Interesting information
This walk follows part of the Tavistock Canal, constructed by civil engineer John Taylor. The canal took 14 years to complete, with labour by French prisoners, and was officially opened in 1817. The canal played an important role in transporting copper ore 4.5 miles to Morwellham Quay, at the time one of the biggest trading ports in the world.
The town of Tavistock dates back to the building of the Abbey in the 10th century. After five and a half centuries, the monastery was dissolved and the town was given to John Russell the first Earl of Bedford. The Earls, and later Dukes of Bedford, who made much of his wealth through mining, owned the majority of all property in the town until 1911, when many of the buildings were sold off.
Both the Canal and the town centre form part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.
Sir Francis Drake was reputed to be born at Crowndale Farm in around 1540. It is difficult to be exact about this as only deaths were officially registered in the mid 16th century. Drake began his seafaring career at the age of 13 and became the owner of his first commercial vessel at the age of 20. The farm that you can see at Crowndale now is not the building that Drake would have known. The original farm was demolished and the stone was carried north to be used in Lewtrenchard.
