Tavistock, a pleasant market-town of Devon, 11 miles N. of Plymouth and 31 (by rail 40) SW. of Exeter, lies in a trough of the hills on the Tavy's left bank, with Dartmoor stretching away from it to the eastward. An old stannary town, till 1885 governed by a portreeve, it is the centre of what was a great mining district; and it sent two members to parliament till 1867, then one till 1885. Two gateways, a porch, and the refectory are the chief remains of its once magnificent Benedictine abbey, founded in 961. It was rebuilt between 1285 and 1458, was the seat of a very early printing-press, and at the dissolution in 1539 was conferred on the first Lord Russell, remaining still with the Duke of Bedford. Tavistock has a fine parish church (1318) with a west tower (106 feet) resting on arches, a guildhall (1848), corn-market (1839), covered markets (1863), statues of the seventh Duke of Bedford by Stephens (1864) and Drake by Boehm (1883, a very fine one presented by the ninth Duke), and the Kelly College (1877), founded by Admiral Kelly. Drake and William Browne were natives; Pym and William Lord Russell members; and the Right Hon. W. H. Smith was educated at the grammar-school. Pop. (1851) 8086; (1901) 4728. See works by Kempe (1830), Rachel Evans (1846), Worth (1888), and Alford (1891).