Tavistock Street

Tavistock Street was named in 1971 after a main road through Plymouth.  

Tavistock Road through Plymouth boasts several buildings of architectural merit or significance, including the Gaiety Theatre.  Property values posted on a real estate agent's website show a variation in value of Tavistock Road houses from £233,000 to £600,000. McDonald's is also on Tavistock Road.

Tavistock, located in South West Devon on the River Tavy, from which its name derives, boasts a successful farmers' market. Its annual Goose Fair dates from the eighteenth century; since the 1820s it has been held on the second Wednesday in October. 

In 2009 an enterprising developer hoped to build 750 new houses in Tavistock. To aid the approval, the company, Kilbride Community Rail Group, proposed to re-open the Tavistock to Plymouth railway. The eight kilometre stretch of rail had been closed by a government decision in 1962, a loss lamented by advocates of rail the world over. The original broad gauge line was opened in 1859.

The ruins of Tavistock Abbey, established in 961 AD, remain in the town centre. 

Famous sons of Tavistock include Francis Drake, the English sea captain of the Elizabethan era who helped fend off the Spanish Armada in 1588. Tavistock is a name that attaches to other famous people. A part of Tavistock House in London was leased by the author Charles Dickens, who lived there with his young family from 1851. He wrote four novels while living at Tavistock House.

The weather in Tavistock would be familiar to citizens of Taranaki. King Charles declared that "If it is raining anywhere in my kingdom, it will be raining in Tavistock."

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.