Bovey Tracey
was an established Saxon community and takes its name from the River Bovey.
The name first appears in Domesday Book as Bovi and possibly earlier as Buui.
The town gained its second name from the de Tracey family who were lords of the manor after the Norman Conquest, and was first documented as Bovitracy in 1309.
One member of the family, William de Tracy, was implicated in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.
It is thought that he rebuilt the parish church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury as penance for the murder. In the early 13th century Henry de Tracey created a borough here and in 1259 was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual three-
During the English Civil War on 9 January 1646, Oliver Cromwell and a contingent of his Roundhead army entered Bovey Tracey after dark and caught part of Lord Wentworth's Regiment by surprise, catching a number of officers playing cards in an inn. Many of Wentworth's Royalist troops escaped, but Cromwell did capture about 400 horse.
If local legend is to be believed, the Royalists escaped by throwing coins from the windows in order to distract the poorly paid Roundhead troops.
The next day a battle was fought on nearby Bovey Heath ending in victory for Cromwell's army.
The name of Cromwell lives on in the town today in both the public house "The Cromwell Arms" and the remains of a nearby stone arch, known locally (and incorrectly) as "Cromwell's Arch".
The arch is actually what is left of a priory that stood previously on the site of the nearby Baptist Church.
The Bovey Tracey Potteries operated from the 1750s for about 200 years.
Bovey railway station was opened on 26 June 1866 with the new Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway on a site to the west of the town.
It closed to passengers on 28 February 1959, but goods trains continued to operate until 6 July 1970.
The town is twinned with Le Molay-
Geography
Bovey Tracey lies in the valley of the River Bovey at the junction of the A382 road (between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead) and the B3387 road (Chudleigh Knighton to Haytor Vale).
Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury
Original paintings of apostles and prophets on the wainscot of the rood screen, restored by Anna Hulbert, dated to the early 16th century
The town has over a hundred listed buildings.[5] The parish church, at the top of the town, is grade I listed.[6] It has a tower dating from the 14th century, many 15th-
Since 1986, the Devon Guild of Craftsmen contemporary crafts gallery has occupied a building known as Riverside Mill, on the bank of the River Bovey.[9] The building, dating from 1854, has an undershot waterwheel that was used to pump water up to a tank in its tower. The stored water was used as the supply for a nearby house owned by John Divett and to water its stable yard and gardens.[10] Nearby, the Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre in the old Bovey railway station is run by volunteers and is open in the summer months.[11]
On the outskirts of the town are the House of Marbles, a visitor attraction on the site of the historic pottery;[12] and the headquarters of the Dartmoor National Park Authority at Parke, a large house which is leased to the authority by the National Trust.[13] Also nearby are a Devon Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Bovey Heath and the Haytor Granite Tramway, the route of which runs through the parish, west of the town.
According to the town council the town has a "good mixture of shops" and there is a farmers' market on alternate Saturday mornings.[13]
Historic estates
Within the parish of Bovey Tracey are various historic estates, including:
- Indio, long a seat of the Southcott family, later of Bentinck.
- The Indeo Pottery was established here between about 1766 and 1785.
- Parke, seat of Nicholas Eveleigh (d.1620) whose monument with effigy survives in Bovey Tracey Church. His widow married Elize Hele, whose monument and effigy faces that of Eveleigh.
- There are several inscribed tablets to later owners in Bovey Tracey Church.
- Now the headquarters of the Dartmoor National Park Authority.
FORTY-
BY
THEO BROWN , RECORDER
LEGEND AND TRADITIONS
The following was recounted to me by Mrs. Elizabeth Warne of Lydgate House, Postbridge, in 1949, and written down by her and her son, William Warne, in 1951 “ At certain times of the year (as long ago as 200 years), an old sow and her litter of young pigs can be seen walking across the moor on Merripit Hill, on a dark and foggy night. The young pigs are very hungry, and the old sow is taking them to Cator Gate, where there is a dead horse. “The little pigs are saying to their mother ' Starvin’, starvin.’ The old sow replie ‘ Cator Gate, Cator Gate ; Dead Hoss, Dead Hoss, Dead Hoss.’ They travel on through Runnage Bottom, Cator Moor, and at last they arrive at Cator Gate. On arrival they find they are too late ; only the hide and bones of the dead horse are left. “ The little pigs all cry ‘ Skin an’ bone, skin an’ bone.’ “ The old sow replies ‘ Let ’en lie, let ’en lie.’ “ And all return again across the moor to Merripit Hill, and vanish in the darkness and fog.” The Golden Frogs.This was written down by Miss Elizabeth Bate in 1951, as she had heard it from an old man in Bovey Tracey, many years previously. “ A long, long time ago there lived in a wee house, quite near Bovey Tracey church, a woodcutter and his wife and their one beloved child. “ It was a stormy night and the rain came down as only it can in Devonshire.They were very sad as the child was very ill and was getting worse, although they had done all in their power to bring about his recovery, including many candles offered to the blessed saints. When the storm was at its height, and the night black as pitch, there came a feeble knock on the cottage door.Wondering much who could be abroad on such a night, the woodcutter opened the door, to find a tall figure in a long blue cloak, appearing soaked to