Plymouth Road Cemetery including Chapel of Rest & Old Mortuary, Guided Walk, Tavistock

Event information

Join Chris Bellers from Tavistock Local History Society for a guided walk around the grounds and buildings of the Plymouth Road Cemetery.
From time immemorial burials in Britain have centred on the local churchyards - this was also substantially the case in Tavistock until the 1830s, when extra space was provided in the Dolvin Road Cemeteries.

An Act of 1875 required the closure of all of these grounds and the Duke of Bedford provided space and buildings for burials in the Plymouth Road Cemetery which was opened for its first burial in March 1882. Join Chris Beller for a short walk around these grounds and wonderful granite buildings (Henry Clutton).

Clutton also designed what is now the Catholic Church and in the cemetery designed some quite special Victorian funerary architecture, which reflects broader 19th-century trends but also includes features unique to Tavistock.

Courtesy of Tavistock Town Council we will have access to the buildings including the Chapel of Rest and the Old Mortuary.

Henry Clutton’s design for Plymouth Road Cemetery gave Tavistock a purpose-built, carefully planned Victorian burial ground, with twin Gothic chapels, a lychgate, and formal avenues, all reflecting the same quality and style he brought to the town’s public buildings. It’s a vital part of Tavistock’s unique architectural heritage — another piece of the Bedford estate’s legacy, expertly shaped by one of Victorian England’s leading architects.