HISTORY
Railway Boundary Markers
Whitchurch Down boundary markers
Travel just about anywhere in Britain and one will come across a stone or post intended to convey some sort of message to the traveller, such as distance markers to a place or milestones (required along turnpike roads in the 19th century). Some may also be ‘court’ stones, indicating responsibility for the repair of bridges, while others may be boundary markers, usually made of stone, but also from metal. On Whitchurch Down there is both a stone marking the boundary between the parishes of Tavistock and Whitchurch, and a metal post marking the more recent boundary between Tavistock Urban District Council and Tavistock Rural District Council. At least six of these boundary posts still exist.
or where land boundaries extended beyond the fenced railway line, it was inevitable that boundary disputes would sometimes arise. So many railways designed boundary posts or markers which were usually placed in the fence line at the side of the railway, or in adjacent land by bridges, viaducts or crossings. The oldest markers tended to be in stone, but these had to be individually engraved, so lettering was kept to a minimum. From about 1870 onwards, markers were made of cast iron, and could carry more detail because one mould produced hundreds of identical markers. The marker could also be used to embody a sense of pride in the railway by its colour and stylish detail.
(LSWR). The Tavistock section opened in June 1890 and closed in May 1968.
Markers were also used by the railways to mark their boundaries. At their height, the railways were one of the biggest landowners in Britain, after the Crown and the Church. Under the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act 1845, which apparently is still in force, British railway tracks must be fenced throughout their length, unlike mainland European countries or North America. The requirement was imposed not just to protect the public but also to reduce the risk of trains colliding with farm animals. The latter was a particular risk where a railway had divided an existing farm and animals had to move from one part to the other. Even with fencing,
There are two disused railways in the Tavistock area. The South Devon and Tavistock Railway opened in 1859, linking Plymouth with Tavistock, and was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston in 1865. The company was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) on 1st February 1876. The GWR was nationalised in 1948 and the line was closed to passengers in 1962. The second railway formed part of the Exeter to Plymouth (via Okehampton and Bere Alston) section of the London and South Western Railway
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GWR boundary markers The only surviving stone railway boundary marker in the Tavistock area is for an earlier incarnation of the GWR, the South Devon and Launceston Railway. It appears this stone was moved when the original railway bridge spanning the Tavy was removed and Stannary Bridge was built. It has been relocated to its current position by the A386 beside the steps to a footpath, opposite Celle Gardens. As for the GWR itself, two boundary markers have been found, both some distance from Tavistock. While the GWR line ran to the southeast of the LSWR line from Plymouth to Tavistock, the LSWR line crossed the GWR line at Wringworthy Farm (about 2½ miles north of Tavistock) and thereafter the two lines ran parallel to Lydford, with the LSWR line to the east of the GWR line. One GWR marker is a little south of the site of Mary Tavy and Blackdown Station and is of particular interest as it stands some way from the GWR line itself and is actually half-way up the embankment on which the LSWR line used to run. The other marker is at North Brentor, near West Blackdown and appears to have been placed there recently and is not fully
