WHITCHURCH

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)]

"WHITCHURCH, a parish in the hundred of Roborough, county Devon, 1½ mile S.E. of Tavistock, and 12 miles N. of Plymouth. The parish comprises a considerable extent of unenclosed land on the borders of Dartmoor. Slate is quarried, and there are several tin, copper, and lead mines, which have been worked at different periods, but the Tavistock United Tin Mine is the only one at present in operation. The village is situated on the road from Plymouth to Tavistock. The principal residences are Grenofen, Holwell, Grimston, Sortridge, and Walreddon House, the latter for many centuries a seat of the Courtenay family, descendants of the Earls of Devon. The Tavistock races are held on Whitchurch Down, in-this parish. A chantry chapel was founded in 1300 by the Abbot of Tavistock. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, value £190. The church is dedicated to St. Andrew. The Independents have a chapel, and there is a village school. Colonel Harris is lord of the manor."