Tavistock, a pleasant market-town of Devon, 11 miles N. of Plymouth and 31 (by rail 40) SW. of Exeter, lies in a trough of the hills on the Tavv's left bank, with Dartmoor stretching away from it to the eastward. An old stannary town, till 1885 governed by a portreeve, it is the centre of what not many years ago was a great mining district; and it sent two members to parliament till 1867, then one till 1885. Two gateways, a porch, and the refectory are the chief remains of its once magnificent Benedictine abbey, founded in 961 by Ordgar, ealdorman of Devon, and father of the infamous Elfrida. It was rebuilt between 1285 and 1458, was the seat of a very early printing-press, and had a revenue of £902 at the dissolution in 1539, when it was conferred on the first Lord Russell, remaining still with his descendant, the Duke of Bedford. The parish church (1318) is a fine structure, with a west tower (106 feet) resting on arches. Tavistock has also a guildhall (1848), corn-market (1839), covered markets (1863), statues of the seventh Duke of Bedford by Stephens (1864) and Drake by Boehm (1883, a very fine one presented by the ninth Duke), and the Kelly College (1877), founded by Admiral B. M. Kelly. Drake and William Browne were natives, Pym and William Lord Russell members; and the Right Hon. W. H. Smith was educated at the grammar-school. Pop. (1851) 8086; (1891) 6252.
See works by A. J. Kempe (1830), Rachel Evans (1846), R. N. Worth (1888), and the Rev. D. P. Alford (1891).