TAVISTOCK, a market town in the Tavistock parliamentary division of Devon, England, in the valley of the Tavy, on the western border of Dartmoor; 161 m. N. of Plymouth, on branch lines of the G. W. and S. railways. Pop. of urban district (1931) 4,453. There are some remains (including a portion in the square, now used as a public library established in 1799) of the magnificent abbey of St. Mary and St. Rumon, founded in 961 by Orgar, earl of Devon. After destruction by the Danes in 997 it was restored, and among its famous abbots were Lyfing, friend of Canute, and Aldred, who crowned Harold II. and William, and died archbishop of York. The abbey church was rebuilt in 1285, and the greater part of the abbey in 1457-58. The church of St. Eustachius dates from 1318, and possesses a lofty tower supported on f our open arches. Kelly college, near the town, was founded by Admiral Benedictus Maywood Kelly, and opened in 1877 for the education of his descendants and the orphan sons of naval officers. Mines of
copper, manganese, lead, silver and tin are in the neighbourhood, and the town possesses a considerable trade in cattle and corn, and industries in brewing, wool-combing and iron-founding. The mining industry has declined, but there is a trade in arsenic.
The early history of Tavistock centres round the abbey of St. Rumon. Both town and abbey were sacked by the Danes in 997, but were shortly afterwards rebuilt, and the latter at the time of the Conquest ranked as the wealthiest house in Devon, including the hundred and manor of Tavistock among its possessions. It returned two members to parliament as a borough from 1295 until deprived of one member by the act of 1867, and finally dis franchised by that of 1885.