Bovey Tracey

Bovey Tracey is a town in the valley of the River Bovey on the edge of Dartmoor, between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead. Its name comes from the river and from the Norman de Tracey family, who held the manor. A Devon guide dates a fair and market charter to 1260 under Henry III, and says a manor house was built around 1200 on East Street.

William de Tracy was implicated in the murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170, and tradition says the church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury was built as penance. Britain Express says there is no evidence for this, nor that the two Tracy knights were related. A church has stood on the hilltop since at least the 10th century, and the present building is mainly 14th and 15th century. Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, gave the carved screen and pulpit, and three misericords said to be the earliest in Devon. A 15th-century brass eagle lectern has a hole through the beak and tail that was used to pass pennies for Peter's Pence.

In January 1646 Lord Wentworth made his headquarters here, and Cromwell attacked part of his brigade at night, capturing 400 troopers and seven standards. Pottery was made in the town from the 18th century, using clay and lignite from the Bovey basin, and at its height employed about 250 people. The railway ran from 1866 to 1959. The Heritage Centre is in the former station, and the Devon Guild of Craftsmen is in a historic watermill.