Welcome to the Buckfastleigh Town Guide 2010
WE hope that this guide will help you enjoy your visit to our town to the full. Buckfastleigh, population 4,000, is an attractive and friendly small town with a village feel. Set amid the wooded foothills at the edge of Dartmoor its history goes back to medieval times with close links to the wool and leather industries. Mainly in the 19th century, copper, tin and arsenic as well as iron and even pitchblende (a radioactive ore of uranium) were mined close by. Today, the town has few major industries though Devonia, a major local employer, continues the tradition of producing leather goods and sheepskin rugs. The town has several excellent pubs, a cafe and takeaways in attractive surroundings ready to serve our visitors. Two pubs offer good B&B accommodation. The village feel is epitomised by the flocks of Muscovy ducks that frequently bring traffic to a halt and treat us humans with resigned contempt as they cross the road to the two attractive green spaces that run alongside the rivers that flow through the town. Our historic Co-op, post office, newsagent and historic tearooms, offer excellent service to locals and visitors alike. At the bottom of the town is the tourist information centre which is
General manager Sandra Perraton
Editor Ruth Davey
Sub editor Mike Taylor Special
Editorial
based within the Valiant Soldier ‘public house’. ‘The Pub that time forgot’ for a generation is an outstanding tourist attraction with many added features for 2010. The pub was left exactly as it was when the occupants closed the doors in the 1960s, even with the change still left in the till! This time capsule was rediscovered and opened to the public in the late 1990s.
The leather and woollen industries still play a significant role in the modern economy of the town but not to the extent that it did during the 1800s. Today, it has a growing number of modern businesses; some very ‘high tech’ and several which take full advantage of the world wide web to tap international markets. Many are based in the attractive historic mill buildings. Visitors are important to us and warmly
welcomed. Each year hundreds of thousands of you visit the South Devon Railway with its neighbour, the Butterfly Farm and Otter Sanctuary. Buckfast Abbey is only a kilometre away to the north-east. So, when you come to visit these tourist gems of south Devon why not continue your journey on into our medieval town and the interesting attractions it also has to offer?
Contents
publications executive Peter Lewis
contributors Peter Lewis Geoff Wood Ann Armstrong
Photographic contributors TJ Macleod
Advertising support
Buckfastleigh Town Council
4/5 History of Buckfastleigh 6/7 Map/Mayor’s Message 10/11 Pengelly Trust 14/15 Buckfastleigh Horse Racing 18/19 The Valiant Soldier – Where time stands still 22/23 Medical Centre/Sharing Buckfastleigh 24/25 Devonia Sheepskins 26/27 History of the Town Hall/Hiring charges 28 Council Members 32/33 The Buckfast Bee 38 Where to Stay 40/41 Organisation contacts 43 Street Map/Advertisers
Published, designed & typeset by Devon & Cornwall Newspapers Ltd, Old Manor House, 63 Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot TQ12 1NE 01626 355566. Printed by Wotton Limited, Unit 5, Riverside 2, Quay Road, Brunel Industrial Estate, Newton Abbot TQ12 4DZ 01626 353698.
While every care has been taken in the preparation of this directory , the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or for any consequence arising from it, or for any errors or omissions. 3
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