Local History
Road through the giving way of the protection wall, forming part of the river.’ The Western Morning News of the 18th July 1890 refers more directly to the incident at the police station.
‘A man placed in the lock-up at the Guildhall during the night, on a charge of house breaking, had a very unpleasant experience for the floods reached the Guildhall Square and poured down into the cell which he occupied with such rapidity, that he was nearly knee-deep before he was got out and taken to a room in the higher part of the building.’ It is the Western Daily Mercury of the 18th July 1890 which provides the most detailed information. ‘A prisoner named James Stevens, confined for housebreaking at Princetown, was in the cells at the police station at the time the banks commenced to overflow. Fortunately he was removed by P.C. Coles when the water had settled in the cells to a depth of something like eighteen inches, for it shortly afterwards rose to a height of six or seven feet or more.’
for Tavistock, to his Chief Constable about the flooding predictably refers to the incident in a very brief and matter-of-fact way; ‘A prisoner had to be brought out of the cells before the water rose.’ ( ref. The Beat on Western Dartmoor by Simon Dell). After the flooding the police rooms and cells were deemed by William Mitchell to be in an unsatisfactory condition, and refurbishment work was quickly started. As for the prisoner, James Stevens, he continues to be a slippery character, remaining elusive in further newspaper reports of the time, and in the 1891 and later censuses.
A report by William Mitchell, Police Superintendent
As with all good stories, there is a basis of fact. The prisoner would have drowned if left in the flooded cell, but fortunately he was evacuated in time. To describe his experience as ‘unpleasant’ is an understatement. When the water came up to his knees he must have become quite anxious about his predicament, and no doubt, his removal from the cell was more hurried than orderly. However there was to be no further newspaper interest in this incident. After all, far more newsworthy stories were the rescue of elderly folk from their homes by sturdy volunteers wading through floodwaters in Brook Street, and of course the tragic loss by drowning of Mrs. Bawden’s poultry up at the Cottage Inn (now the Trout and Tipple). Tavistock is fortunate that the severe flooding event of July 1890 has not been repeated, although over the last 120 years there have been a number of very close calls. Unfortunately the present weather pattern of short bursts of torrential rainfall in the summer and autumn months is not good news. Being a fast flowing watercourse the River Tavy responds very quickly to heavy rainfall on the western edge of Dartmoor, resulting in high river levels when the peak flow passes through the town. Let’s hope our luck continues to hold.
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