1 of 6
2 of 6
3 of 6
4 of 6
5 of 6
6 of 6
Originally started during the reign of King Henry 1 in 1105, Dr Ann Pulsford charts the history of our Tavistock Farmers’ Market which is still thriving today.
Tavistock is a ‘market’ town; a legal definition which originated in the Middle Ages for a settlement which has the right to host markets. Before the industrial revolution in the C19th most people made their living from agriculture and livestock farming. Farmers brought their produce to markets, and market towns grew up as centres of local activity. A market town could only be granted legal market charter rights from the monarch and to qualify had to be more than one day's travelling (walking) time from an already established market.
Today, Tavistock’s farmers' markets are normally held on the second fourth and fifth Saturday of each month. Meat, poultry, cheese, eggs, vegetables, and preserves from local farms are sold from tables in Bedford Square. In medieval times the street markets were called 'shambles' (streets where fish and meat were sold); and the origins of the Tavistock markets can be traced back to the C12th.
Tavistock received its royal charter to hold a weekly market on Fridays from King Henry 1 in 1105. At that time Tavistock comprised the Benedictine abbey and a few dwellings to house the workpeople, who served the monks. The abbey had become one of the wealthiest in the southwest, with riches from the wool trade and mining. The abbot made a substantial donation for Henry 1 in 1105 to mount a campaign in France, and the town soon received a market charter. This gave the monks the sole market rights to tax the weekly sale of produce from the surrounding lands to a distance of 2 leagues (6.5 miles). This was deemed to be the distance a trader could walk to and from market in a day.
The establishment of the Charter Market was a turning point for the prosperity of Tavistock, but led to a decline in the markets at Lydford and Okehampton, which caused unrest. So Henry I granted a second market charter to the abbots at Tavistock in 1107, to confirm his support for the town.
Although the 1741 Delafontaine pictorial map of Tavistock shows three fields with tenters for drying woollen cloth, there is no record of C18th wool auctions in Tavistock. At this time wool was still a major source of revenue for the town. However, a Tavistock yarn market was recorded in an article in the Sherborne Mercury in 1750. It was one of the most important yarn markets in the southwest, acting as a distribution centre for the clothiers of east Devon. The Duke of Bedford was the proprietor and was entitled to duty on the weighed yarn. The Tavistock Markets Act of 1859 records a toll for selling wool but farmers may also have sold directly to the wool merchants, or clothiers.
John Wynne’s map of Tavistock, from 1752, shows the location of the markets in the mid C18th. They included two open market houses built over the street, and butter, fish and vegetable markets with regular sites in the streets. Some old Tavistock street names still refer to these early markets, including Market Street, Market Road and Barley Market Street.
Until the mid-C19th local farmers brought their produce in from the surrounding farms and villages on horse-drawn sleds or on ponies or donkeys with panniers. Horse-drawn covered carts were also used, and feature in many old engravings and photographs of Tavistock.
In the 1800s the Friday market was one of the largest in Devon when meat and corn were traded. Barley Market Street was originally the site of the street grain markets, but in 1835 John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, built the Corn Market for grain merchants and butchers during a period of great optimism. The building was open on the ground floor with assembly rooms above. By the end of the century it had become redundant following the collapse of mining and population decline. The Corn Market building still stands at the junction of West Street and King Street, and has served many roles in the town, including a cinema and shop.
In the middle of the C19th the centre of Tavistock was redeveloped by Francis, the 7th Duke of Bedford, whose statue stands in Guildhall Square. He cleared some slum areas in the centre of the town, moved the cattle market across the river and built the present Market Hall (Pannier Market) and Town Hall. The 1859 Markets Act had given him the power to implement these changes to the centre of Tavistock and to construct a new Market Place. The demolition of St Matthew's Street and Higher Brook Street permitted the creation of Duke Street. The River Tavy was partially diverted and buildings along the riverbank demolished to allow for the formation of Market Road. The Pannier Market Hall was built near this road and was completed in October 1862.
Originally, sale of livestock was the most important market activity and they were sold on the streets of the town. In the early C19th the cattle and sheep markets were held in the area now called Guildhall Square. Early photographic images from the 1860s by William Merrifield show the livestock market in Abbey Place, now Guildhall Square.
The cattle market site was moved to its present location by Francis Russell, the 7th Duke of Bedford, during his redevelopment of the centre of Tavistock in the mid-C19th. The relocation to Whitchurch Road, combined with the new railway station, meant that the Abbey Bridge had to be widened to accommodate the extra traffic.
The cattle market is now held on the first Tuesday of each month (except January). Farmers bring sheep and cattle to be auctioned, and the unmistakeable sound of the auctioneers can be heard throughout the town. Dartmoor ponies were also sold here on the first Friday in October, after the annual drift or round up. The cattle market is open to the public on Goose Fair Day, the second Wednesday in October, and farmers can show their sheep, cattle and poultry.
Dr Ann Pulsford