20th October – Buckfastleigh History

Well it’s started getting cold and all of a sudden, the idea of having a draught-free home is starting to appeal (funny how it didn’t seem such a big deal when it was warm n sunny)…

The team have produced a ‘Statement of Significance’ for the properties, outlining some of the history of the area and the buildings themselves.

The houses were built around 1892 for their employees by the Hamlyn family, who were then the biggest employer in Buckfastleigh, with the tannery and their woolcombing business. They were later bought by the Buckfastleigh Co-operative society.

Here are some of the maps of the area dating from 1843 to 1905 which I thought people might find interesting – partly taken from this document, but with additional material I found on the net. Click on the maps for a full size version.

It is interesting to see how field names turned into street names during this period of major expansion…

Note that the earliest, the Tithe map, was drawn sideways – I have turned it round so that North is at the top as in the other maps…

1843 Tithe map of Buckfastleigh DRO - Cobbled together from separate Higher & Lower Town maps. note that it was originally drawn with West at the top

1886/1887 Ordinance Survey map - I have cobbled together Higher and Lower town maps from 2 different sources

1893 OS Map - Higher Town Buckfastleigh

1905 OS Map - Lower Town Buckfastleigh