Our history

TAVISTOCK MARKET
900 YEARS OF HISTORY.
By Trevor James

When King Henry 1 'of England and France needed funds to mount a campaign in Normandy in 1105 he received what must have amounted to a handsome donation by the prosperous and wealthy Abbey at Tavistock. Henry showed his gratitude by granting the Abbey a weekly market to be held each Friday. The market has survived without a break for 900 years.

Tavistock Market Charter 1105

Henry King of England to Geoffrey de Mandeville and to all the Barons French and English of Devon and of Cornwall Greeting. May you know that I have granted to Saint Mary* of Tavistock and to the monks that they may have a market at Tavistock every week on Friday. And I grant to the merchants that they may sell and buy whatever they wish and that no-one to them on this account wrong shall do. With witness William Warelwast and Alfred of Lincoln and Harding son of Alnod and Walter son of Ansgar at Stamford.

* The Abbey was dedicated to ‘'Our Lady’ as well as the well-known St. Rumon.

It should be remembered that at this time the Benedictine Abbey itself was Tavistock. Apart from the Abbey buildings there were just a few humble dwellings that housed the workpeople who served the monks in various ways. All roads (rough tracks by today's standards) led to and from surrounding villages and hamlets - the main highways by-passed the town, unlike Launceston, Lydford and Okehampton which were connected by well used ancient tracks and where, incidentally, there were already established markets. The Tavistock Charter gave the monks the sole market rights within an area of 6 1/3 miles (equivalent to 2 leagues, the distance a person could comfortably walk to and from market bearing their goods) and attracted trade that previously went to the three towns mentioned. Lydford in particular was badly hit having already lost business to Okehampton market. Thus the Charter was a turning point towards further prosperity and expansion for Tavistock and Lydford's eventual decline. Naturally these changes did not go unchallenged by the local Barons. We do not know what form their protests took but in 1107 another Charter was issued by the King: