Bovey Tracey
| Bovey Tracey | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Bovey Tracey Bridge | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX817784 |
| Location: | 50°35’35"N, 3°40’19"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 6,929 (2001) |
| Post town: | Newton Abbot |
| Postcode: | TQ13 |
| Dialling code: | 01626 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Teignbridge |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Teignbridge |
Bovey Tracey is a small town in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor, its proximity to which gives rise to the "slogan" used on the town's boundary signs, "The Gateway to the Moor". Local townsfolk call the town "Bovey" (pronounced "Buvvy").
The town is about 10 miles south-south-east of Exeter and lies on the A382 road, about half way between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead.
History
Bovey Tracey takes its name from the River Bovey. The name first appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Bovi and possibly earlier as Buui (there being no distinction in that age between "u" and "v"). The town gained its second name from the de Tracey family who were lords of the manor after the Norman Conquest. The town was first documented as Bovitracy in 1309.[1]
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-day fair.[2]
During the 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.[3] 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.
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.
Geography
Bovey Tracey lies in the valley of the River Bovey at the junction of the A382 road (which runs between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead) and the B3387 road (Chudleigh Knighton to Haytor Vale). To the north are found Dunsford and Christow and the northeast Haldon and Trusham. To the east lie Chudleigh and Chudleigh Knighton with Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot southeast. Bickington, Totnes, Ilsington and Ashburton are to the south.
West of Bovey Tracey the moor opens out. Here in the moor may be found such villages as Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Moretonhampstead and the delightfully named Lustleigh.
About 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.[4]
At the top of the town is the parish church, the Church od St peter, St paul and St Thomas of Canterbury. It has a tower dating from the 14th century, many 15th-century carvings including three misericords, and a screen described by Arthur Mee as "one of the finest in this county of fine screens".[5] The church has an unbroken list of vicars from 1258.
On the bank of the River Bovey, the Devon Guild of Craftsmen headquarters is in an 1854 building known as Riverside Mill. The building has an undershot waterwheel that was used to pump water up to a tank in the building's 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.[6] Nearby, the Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre in the old Bovey railway station is run by volunteers and is open in the summer months.[7]
On the outskirts of the town are the House of Marbles, a visitor attraction on the site of the historic old pottery; and the headquarters of the Dartmoor National Park Authority at Parke, a large house which is leased to the authority by the National Trust.[4] 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.
Sport
Bovey Tracey is the start point of the Dartmoor Devil bicycle ride, an annual Audax UK Brevet Populaire event held in late October that takes in over 6,000 feet of climbing and over 60 miles around and across Dartmoor. The ride ends in nearby Manaton.
The town has a Non-League football club Bovey Tracey AFC.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bovey Tracey) |
References
- ↑ Watts, Victor (2010). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names (1st paperback ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7.
- ↑ Hoskins, W. G. (1972). A New Survey of England: Devon (New ed.). London: Collins. pp. 340–1. ISBN 0-7153-5577-5.
- ↑ Andriette, Eugene A (1971). Devon and Exeter in the Civil War. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 159. ISBN 0-7153-5256-3.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Welcome to the Bovey Tracey website". Bovey Tracey Town Council. http://www.boveytracey.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
- ↑ Mee, A. The King's England:Devon (Hodder and Stoughton, 1965), p.47.
- ↑ Minchington, Walter (1974). Devon at Work: Past and Present. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 23. ISBN 0-7153-6389-1.
- ↑ "Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre". Devon Museums. http://www.devonmuseums.net/Bovey-Tracey-Heritage-Centre/Devon-Museums/. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
