Bovey Tracey
| Bovey Tracey | |
|---|---|
 Bovey Tracey town square | |
  Bovey Tracey Location withinDevon | |
| Population | 4,729 |
| OS grid reference | SX817784 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWTON ABBOT |
| Postcode district | TQ13 |
| Dialling code | 01626 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Bovey Tracey(/ˌbʌviˈtreɪsi/) is a town andcivil parishinDevon,England, on the edge ofDartmoor,its proximity to which gives rise to the slogan used on the town's boundary signs, "The Gateway to the Moor". It is often known locally as "Bovey". It is about 10 miles south-west ofExeterand lies on theA382 road,about halfway betweenNewton AbbotandMoretonhampstead.The village is at the centre of theelectoral wardof Bovey. At the2011 censusthe population of this ward was 7,721.[1]
History
[edit]Bovey Tracey was an establishedSaxoncommunity and takes its name from theRiver Bovey.The name first appears inDomesday BookasBovi[2]and possibly earlier asBuui.The town gained its second name from the de Tracey family who were lords of the manor after theNorman Conquest,and was first documented asBovitracyin 1309.[3]
One member of the family,William de Tracy,was implicated in the murder of ArchbishopThomas Becketin 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 aboroughhere and in 1259 was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual three-day fair.[4]
During theEnglish Civil Waron 9 January 1646,Oliver Cromwelland a contingent of his Roundhead army entered Bovey Tracey after dark and caught part ofLord Wentworth's Regimentby surprise, catching a number of officers playing cards in an inn. Many of Wentworth's Royalist troops escaped, but Cromwell did capture about 400 horses.[5]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 nearbyBovey Heathending in victory for Cromwell's army.
The name of Cromwell lives on in the town today in both thepublic 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. It has been shown through many historical documents that this is a local myth perpetuated by local historians, and that there is no evidence that a priory once stood in the centre of Bovey Tracey.
TheBovey Tracey Potteriesoperated from the 1750s for about 200 years.
Bovey railway stationwas opened on 26 June 1866 with the newMoretonhampstead and South Devon Railwayon 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.
Bovey Tracey wastwinnedwithLe Molay-LittryinNormandy,however in February 2018 local Councillors surprisingly discovered that the French town had unexpectedly twinned with another location,Theydon Boisin Essex.[6]
Geography
[edit]Bovey Tracey lies in the valley of theRiver Boveyat the junction of theA382 road(between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead) and the B3387 road (Chudleigh KnightontoHaytor Vale).
Climate
[edit]Since 1990, the highest recorded temperature was 27 °C (81 °F) in July 2018 and the lowest was -5 °C (23 °F) in February 1991 and March 2018.
| Climate data for Yarner Wood (Aurn) 120m amsl (1981–2010) (extremes 1990–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 13 (55) |
13 (55) |
14 (57) |
20 (68) |
23 (73) |
25 (77) |
27 (81) |
25 (77) |
22 (72) |
20 (68) |
16 (61) |
14 (57) |
27 (81) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.6 (45.7) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.2 (50.4) |
12.7 (54.9) |
15.7 (60.3) |
18.7 (65.7) |
20.7 (69.3) |
20.4 (68.7) |
17.8 (64.0) |
13.9 (57.0) |
10.5 (50.9) |
8.1 (46.6) |
13.7 (56.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.5 (36.5) |
2.2 (36.0) |
3.6 (38.5) |
4.5 (40.1) |
7.4 (45.3) |
9.9 (49.8) |
12.0 (53.6) |
12.0 (53.6) |
10.2 (50.4) |
7.8 (46.0) |
5.1 (41.2) |
3.1 (37.6) |
6.7 (44.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −3 (27) |
−5 (23) |
−5 (23) |
1 (34) |
3 (37) |
8 (46) |
10 (50) |
8 (46) |
6 (43) |
5 (41) |
1 (34) |
0 (32) |
−5 (23) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 170.7 (6.72) |
126.0 (4.96) |
111.9 (4.41) |
90.9 (3.58) |
87.2 (3.43) |
71.3 (2.81) |
70.1 (2.76) |
79.9 (3.15) |
96.0 (3.78) |
159.4 (6.28) |
145.0 (5.71) |
176.3 (6.94) |
1,384.7 (54.53) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 16.4 | 13.5 | 13.0 | 11.8 | 11.2 | 9.3 | 9.3 | 9.8 | 10.7 | 15.4 | 15.3 | 16.1 | 151.8 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 56.5 | 76.9 | 118.9 | 175.0 | 200.1 | 204.2 | 210.2 | 194.8 | 150.3 | 97.9 | 69.2 | 47.4 | 1,601.4 |
| Source 1: Met Office[7] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: MSN[8] | |||||||||||||
Notable features
[edit]
The town has over a hundredlisted buildings.[9]The parish church, at the top of the town, is grade I listed.[10]It has a tower dating from the 14th century, many 15th-century carvings including threemisericords,and a screen described byArthur Meeas "one of the finest in this county of fine screens".[11]The screen was restored in 1887 with the central panels the work ofCharles Edgar Buckeridge.[12]The church has an unbroken list of vicars from 1258. On Hind Street, the East Dartmoor Baptist Church was built in 1824 and is now grade II listed. The church was founded by workers in the Bovey Potteries.[13]Bovey Tracey Town Hallwas completed in 1866.[14]
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.[15]The building, dating from 1854, has anundershotwaterwheel 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.[16]Nearby, the Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre in the oldBovey railway stationis run by volunteers and is open in the summer months.[17]
On the outskirts of the town are the House of Marbles, a visitor attraction on the site of the historic pottery;[18]and the headquarters of theDartmoor National Park Authorityat Parke, a large house which is leased to the authority by the National Trust.[19]Also nearby are aDevon Wildlife Trustnature reserve atBovey Heathand theHaytor 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 afarmers' marketon alternate Saturday mornings.[19]
The town also hosts multiple events throughout the year for both tourists and the local community, including: 'Nourish', a food and gin festival held in September;The town, in recent years, has also played host to the "Green Man Festival" of Morris Dancers and other folk traditions, at the end of April.[20]and the 'Contemporary Craft Festival', held in June.[21]
Historic estates
[edit]Within the parish of Bovey Tracey are various historic estates, including:
- Indio,long a seat of theSouthcott family,[22]later of Bentinck. TheIndeo Potterywas 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 marriedElize 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 theDartmoor National ParkAuthority.
Sport
[edit]Bovey Tracey is the start point of the Dartmoor Devilbicycleride, an annualAudaxUKBrevet Populaireevent held in late October that takes in over 2,000 m of climbing and over 100 km around and acrossDartmoor,[23]the ride ends in nearbyManaton.
The town has aNon-League footballclubBovey Tracey A.F.C.who play at The Western Counties Roofing Ground in theSouth West Peninsula League.
References
[edit]- ^"Bovey ward population 2011".Archivedfrom the original on 18 February 2015.Retrieved18 February2015.
- ^"Open Domesday: Bovey".Retrieved28 May2023.
- ^Watts, Victor (2010).The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names(1st paperback ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 74.ISBN978-0-521-16855-7.
- ^Hoskins, W. G. (1972).A New Survey of England: Devon(New ed.). London: Collins. pp. 340–1.ISBN0-7153-5577-5.
- ^Andriette, Eugene A (1971).Devon and Exeter in the Civil War.Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p.159.ISBN0-7153-5256-3.
- ^Clark, Daniel (24 February 2018)."Devon town shocked after finding out its twin town in France had ditched them".devonlive.Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2018.Retrieved3 March2018.
- ^"Bovey Tracey Climate Period: 1981–2010".Met Office.Archivedfrom the original on 12 November 2018.Retrieved11 November2018.
- ^"Records and Averages".www.msn.com.Archivedfrom the original on 24 July 2021.Retrieved29 May2020.
- ^"Listed Buildings in Bovey Tracey, Devon, England".britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 14 May 2013.Retrieved26 June2013.
- ^"Church of St Peter and St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury, Bovey Tracey".britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 1 February 2014.Retrieved22 January2014.
- ^Mee, A.The King's England:Devon(Hodder and Stoughton, 1965), p.47.
- ^"Restoration of Bovey Tracey Church".Exeter and Plymouth Gazette.19 August 1887.Archivedfrom the original on 24 July 2021.Retrieved9 October2020– via British Library Newspapers.
- ^"East Dartmoor Baptist Church, Bovey Tracey".britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 1 February 2014.Retrieved26 June2013.
- ^Historic England."Town Hall, Town Hall Place (1165878)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved27 December2021.
- ^"About the Guild - The Devon Guild of Craftsmen".www.crafts.org.uk.Retrieved9 March2020.
- ^Minchington, Walter (1974).Devon at Work: Past and Present.Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 23.ISBN0-7153-6389-1.
- ^"Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre".Devon Museums.Archivedfrom the original on 17 January 2012.Retrieved26 December2011.
- ^Dowling, Rod."The Bovey Pottery Company Limited".Archivedfrom the original on 4 February 2014.Retrieved22 January2014.
- ^ab"Welcome to the Bovey Tracey website".Bovey Tracey Town Council.Archivedfrom the original on 1 October 2011.Retrieved26 December2011.
- ^"Home Page".www.nourishfestival.org.Archivedfrom the original on 11 September 2019.Retrieved10 September2019.
- ^Festival, Craft."Craft Festival".www.craftfestival.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 12 July 2021.Retrieved10 September2019.
- ^Pevsner, Nikolaus& Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004;Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.697-701, pedigree of Southcott;Risdon, Tristram(d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.134
- ^"The Dartmoor Devil".Audax UK. Archived fromthe originalon 15 September 2014.Retrieved3 July2016.
External links
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Settlements and geographic features near Bovey Tracey | |
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