalog of registers and other documents.
  • There is, however, a proviso regarding early records for Devon. Exeter was badly hit in a "blitz" during World War II and the City Library, which then held the county archives, was burnt out. About a million books and historic documents went up in smoke. While equivalent records--particularly wills--are quite easy to come by for other English counties, some records for Devon and surrounding counties do not exist.
  • Devon Family History Society Mailing address: PO Box 9, Exeter, EX2 6YP, United Kingdom. The society has branches in various parts of the county. It is the largest Family History Society in the United Kingdom. The website has a handy guide to each of the parishes in the county and publishes the registers for each of the Devon dioceses on CDs.
  • This is the home page to the GENUKI Devon website. It has been updated since 2015 and includes a lot of useful information on each parish.
  • Devon has a Online Parish Clerk (OPC) Project which can be reached through GENUKI. Only about half of the parishes have a volunteer contributing local data. For more information, consult the website, especially the list at the bottom of the homepage.
  • Magna Britannia, Volume 6 by Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons. A general and parochial history of the county. Originally published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1822, and placed online by British History Online. This is a volume of more than 500 pages of the history of Devon, parish by parish. It is 100 years older than the Victoria County Histories available for some other counties, but equally thorough in its coverage. Contains information that may have been swept under the carpet in more modern works.
  • There is a cornucopia of county resources at Devon Heritage. Topics are: Architecture, Census, Devon County, the Devonshire Regiment, Directory Listings, Education, Genealogy, History, Industry, Parish Records, People, Places, Transportation, War Memorials. There are fascinating resources you would never guess that existed from those topic titles. (NOTE: There may be problems reaching this site. One popular browser provider has put a block on it. This may be temporary, or it may be its similarity in name to the Devon Heritage Centre at Exeter.)
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Tavistock, Devon. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.