Whitchurch

Whitchurch is a village and parish on the south-eastern edge of Tavistock in West Devon, about 1.5 miles from Tavistock station. Whitchurch Down lies between the Whitchurch and Tavistock parishes, on the edge of Dartmoor. In 1930 the village itself was taken into Tavistock urban district, so the parish no longer holds its own namesake village. The 2021 census recorded 507 residents in the parish, which shares a council with Sampford Spiney.

St Andrew's church is mostly 15th century, built of granite and elvan, with parts dated to about 1300. A church is thought to have stood here as early as the 11th century, and the name may come from the white elvan stone. Inside is a monument to Francis Pengelly, dated 1722. Walreddon Manor, a Grade I listed house, was built in the reign of Edward VI by the Courtenay family.

The parish had 478 people in 1801, 1,156 in 1851 and 1,508 in 1901, with lead and tin mines and quarries in the 1800s. The manorial rights to Whitchurch Down passed to the Duke of Bedford in 1909, to Tavistock Urban District Council in 1964 for £750, and to Tavistock Town Council in 1974. A Lutyens reservoir of 1914, known as the Pimple, stands on the Down.