Talks will now take place at the Staddy in the afternoon. We do have various local guided talks, with one day further afield per year. Times can be variable so contact Pauleen if necessary.

We are getting to the point where it would be good to create another Local History group. This is so that new members can enjoy some of the talks and visits we have done in the past without repeating them for existing members. If anyone would like to volunteer to start a new group, I am all ears. I would, of course, share my speakers list with you. Please contact me at the link above if you are interested.
Pauleen

Future Meetings

April 21 - Pamela Vass From Kernow to the Crystal Palace
May 19 - Synagogue visit
June 16 - Geri Parbly, on the discovery of a wall painting of a ship from
Henry VIII’s navy in a house in Tavistock

Past Meetings

April 2026
The speaker for our March meeting was Robin Blythe-Lord, who gave an excellent, and amusing talk about Admiral Batten. Batten was a Government licensed privateer, in essence a pirate, who worked his way up to wealth and notoriety by being a thoroughly unpleasant individual, who always looked out for number one. During the First English Civil War he was second in command of the Parliamentary navy but defected to The Royalists when the Second Civil War began. After the war he was re-appointed Surveyor of the Navy and one of his colleagues was Samuel Pepys who wrote about him often, usually to his detriment. All in all he was a thoroughly dislikeable self-serving person,

March 2026
February's meeting saw the return of Paul Rendell who treated us to a slide show about the building of Burrator Reservoir. He talked about the need for clean water for Plymouth as most of its supply had dried up and he showed us drawings and photos of the area around Sheepstor from the time before building began, also the actual construction of the reservoir and some of the 300 men and boys involved in its construction. He dispelled the myth that a village had been flooded by the reservoir. In fact it was only a few isolated mainly ruined farm buildings.

Paul is extremely knowledgeable and spoke fluently and in depth on this subject which brought forth many questions from his audience. We look forward to inviting Paul back in the future to give us another one of his many fascinating talks.

February 2026
January’s speaker was the excellent Andy Lugger who has given several talks for our General Meetings in the past. This time he spoke about Turnchapel, a subject on which he has personal knowledge and many memories as he is originally from that area as are many of his family members.

Andy is easy to listen to as he knows his subject well and speaks fluently. His presentation illustrated times past and present. I certainly learnt quite a lot, including the fact that Hooe runs into Turnchapel, which I hadn't realised.

I am hoping that we shall have him again to give us his talk on trains, which I know our members will enjoy as it will evoke many memories

Christmas Meal 2025

November 2025
This month we had the marvelously entertaining Simon Dell return to give an extremely interesting talk on the History of Tavistock Abbey. Simon has visited us on more than one occasion and has always been so informative about his local area and this time was no exception. His knowledge of the Abbey and its surrounds, the people who built it and it's destruction were told in an extremely entertaining way and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We shall be booking him again.

October 2025
Paul Rendell gave an illustrated talk on `Dartmoor Then and Now’. Using many old postcards and photographs, together with current views of the same places, he gave a lively and interesting talk on the changes to Dartmoor over the years.

September 2025
Ernie Hoblin gave a talk on his latest book 'A History of Millbrook’. It was very enlightening to realise that Millbrook once had industries such as cotton spinning, brick making and various other light industries. Raw materials were quarried locally, but today none of these industries remain.

August 2025
The Edgecombes

This month’s speaker was Ernie Hoblin who has visited us a number of times before. This time he gave a talk on the Edgecombes from Yeoman Farmers to Earls, which is the subject of his new book. He talked about how they acquired land in Devon and Cornwall, how they prospered by being on the right side during the Wars of the Roses and how they progressed from being knighted to becoming earls. He explained how the title passed down to the male heir until recent times when they died childless or had only daughters. This is how the title holder is now a New Zealander who has never visited the property, but gets an income from it despite many land holdings being sold off to cover death duties.

July 2025
Plymouth's Railway History
This month saw the welcome return of Clive Charlton who this time talked about Plymouth's Railway History. He began with the horse drawn tramways used to transport mainly granite from the quarries on Dartmoor to the docks at Plymouth.

He told us about Brunel and his broad gauge railway, the development of the GWR and the competition from LSWR which were the two largest companies before the railways were nationalised.

June 2025
Plymouth Theatres Walking Tour
In June we had a walking tour of Plymouth's theatres starting at Cumberland Gardens and walking along Union Street towards the Theatre Royal. The tour was conducted by Richard Fisher. He gave a marvellous commentary during which we all learned something new even those of us who were Plymouth born.

May 2025
Plymouth's Military History
May's speaker was Ernie Hoblyn. He talked about Plymouth's Military Heritage which is also the subject of his new book. The talk was very informative, we all learned a lot and Ernie delivered it in an amusing way but was also very factual.

April 2025
Dukes of Bedford
April’s meeting was a talk by Geri Parlby. This was a very interesting talk about the Dukes of Bedford, who started out as the Russell family.

John Russell was knighted by the young King Edward VI in 1550 and given great swathes of land and property in Tavistock, London and several other areas. This is why there are so many places both in Tavistock and London named either Bedford or Russell. The Bedford Hotel in Tavistock, and Russell Square, London, to name just a couple.

The Dukes all seemed to be rather decadent and the ladies were all feisty. Anna Maria Russell who was the wife of the 7th Duke was the instigator of afternoon tea! She decided that it was too long to wait between lunch and dinner as she was always peckish and so instructed the kitchen to make sandwiches and cakes for her. I personally am very grateful for her instigating such a lovely idea!

Having said that they were rather decadent and feisty, I believe the more modern Dukes are much better behaved!

Millfields Guided Tour

Another recent meeting was a guided tour of Millfields, the old Naval Hospital. Our guide was the excellent Richard Fisher who took us round Stonehouse Barracks when our group had just started.

It was a real eye opener to us all, even those of us who had been there before. Richard is so knowledgeable about all the buildings and what they were used for in the past and nowadays. 

He pointed out all the magnificent stonework, the complex is truly a treasure in Stonehouse and it was lovely to see it being preserved for future generations.