Historic England's listing for the Church of St Eustachius, Tavistock (list entry 1326157) describes a parish church of the 14th and 15th centuries built on earlier foundations and restored in 1844 to 1845 by John Hayward. It is built of Hurdwick stone with granite or elvan stone dressings, with slate roofs and a lead roof on the tower. The early columns are of elvan (green) stone, and those of the 15th-century clothworkers' aisle of Dartmoor granite. The plan is a five-bay nave, north and south aisles, a three-bay chancel with north and south chapels and an extra five-bay south aisle, with a three-stage west tower. It lies in the parish of Tavistock, about 2.1 km north-west of Whitchurch.
Outside, the aisles have large four-light windows with simple Perpendicular tracery, the east end has a row of three gables with five-light windows, and the gabled south porch has a mid-19th-century sundial. The tower has crenellated parapets and tall pinnacles, and its hopper heads are dated 1661. Inside, the nave and aisles have tall slender arcades with four-centred arches and carved bosses on the wagon roofs, one with the regional motif of three hares. The clothworkers' aisle is more elaborate, with details relating to the guild, and the mid-19th-century pews have carved ends, one in the south aisle with a tiny ivory church mouse set into it.
Bones said to be those of Ordulf, founder of the abbey, are buried here, and a floor slab at the south end of the nave reads ORDULF / FOUNDER OF TAVISTOCK ABBEY / 981. A second slab remembers other abbots whose remains were found nearby and re-buried at the church in 2000. By the south door is the baptistry with a 15th-century octagonal font and a 14th-century iron-bound oak wagon chest. In the nave is a carved Caen stone pulpit of 1846, and in the north aisle an organ and case of 1845 by J. W. Walker and Sons of London, with carved statues of 1879. The church has eight 18th-century bells recast in 1925, and at least one by Thomas Mears of London.
Sources: Historic England list entry 1326157, which cites Cherry and Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Devon (2002), pages 780 to 781, Woodcock, Homage to St Eustachius: A History of Tavistock Parish Church (2012), and the Tavistock parish church website pages on its history (accessed 8 December 2015). Seventeen visitor comments with photographs are on the Historic England page; I have not used them.
- Period: Medieval
- Status: Listed building (Historic England list entry 1326157)
- Grid reference: SX 4812 7443 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)
