Great Torrington Town Council

A passenger rail service to Torrington was in operation for nearly a hundred years.  Built as an extension from Bideford, the line was opened in July 1872 and passenger trains ran until 1965 when the service was axed by Beeching.

Torrington station was rather inconveniently situated about a mile out of town at the bottom of a steep hill on the road to Bideford.  However, a ‘station bus’ operated from New Street for all the workers and schoolchildren who travelled by train.  The initial passenger service on the North Devon line in August 1872 comprised six trains each way as far as Torrington: three from London, Waterloo, one from Yeovil and two from Exeter, with another between Barnstaple and Bideford.  The 2.10pm express from Waterloo took 6 hours 51 minutes for the journey of 225 miles to Torrington.  There were extra services to and from Barnstaple on a Friday which was market day.

A light 3ft gauge private railway was built in the early 1880s to transport bricks and clay from the Marland clay works to the Torrington goods yard.  The only passengers who used this line were clay workers.  This railway was in use for 44 years until the opening of the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway in 1925, which was built on much of the same trackbed, but the narrow gauge system was retained within the clay works for another 45 years until it finally closed in 1970.

In 1925 standard gauge rails finally pushed south from Torrington and connected up at Halwill Junction to the rest of the network.  A new steel viaduct over the River Torridge was built alongside the old wooden viaduct of the Torrington and Marland Railway which was subsequently demolished.  The train went through Petrockstowe, Meeth, Hatherleigh, Hole and on to Halwill Junction where it met up with the Bude, Okehampton and Padstow lines.  This line wasn’t the success that had been hoped for and was more a tourist route than a local service.

A substantial flow of traffic from Torrington station was milk for the London market from the dairy further along the valley.

By the early 1960s the number of passengers on the trains through Torrington was declining.  People were travelling in their own cars or by bus, particularly between Barnstaple and Bideford where there was a frequent service to both town centres.  Freight traffic was also declining and goods and cattle were being transported by road.  Inevitably, there were cuts to services.

In 1963 the government brought in Dr Richard Beeching to make major improvements to the rail industry and he recommended the development of freight and fast passenger services on main lines, concentrating on the profitable bulk flows of traffic, and the elimination of large numbers of stations and branch lines.  In North Devon passenger services were withdrawn on three of the four routes to Barnstaple, with only the Barnstaple to Exeter line being retained.  The Barnstaple to Meeth section was retained for clay and milk traffic.  After the 1965 summer season the passenger service between Torrington and Barnstaple was withdrawn.  Freight continued to be transported: milk until 1978,  fertilizer until 1980 and clay until 1982 after which it was transported by road.

There were talks in the late 1970s and early 1980s about the possibility of reopening railway lines to Bideford and Torrington but the numerous proposals came to nothing because of lack of funding.  The ‘Last Train to Torrington’ run by British Rail itself was on Saturday 6th November 1982 and ran from Bristol, Bridgwater, Exeter to Barnstaple.  Leaving Barnstaple for Torrington the train consisted of two diesel engines (one leading, one trailing) and 15 coaches carrying 843 passengers.  This was the longest and best-patronised passenger train ever to run into Torrington station.

Torrington as a borough dates from the late 12th century and in its early days the town flourished on its markets and fairs.  Agriculture was Torrington’s primary industry when the main essential was the cultivation of land and the production of food.

The 14th century saw the beginning of the great woollen industry in England and by the 15th century ‘Devonshire kerseys’ had become famous.  Local place names reflect the manufacture of woollen cloth: Tucking Mill meadow, Staple Vale, Rack Park (fields where cloth was stretched out on racks to dry).

Glove making developed during the thriving wool industry in the 17th century and replaced it as Torrington’s major employer in the 19th century.  By the 1830s some 3,000 women were employed in the making of kid, chamois, beaver and other sorts of gloves for the London and foreign markets.  ‘White’s Gazetteer’ of 1850  lists the names of 13 glove makers in the town.  As the smaller establishments disappeared, machines began to be introduced into the larger ones, at first worked by hand on the premises and then by hot air, steam and gas engines.  In the 1880s one factory alone had more than 600 employees, both in the factory and as outworkers.  By the 1940s there were three glove factories in the town, the last of which closed in 2010.  The large imposing Grade II listed building in Whites Lane, the former Vaughan Tapscott glove factory built in 1884 in the style of a grand chapel, was closed in 2002.  Since then it has stood forlorn and increasingly derelict.

Many of the old local crafts and trades that were carried on in Torrington have long since disappeared.  (See list in ‘Torrington Uncovered’ p.66).  

In the second half of the 20th century the main factories in Torrington employing a large proportion of the town’s population were the Dairy Crest creamery, the North Devon Meat factory and Dartington Glass.  The presence of three fairly large, labour-intensive employers was a strength from the 1960s to the 1980s but by the early 1990s had become a weakness – too many eggs in too few baskets – and all three were badly affected by the recession.

There had been a dairy at Taddiport since 1874 but in 1993 the milk factory moved its production elsewhere which meant the loss of 134 jobs.  Other businesses occupied parts of the building for a while but it has stood empty and vandalised for many years and plans to demolish it and build on the site have come to nothing. 

In its heyday, North Devon Meat which opened in 1967 was the largest meat factory in Europe and employed 400-500 people.  In the early 1990s 100 workers were made redundant and then part of the building burnt down in 2001 when 250 people lost their jobs.  The company was taken over by St Merryn Foods based at Bodmin in Cornwall.

In 1992, during the recession, Dartington Glass had to put its staff on short-time but, after numerous management buy-outs and reductions of the workforce over the years, Dartington Crystal, as it is now known, continues to be a major employer in Torrington.

The Battle of Torrington took place in 1646 during the English Civil War.  It is sometimes called ‘the forgotten battle’ as it is seldom referred to in accounts of that period but it was, in fact, the decisive battle of the final campaign of the West, which ruined the cause of King Charles I.

At that time Torrington was in Royalist hands under Ralph, Lord Hopton, Commander in Chief of what remained of the King’s Army in the West.  Word of what was happening in North Devon reached the Parliamentarian General, Sir Thomas Fairfax, at Exeter who learnt that some of the King’s horse from Oxford had penetrated westward and Royalist horse in North Devon was attempting to push eastward to join them in order to relieve Exeter and attempt to recapture the West.  With North Devon securely in Royalist hands, they could hope to bring in additional aid from Wales or Ireland.  Fairfax, therefore, decided to abandon the siege of Exeter and to advance in person with a force of some 10,000 horse and foot hoping this time to destroy completely the Royalist armies.

Fairfax and his army marched towards Torrington and, fighting off a series of skirmishes by the Royalists to try and impede their advance,  took over Stevenstone House in the late afternoon of 15th February.  The Royalist soldiers were ordered back nearer to the town.

Fairfax intended to do no more that night than hold the positions already gained so stationed his men in readiness for an assault in the morning.  At around midnight a noise rather like a tattoo was heard in the town and it was supposed that the enemy were retreating.  As a kind of experiment, a small party of dragoons was ordered to approach slowly the first barricade and fire over it.  There was an immediate response from the Royalist soldiers on the other side and thus it was that battle commenced.  Regiments of foot and horse were ordered to the front and managed to break through the barricades into the town.  There was fierce fighting in the narrow streets and townspeople watched, terrified, from upper windows.  The Royalists fought bravely but were no match for the energy and discipline of the Parliamentarians.  Hopton’s horse was shot and he himself was wounded and, eventually, he and his men were forced to retreat.

The Parliamentarians drove their prisoners into the church not knowing the Royalists were using it as a powder magazine, having stored about 80 barrels of gunpowder in there.  Somehow, these barrels were ignited and blew up with a mighty explosion which killed 200 prisoners, guards and citizens and destroyed part of the church and many houses.  Fairfax had a lucky escape when he narrowly missed being struck by falling pieces of lead.

The streets of Torrington were littered with dying men from both sides and abandoned weapons.  When the powder store went up there had been a deafening roar which caused the ground to tremble and echoed around the hills and valleys before subsiding in a long-drawn-out rumble.  With the noise of the explosion ringing in their ears, the retreating Royalists fled down Mill Street and over the bridge at Taddiport as they made for the Cornish border.  The defeat at Torrington had spelled the end of Royalist hopes in the West Country.

On Castle Hill common, about half-way down between the top of the hill and the river, there stands a monument with an inscription plate said to be made from a cannon brought back from the Battle of Waterloo.  This obelisk, with a built-in stone seat on each of its four sides which enables walkers to rest and enjoy the view, was financed by the ladies of Great Torrington and reads:

In this cynical age we wonder about the significance of the three exclamation marks but, probably, they simply denote admiration for men’s courage in battle.

The place known as Windy Cross is not a crossroads but a four-armed cross which sits on top of a stone structure that used to be a pump house and, before that, an ancient well.

It is situated at the top of Mill Street where it joins South Street and Halsdon Terrace, on the corner between the Methodist chapel and a bungalow called Windy Ridge.  It has an old road sign pointing to Bideford attached to it as well as a sign marking a water hydrant.

The name Windy Cross is appropriate as, according to George Doe in ‘Old Torrington Landmarks’, it marks the highest point in the town.  The 19th century pump house which, presumably, was built over the original well was mostly of local stone but in the south porch the entrance step was a large slab of Purbeck marble.

The shaft and circular base of the cross are believed to be ancient but have been re-cut.  The large stone disc which supported the shaft would have formed a suitable coping stone over an old well.

George Doe, local historian who was mayor of Torrington in 1923 and 1924, regretted how this ancient landmark had been ‘desecrated and mutilated out of almost all knowledge’ and there was no longer any use made of the pump or the old well.  However, it was restored in the 1930s when the original circular base and shaft of the cross, which were found where they had been discarded in a field, were re-cut and surmounted with four arms and the upper portion of a new cross.

I don’t know when the old pump house was finally blocked up but a local man can remember climbing inside to shelter from the rain many years ago.

This old local landmark was given a Grade II listing in 1973 and reminds us of former times before we all had the luxury of running water in our homes.  

In documents dated 1249 the town was known as ‘Villata de Chepyng Toriton’ (market town of Torrington) so there was already an officially recognised market at that time.  The weekly Saturday market became widely regarded as one of the best in Devon.

An unattributed piece about Torrington in Tudor times describes the bustling market being full of vitality with ‘… good-humoured, noisy country folk selling their eggs and cheeses, apples and vegetables.  Travelling tinkers and button-sellers, piemen, cider-sellers, showmen, bakers, cobblers, wool merchants, farmers hiring help, tricksters, thieves, fishmongers, scribes, barbers, tooth-pullers, apothecaries, carpenters – all these and more, drawing trade and wealth into the town.’

Before 1842 the pannier and cattle markets were held in the streets.  New Street was converted into a cattle market and the iron rings to which animals were tied can still be seen fixed in the wall of the churchyard and some of the older houses.  There also used to be strong wooden posts with cross-bars in front of many of the houses to keep the animals which were penned on the pavement from breaking the windows.  George M. Doe, writing in the late 1920s, describes the scene: ‘Pandemonium reigned in the street – sometimes a bullock or cow ran amok through the crowd of dealers and others, scattering them in all directions.’

In the 19th century there was a Torrington Agricultural Association which organised shows known as the ‘Torrington Agricultural Exhibition’.  In 1895 this was merged with the Devon County Show which used to be held in different venues around the county.  In Torrington the show was held at Town Park (now built on) from 22nd – 24th May and the town council was paid two guineas for the use of the fields.  The early years saw classes for cattle, horses, sheep (including shearing), pigs and a poultry show.

By the end of the 19th century both market traders and livestock dealers had proper permanent premises.  In 1842 the pannier market was built at the southern end of the square and in 1890 part of the glebe land behind the vicarage and alongside School Lane was sold to the corporation for £120 and a cattle market was built at a cost of £1,000.  This market was opened in 1892 for the regular monthly sale of livestock by Henry Slee, then mayor of the borough.   

John Down remembers, when he was a boy, bringing his father’s sheep into the market from Chapple Farm out on the South Molton road between High Bullen and Atherington.  On the day before market, it would take John and a farm worker around two and a half hours to walk about a hundred sheep to a field at Hatchmoor where they would leave them for the night.  Then the following day they would bring the flock the rest of the way into Torrington along Calf Street to the market.

The swimming pool was built on the site in the early 1970s.

Mill Street is a very old street of mainly terraced houses which drops down the hill from the town to the river.  It starts from the corner of South Street and Halsdon Terrace and winds down to the site of the old ruined dairy at Taddiport.  The Methodist Chapel is at the top and the Torridge Inn is at the bottom.

The road is narrower and steeper at the top where it is one-way only from where Warren Lane joins Mill Street.  However, people have been seen driving down: during the snow in 2010; when road works closed New Street in 2011 and a complicated diversion was set up; and at other times, if the fancy takes them!

Mill Street was the escape route taken by Royalist soldiers fleeing to the west after their defeat at the Battle of Torrington in 1646.  Originally, all the houses were thatched, some of them up until the 1960s, but the only thatched buildings remaining are Rose Cottage and the Torridge Inn down at the bottom of the street.

Those houses on the south side of the street have very steep gardens plunging down to the commons by the river, while those on the other side of the street have gardens sloping up to the Mill Street common to the north.  Some of the old houses have been divided into two, while others are two houses joined into one, and gardens are often irregular in shape with complicated rights of access.  There is a ‘drangway’ between numbers 84 and 86 leading up to Mill Street common and a steep pathway down towards the river between numbers 101 and 103.

Some of the houses, mainly on the north side of the street, have a well indoors or in the garden and there used to be wooden doors in the wall under the pavement which led to water supplies of some sort.

There has been a change in usage in many of the buildings over the years.  Barns and sheds have been incorporated into houses, and shops and businesses have disappeared.  Number 130 used to be a fish and chip shop and at number 29, on the corner of Sandfords Gardens, was a shop selling groceries, bread and general supplies.  There were four other pubs besides the Torridge Inn in the 19th century: the Canal Inn at number 120 (which burnt down in 1859), the Greyhound, the Nelson and the Plymouth (behind Mill House).

The high pavement (which was known as ‘the course’) on the north side of the street had railings added some 25 years or so ago and ramps built down to the roadway.  People who lived in Mill Street as children in the 1950s remember playing out in the street (when they weren’t scrumping apples from Sandfords’ orchards nearby) but there is too much traffic and too many parked cars for that to be possible these days.

Many of the houses in Mill Street have interesting histories.  The present owners of number 129 have traced documentation dating back to 1640.  Over the centuries their house has been occupied by people involved in a variety of trades – woollen draper, cordwainer, ropemaker, tallow chandler, weaver, fuller, dyer and carpenter – which were carried on in outhouses behind the house.

The solid stone house, number 127, is still known as ‘the police house’ although it wasn’t built for that purpose.  It was used as a police house by Devon County Council between 1919 and 1961 when it was sold back into private ownership.

The row of connected houses, numbers 61-67 on the south side of the street, were known as ‘Hoopers Cottages’.  At one time they all caught fire when burning on the commons (‘swayling’) got out of control and the thatched roofs went up in flames.  The houses were left derelict for some time until they were restored in the late 1930s.

Number 49 used to be a religious meeting house, possibly for Quakers or Non-Conformists; the early Methodists had a ‘preaching-room’ in a cottage in Mill Street.  Although this isn’t apparent from the front, and the inside of the house has been altered considerably, the back of the house has a roof and upper window shaped in a pointed arch which gives a clue to its former usage.

Number 39, a tall house with a room in the roof, is believed to have been built onto two small cottages which now form the rear part of the house.  This property is thought to have belonged to the head gardener at Caynton House, just up the road, as it has a wide hallway supposed to have been to accommodate his wheelbarrow.  Coincidentally, the present owner is a gardener and plant expert.

Mill House, number 19, is a substantial stone-fronted property with outbuildings in the rear courtyard.  In 1842 there were two cottages on this site with the Plymouth Inn behind them.  In 1901 the house was lived in by Thomas Andrews, a local photographer whose postcards are collected to this day.

Number 1 Mill Street was built in 1808.  In the 1840s it was known as ‘The Retreat’ and then in 1903 as ‘Revette’.  After 1904, over the next 50 years or so, the house was owned by several descendants of Thomas Fowler (the inventor after whom the IT centre at Castle Hill was named) who all shared his name.

On the other side of the street is the Old Coach House, a tall, three storey building.  It was converted in the 1930s out of the stables and coach house belonging to Penhallam next door.

Probably the finest house in Mill Street is Caynton House, a Grade II listed property built in 1725 set back off the road and looking over the Torridge valley.  It is thought there was once a pottery on this site as sherds and the remains of a kiln were found when the three houses in Caynton Court were built in the grounds.  The Yonge family, who came from Caynton in Shropshire, hence the name of the house, lived there for many years.

Torridge Vale Social Club celebrated its 60th anniversary on 13th June 2009.  An open day was held from noon until late.  Over 200 former dairy workers came along to look at a display of old photographs and to reminisce over a pint (not milk!) with former colleagues.  Evening entertainment was provided by the band ‘Morpheous’.

In around 1865 the Bible-Christian Methodists erected a chapel on a site purchased from the Torrington Town Trustees in South Street, on which formerly stood an inn called The Boot.  A building was later added at the rear for a Sunday School, which had a library of some 200 books, and a residence for the pastor.  This chapel was opened for public worship in October 1866.  In 1927 the Bible-Christians united with the United Methodist New Connection which, in turn, united with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1932.  Public worship was discontinued here and the chapel building was sold to the Torridge Vale Dairies Company for use as a packing station and store.  It is believed the building was used during the Second World War to pack parachutes.  

In 1949 the building became the Unigate and Torridge Vale Social Club.  After the dairy closed, in 1993 the members purchased the Social Club building from the Company and continued to run it as a members’ club.

The building originally had a snooker room but no bar or function room.  Jim Thacker, who worked at the dairy from 1957 until its closure, is still on the committee.  He says, ‘In the 1960s a licence was difficult to get – we had to go to court a few times.’  Eventually, the club got its licence and a bar and skittle alley were put into the building.  In the early 1970s a lounge bar was built and, as with the skittle alley, the work was done mainly by volunteers.

When the dairy closed, Jim Thacker, together with other local men, Graham Martin, Chris Stacey and Roy Lee, bought the club for members.  People who were not former dairy employees were invited to join the club.  The function room provides a good venue for celebrations.  Jim Thacker says, ‘It is a vital part of the town and we are very proud of what we have done to turn it into a thriving club that serves the community.’  Profits made go back into the club and decisions are made democratically.

The present chairman, Roger Payne, was approached in late 2013 by the Torrington Police Amateur Boxing Club who were looking for a permanent place to have their gym.  After discussions with the committee, the boxers were offered an unused storeroom at the front of the building.  They themselves converted it into a fantastic gym, complete with practice ring and exercise machines, for use by junior to senior boxers.  This is a credit to Torridge Vale Social Club.

Torridge Vale Social Club has approx. 900/1000 members at the moment.  In 2019 the club will have existed for 70 years, but no plans have yet been made to celebrate this.

The Rolle family were Lords of the Manor for some 350 years.  They lived at Stevenstone in the adjoining parish of St Giles-in-the-Wood.  George Rolle (c1485-1552), who acquired the manor of Torrington from the Fortescue family in Henry VIII’s time, was the founder of the dynasty which came to an end with the death of Mark Rolle in 1907.

Amongst George Rolle’s descendants were Dennys Rolle (1614-1638), known for his intellect and amiability, who made many benefactions to the people of Torrington during his short life, including the foundation of the Blue Coat School.

Sir John Rolle (1626-1706) was knighted by Charles II in 1660.  He had remained loyal to the King during the Civil War, helped Charles II financially when he was in exile, and actively supported the Restoration.

Another Dennys Rolle (1720-1797) was Mayor of Torrington for two terms and Recorder from 1781-97.  He was also MP for Barnstaple from 1761-74.  He was a colourful character who had many interests and adventures including a failed attempt to set up a colony in Florida.  He was very interested in natural history and liked working on the land himself.  He provided schools and garden allotments for the poor.  He died under a tree in June 1797 while walking between his estates of Stevenstone and Hudscott (near Chittlehampton).  He was the first to propose building a canal at Torrington in 1793.

John Lord Rolle (1750-1842) was elected MP for Devonshire in 1780 and retained the seat in the general elections of 1784 and 1790.  He was a supporter of Pitt and a staunch Conservative.  In June 1796 he was raised to the Peerage, receiving the title of ‘Baron Rolle of Stevenstone’.  He was Colonel of the South Devon Militia and Royal North Devon Yeomanry, a county magistrate, a good landlord, liberal benefactor and supporter of the church.  He commissioned plans for the canal his father had proposed and paid for it to be built.  It was completed in 1827.  He died at Bicton, another family estate, in April 1842.

Although he was married twice, John Lord Rolle had no children and his Torrington estates were left to his nephew, the Hon. Mark George Kerr Trefusis (1835-1907), son of Lord Clinton, on the condition that he changed his name to Rolle, which he did by Royal Licence in 1852.  Mark Rolle sold the canal land for the building of a railway in 1871.  He donated land for the cottage hospital, paid for the pannier market to be roofed and for a drinking fountain to be erected in the square in 1870.  In 1868 he started the building of an extravagant new manor house at Stevenstone but in less than 100 years it lay in ruins.

Mark was the last of the Rolle dynasty.  He died leaving no male heir and his estates then passed to his nephew, Charles Trefusis, the 21st Baron Clinton.

Torrington is surrounded on three sides by 365 acres (146 hectares) of common land.  The area is freely accessible to all and visitors can walk the 20 miles of footpaths which include the golf course, ancient wood and flower meadows, steep bracken and gorse covered slopes, and sheltered river valleys.

In about 1194, during the reign of Richard I, ‘a large waste called the common’ was given to the people of Torrington by the lord of the manor, William FitzRobert.  In 1889 the rights of this land were transferred, by an act of parliament, to an elected Committee of Conservators which now administers the commons.  The earliest management was mainly concerned with control over the grazing and quarrying but since 1981 grazing has stopped and various management techniques have taken its place to prevent the area reverting back to scrub and woodland.

One of the first bills to be issued in 1889 prohibited the burning of furze or gorse on the commons, known as ‘swayling’, but this activity continued judging by the number of fines listed in the Conservators’ minutes for this misdemeanour.  Swayling was part of the year’s cycle for grazing land.  Women would go out and collect ‘fuzz-stubs’ for faggots and kindling and then the land would be burnt.  The alternative was clearing by hand.  Before the Second World War one official swayling went disastrously wrong.  The wind changed and four thatched cottages in Mill Street backing on to the commons were completely gutted.

There were far fewer trees on the commons in the 19th and early 20th centuries because of animal grazing.  There were donkeys and goats, and sheep were run on the commons until 1981.  Dr O’Flaherty’s goat ran loose near seats on Castle Hill and the boys of the town enjoyed baiting the billy goat.  There was a duck pond on Mill Street common and geese and hens were everywhere.  There used to be hunting around Furzebeam and meets at the Old Bowling Green in the 1960s as well as informal shooting and rabbiting.

Various sports have taken place on the Old Bowling Green in the past – football, hockey, shinty, golf, bowls, and the Coronation Sports of 1902 – and the area is now the setting for the Cavaliers’ bonfires which take place every five years or so.

Past generations have happy memories of playing on the commons with their friends, making dens in the bracken and under shrubs, playing football, hide-and-seek and ‘tin can’ (throwing a ball at each others’ legs). They would swim in the river and go fishing, catching eels and having mud ball fights, or ride down ‘Sliding Rock’ on Castle Hill on tin trays.  

There is a wide variety of flora and fauna to be seen on the commons and lists of these, together with suggested walks, can be found in pamphlets available at Torrington Information Centre.

The Tarka Trail is a recreational route opened in May 1992 which describes a figure of eight, centred on Barnstaple, through the beautiful countryside of North Devon.  It extends for 180 miles (290 km) and different parts of the trail can be covered by rail (the Barnstaple to Eggesford section of the Tarka Line), on foot or by bicycle.

The part of the Tarka Trail that is nearest to Torrington follows the route of the old railway line which opened in 1872 but fell to Beeching’s axe in 1965, although freight continued to be transported until 1982.  About a mile out of town on the A386 towards Bideford is the old Torrington railway station which, since 1984, has been a pub, restaurant and café called the Puffing Billy.  Nearby is Torrington Cycle Hire and families can often be seen cycling along the trail at weekends and holidays.  A group of railway enthusiasts are hoping to return a railway to Torrington.

Going in a southerly direction, you can walk or cycle via Watergate Bridge, East Yarde and Petrockstowe to Meeth Halt (11.4 miles/18.3 km).  In the other, northerly, direction the trail crosses over the River Torridge several times as it winds through the meadows and woods.  It passes the village of Weare Giffard on the far side of the river, goes through an echoing tunnel and then crosses the river via an iron bridge and continues alongside the Torridge estuary to Bideford.  (Torrington to Bideford is 5.3 miles/8.5 km).        

Beyond Bideford is Instow, which overlooks the Taw and Torridge estuary, and Fremington, once an important port, and then the trail goes alongside the River Taw – at a distance – to Barnstaple.  The cycle track crosses the river and, on the other side, leads on to Braunton which marks the end of the stretch where it is possible to cycle.  Beyond Braunton to Croyde, Woolacombe, Ilfracombe, Combe Martin, Lynton and Lynmouth the trail is for walking only and is partly along the South West Coast Path.  You can then follow an inland route back to Barnstaple.

From Torrington, in the southerly direction, it is possible to cycle as far as Meeth but, before Meeth, the trail continues, for walkers only, to Dolton, Iddesleigh, Hatherleigh, Jacobstowe to Okehampton and on to Belstone, Sticklepath and South Tawton on Dartmoor and then, via North Tawton and Bondleigh, to Eggesford where you can catch the train back to Barnstaple.

The Tarka Project was set up in 1989 with the aim of protecting and preserving the environment which led to the creation of the Tarka Trail.  Its name was inspired by Henry Williamson’s classic novel, ‘Tarka the Otter’ (1927) and takes the traveller through the contrasting landscapes of ‘Tarka Country’ described in the book: peaceful countryside, wooded river valleys, rugged moorland and dramatic coast.  Tarka was born and died near Torrington so, in one sense, this is the beginning and end of the trail.