Tavistock

Tavistock, a market-town of South Devon, is on the River Tavy, in a valley W. of Dartmoor, 11 miles N. of Plymouth, and 31 S.W. of Exeter. It was a "stannary" town, and was once the centre of an important mining district. Among the chief buildings are a 14th-century church, with a tower 106 ft. high built upon arches, the Guildhall, and Kelly College. There are statues of Drake (who was a native) and of a Duke of Bedford. Pym and Lord William Russell were members for Tavistock in its more important days. There are the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey, founded 961 by Queen Elfrida's father, and rebuilt at a later period. This passed at the Dissolution into the hands of the Russell fflmily, and still belongs to the Duke of Redford.