In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Bovey Tracey like this:
BOVEY (South), or Bovey-Tracey, a village and a parish in Newton-Abbot district, Devon. The village stands on Bovey brook, and on the Moreton-Hampstead railway, 5½ miles NW of Newton; and has a post office‡ under Newton-Abbot, and a r. station with telegraph. It was formerly a market-town; and still has fairs on Easter Monday, Holy Thursday, and the first Thursday of July and Nov. ...
Part of an ancient cross stands in an open space in it; and an ancient wayside monument is built into one of its houses. Cromwell made a night attack on a part of Lord Wentworth's brigade here, in 16 46; and captured 400 troopers and 7 standards. The parish comprises 7,262 acres. Real property, £.8,229. Pop., 2,080. Houses, 413. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged anciently to the Traceys, one of whom, Sir William Tracey, was the leader in the assassination of Thomas à Becket; and belongs now to the Earl of Devon. A reach of valley adjacent to the village bears the name of Bovey-Heathfield; has a low flat bottom, seeming to have been once a lake; and contains deposits of porcelain clay, and beds of lignite, called Bovey coal. The clay is worked in an interesting pottery close to the village; and the lignite is used as fuel at the pottery, in lime-kilns, and by the poor. A great ridge of hills flanks the valley, and culminates picturesquely in the Bottor rock. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £450.* Patron, the Crown. The church is perpendicular English, with a square tower; and was renovated in 1859. A chapel-of-ease, a beautiful structure, stands adjacent to the pottery. There are chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans, and a free school. The Devon house of mercy was erected here in 1868; includes a lofty chapel, in the first pointed style; and has accommodation for seventy-two inmates and eight sisters.
Bovey Tracey through time
Bovey Tracey is now part of Teignbridge district. Click here for graphs and data of how Teignbridge has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Bovey Tracey itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Bovey Tracey, in Teignbridge and Devon | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/2346
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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