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Summary

Tavistock and Launceston branch of the Great Western Railway, opened 1859 by the South Devon & Tavistock Railway Company. Tavistock section from Parkwood Road to the Grenofen Tunnel.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX47SE/124/2

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RAILWAY (XIX - 1859 AD to 1859 AD (Throughout))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1855-1895, First Edition 1:500 Town Map (Cartographic). SDV338879.

'Great Western Railway (Launceston Branch)' marked. Map object based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Great Western Railway (Launceston Branch)' marked. Map object based on this source.

Thomas, D. St. J., 1981, A Regional History of Railways of Great Britain, 120-121,125 (Monograph). SDV168.

Railway in Tavistock parish.

The Tavistock and District Local History Society, 1994, About Tavistock: An Historical Introduction and Six Town Walks, 18-19, 29 (Monograph). SDV354806.

Trevelyan, R. E., 1998, A Winter Remembered. Events recalling the winter of 1962/63 and its effects on the railways of Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV361769.

Details of the efforts to clear and keep open the line during the winter storms of 1962/63.

West Devon Borough Council, 2003, Tavistock Viaduct Walk: History and Heritage (Leaflet). SDV350246.

One of two railway lines serving Tavistock in the 19th century. On June 22nd 1859 the South Devon & Tavistock Railway Company opened its 13 mile (21 kilometres) route to Plymouth, passing through Yelverton. The station was situated off the road to Whitchurch (now Abbey Rise). This line was later to be operated by the Great Western Railway. From 1876, the London & South Western Railway ran trains over the South Devon's railway line, until 1890, when a new line to Plymouth was completed, via Bere Alston.

Gould, R., 2010, Extension on South Side of Workshop, Foundation Excavations, 1-2; figure 2 (Report - non-specific). SDV351511.

Site visited on 5th October 2010 to inspect a buried wall encountered in a foundation trench for an extension on the south side of a workshop built on an old railway embankment. Early Ordnance Survey maps show an under-bridge passed beneath the embankment to the south of the workshop, which was used to convey an inclined railway track beneath the main railway.

Smyly, H., 2010, Proposed Building Extension, Robey Trust, Tavistock, Devon: Phase 1 & 2 Soil Contamination Assessment and Mining Desk Study Report, 5; figure 3 (Report - Assessment). SDV351512.

The historical development of the site has been ascertained from a study of historical maps. The early Ordnance Survey maps show that the site is located on a former railway embankment (part of the Great Western Railway Launceston Branch Line).

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

'Dismantled Railway' marked. Some sections built over. Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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