Local History


By Roderick Martin Rescued in the Nick of Time


IN Tavistock folklore there is a story about the dramatic rescue, during the great flood of July 1890, of a prisoner locked in the underground cells of the police station. The popular version of this story is that he was rescued when flood waters in the cell had risen up to his chin. This is obviously a good story but is there any truth in it?


In the late nineteenth century the police contingent in the town consisted only of a sergeant and three constables who occupied rooms beneath the Court in Guildhall Square. Here there were also two detention cells and four smaller holding cells. The entrance to the police station was down an external flight of steps at the front of the building in Guildhall Square. On the 17th July 1890 as the result of heavy rainfall the River Tavy rose rapidly causing the watercourse to overflows its banks. Despite the extensiveness of the flooding no lives were lost, and no buildings were destroyed, but many were flooded, and an enormous amount of damage was done to properties alongside the watercourse from Mary Tavy to Crowndale. Flooding in Tavistock occurred not only because the river overflowed its banks, but also because the


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surface runoff from the higher developed areas could not drain effectively into the watercourse due to the high river levels. All the centre of the town was flooded including the Guildhall Square, and when the water level rose above the top of the steps outside the Guildhall, water cascaded down into the underground police rooms and cells below. The flooding was reported in the regional and local papers. The Tavistock Gazette of the 18th July 1890 (and again on the 25th July 1890) had very detailed accounts which went to some length to record the damage to property, but it made only a passing mention of the drama at the police station. ‘Across the way a prisoner was rescued from the cell with difficulty. All the buildings in Guildhall Square and police cells were submerged, the Market


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