Mary Tavy takes its name from St Mary, the church at the heart of the old village, and the nearby River Tavy. The area’s origins can be traced back to medieval times when small farming communities worked the land. Agriculture, particularly sheep farming, was a key activity, with the open moorland providing extensive grazing.
The village’s early development centered around the church of St Mary, parts of which date back to the 13th century.
Mary Tavy experienced dramatic growth during the 18th and 19th centuries, driven by the mining industry. Dartmoor’s rich mineral resources, including copper, arsenic, lead, and tin, made the area a hub for mining activity. The proximity of Mary Tavy to some of the most significant mines in the region, such as Wheal Friendship and Wheal Betsy, transformed it from a small farming settlement into a bustling industrial village.
The mines were centred around the settlement of Blackdown (now the A386) which expanded as the mining operations became successful. As Mary Tavy and Blackdown became more heavily populated, they eventually became one parish, Mary Tavy, with the majority of the modern day village developed around the former Blackdown settlement.
Wheal Friendship, established in 1719, became one of the largest and most successful copper and arsenic mines in the country and the second largest in Devon after Devon Great Consuls. By the 19th century, it employed hundreds of workers and brought considerable prosperity to the village. Innovations such as the construction of the Reddaford Leat, which supplied water to the mine, and the use of steam engines to tackle flooding, allowed the mine to thrive.
Wheal Betsy, located just outside the village boundary, was primarily a silver-lead mine but also produced copper as a secondary resource. Its engine house still stands today. The mine contributed to the local economy but struggled with financial and technical difficulties throughout its history.
Mining significantly increased the village’s population, with workers and their families moving to Mary Tavy from across Devon and Cornwall.
The mining boom brought rapid development to Mary Tavy. Workers’ cottages were built to house the growing population, while amenities such as schools, shops, and chapels catered to the community’s needs. The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, constructed in 1835, became an important focal point for the village’s miners and their families.
The tithe map of 1841 showed few permanent structures in Mary Tavy and Blackdown, and there is some discrepancy between the map and the date of construction of some recorded cottages, although this could be due to the length of time between the recording and production of these early maps. The cottages that must have housed the large numbers of migrant mine workers are also absent from this map, which may be because they were temporary structures of poor quality accommodation.
The tithe apportionement documents show the land leased to the Wheal Friendship Mining Company from the Buller family.
By the late 19th century, the mining industry in Mary Tavy began to decline. The rich copper and arsenic deposits that had sustained Wheal Friendship and Wheal Betsy became depleted, and competition from other mining regions, particularly Cornwall, further reduced profitability. Wheal Friendship ceased operations in 1873, and while small-scale mining continued intermittently, all activity had ended by 1925.
The decline of mining led to a significant reduction in the village’s population as families moved elsewhere in search of work and the village returned to a quieter, more rural way of life.
With the end of the mining era, Mary Tavy transitioned back to its agricultural roots, with farming once again becoming the primary economic activity.
Remnants of Mary Tavy’s industrial past are still visible in the village, like the current hydroelectric power station. In the 19th century, water was crucial to mining operations, powering machinery and draining deep shafts. Wheal Friendship utilised an extensive leat system (man-made water channels) to divert water from the River Tavy to drive waterwheels and steam engines. Even after the mine’s decline in the late 19th century, this infrastructure remained.
By the 1930s, with mining in decline, the South West Water Board repurposed these leats to establish the Mary Tavy Hydroelectric Power Station, capitalising on the area’s natural water flow and existing mining infrastructure. The station became one of the UK’s largest run-of-river hydro plants, generating 2.6 megawatts of renewable energy. Today, South West Water operates the plant.
Some other buildings of note are:
The Mary Tavy Inn
There is limited documented history on the earliest origins of The Mary Tavy Inn, but it is thought to date back to the 16th Century when it was three cottages offering rest and hospitality for those journeying on the Tavistock to Okehampton road. It was later called The Elliott Hotel, then renamed The Buller’s Arms after the Buller family, who owned much of the land in Mary Tavy until 1891. By the early 20th century, the name changed to The Mary Tavy Inn.
The Wesleyan Chapel
The Wesleyan Chapel in Mary Tavy was built in 1835 for the growing Methodist community, which was particularly strong among local miners and their families. Methodism was popular in mining areas due to its emphasis on personal faith, community support and social justice.
Located near the Wheal Friendship mine at the top of Bal Lane, the chapel a key role in village life, hosting religious services, community gatherings, and educational activities. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as mining declined, the congregation slowly reduced in size. The chapel is still in use today.
Kent House
Situated in the old part of Mary Tavy, Kent House is a Grade II listed building built in the early 19th century as the mine captain’s house for Wheal Friendship. Although there are limited publicly available records listing the mine captains who lived at Kent House, James Smith, a former mine captain whose gravestone you can find in Mary Tavy churchyard, is a likely former resident.
Mary Tavy Parish Church (St. Mary’s Church)
The church has Norman origins, though much of the present structure dates from the 15th century, with later additions and restorations. Several mine captains, including James Smith of Wheal Friendship, are buried in the churchyard. The churchyard also contains historic gravestones, including that of William Crossing, a well-known Dartmoor author.
The Counting House
The Wheal Friendship Counting House, now known as Glebe Cottage, was once the administrative heart of the mine. In the 19th century, the counting house served as the mine’s office, where accounts were kept, wages were paid to miners, and business dealings were conducted. After mining declined in the late 19th century, the building was repurposed as a private residence and is now known as Glebe Cottage.
The former Post Offices
Mary Tavy has been home to two former post offices, each serving different parts of the village. In the Blackdown area, near the Wesleyan Chapel, the post office was once located in The Birches, built in the 1830s and now a private residence. Another post office operated in the old part of Mary Tavy village, now known as Homer Farm. A reminder of its past remains in the form of an operational Victorian post box, still set into the farm’s wall.
The Old Rectory
The Old Rectory, located near the Mary Tavy Parish Church,was built in the mid-19th century, during the peak of Wheal Friendship’s mining operations. Reverend James Buller (another link to the Buller family in Mary Tavy) was the parish vicar and resident in 1850. Today it is a private residence.
To find out more about Mary Tavy’s history, Dartmoor National Park Authority have produced an interesting overview here, or you can read more on the Mary Tavy Parish Council Website here.
