Tavistock
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[historic landscapes]
[WHS GIS mapping] |
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Tavistock is a medieval stannary town, re-modelled
during the nineteenth century using the profits of copper mining,
notably from Devon Great Consols and Wheal Friendship (Mary Tavy).
It includes a number of impressive contemporary public buildings
and model housing for workers as well as the inland terminus of an
important mineral canal.
The rolling cultivated countryside to the east of
the Tamar Valley contains comparatively large farms. There are
almost no settlements. There are no former land plots for the
owner-occupied miners’ cottages and smallholdings, so common in
many of the mining districts in Cornwall. |
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The historic core of Tavistock is on the level
plain north of the river Tavy. Nineteenth century expansion took
the form of terraced developments on the hill behind.
Tavistock’s buildings, many built using the
distinctive greenish-grey Hurdwick Stone, includes early financial
institutions such as the Tavistock Bank (1791) in Market Street
and the Tavistock Savings Bank (1816).
Both in architecture and plan Tavistock exudes confidence.
Landmarks include: the Bedford Hotel (remodelled 1822-29);
Plymouth Road (1822) lined on the north by elegant villas; the
Corn Market building (1835) in West Street; the Guildhall (1848);
the Pannier Market (1860); the Town Hall (1860) which faces
Bedford Square; and the enormous Fitzford Church (1867). |
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Bedford Cottages
High-quality industrial housing – that comprise a
number of different designs – form a distinctive industrial aspect
to Tavistock and some of the surrounding hamlets. Most were two-up
two-down, and had outbuildings for wood and ashes and a pigsty.
Following the discovery, in 1844, of the immensely rich copper
lode at Devon Great Consols, there was a large influx of workers
to the Tavistock district. In response to a serious shortage of
housing and gross overcrowding (which became a local scandal) 268
‘model’ industrial workers’ cottages were built in and around
Tavistock (between 1845 and 1866) by Francis the 7th Duke of
Bedford. |
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Substantial remains of three nineteenth century
iron foundries are located within the urban core of Tavistock.
Mount Foundry (1805, later Tavistock Iron Works) is extensive and
includes foundry buildings and associated workers’ housing.
This was the first iron foundry established in
the town. In 1805 they advertised the newly invented machine for
crushing copper-ore needs no other recommendation of its utility
than an enquiry at Crowndale or Friendship Mines. In 1810 the
foundry began to manufacture ore-barges, made of iron, for the
Tavistock Canal.
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Largely intact buildings of the Tavy Iron Foundry
(1850) survive on both banks of the river Tavy near Stannary
Bridge. Bedford Iron Works (Nicholls, Williams & Mathews’ 1842)
still stands in Bannawell Street.
Tavistock Canal (built
1803-17) |
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The link between Tavistock, its mining hinterland and
the Tamar port of Morwellham is via the Tavistock Canal, one of
the finest surviving examples of a canal constructed primarily for
mineral traffic. Old warehouses, cottages and an ore storage floor
(now a car park) mark the site of Tavistock Old Wharf whilst
nearby the sluice intake from the river Tavy still functions.
Tavistock Canal. The canal is a fitting memorial
to the brilliance of mining engineer John Taylor (1779-1863) who
managed important copper and lead mines at Wheal Friendship and
Wheal Betsy in the Mary Tavy mining district north of Tavistock. |
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