Great Torrington

A good place to start exploring Great Torrington is at Castle Hill, which commands grand views along the valley of the River Torridge. (There’s no view of the castle, which was demolished as long ago as 1228, its site is now a bowling green.) On the opposite bank of the river is the hamlet of Taddiport where the tiny 14th century church by the bridge was originally the chapel of a leper hospital; its inmates were not permitted to cross over into Torrington itself.

Not many churches in England have been blown up by gunpowder. That was the fate however of the original Church of St Michael and All Angels. It happened during the Civil War when General Fairfax captured the town on 16 February 1646. His Royalist prisoners were bundled into the church, which they had been using as an arsenal. In the darkness, the 80 barrels of gunpowder stored there were somehow set alight and in the huge explosion that followed the church was demolished, 200 men lost their lives, and Fairfax himself narrowly escaped death. The present spacious church was built five years later, one of very few in the country erected during the Commonwealth years.

The Civil War events are portrayed at Torrington 1646, a permanent exhibition near Castle Hill, where colourful characters dressed as 17th-century residents of Great Torrington speak in period language as they guide visitors through an indoor reconstruction of some of the lanes and streets of Great Torrington on the night of the fierce 1646 battle. Visitors then proceed to the linhay (an open-sided barn) where they can try their hand at
17th-century games or perhaps try on some armour or have a go at wielding a pike.

But the town’s leading tourist attraction is Dartington Crystal where visitors can see skilled craftsmen blowing and shaping the crystal, follow the history of glass-making from the Egyptians to the present day, watch a video presentation, and browse amongst some 10,000 square feet of displays. The enterprise was set up in the 1960s by the Dartington Hall Trust to provide employment in an area of rural depopulation. Today, the beautifully designed handmade crystal is exported to more than 50 countries around the world.

Torrington’s May Fair is still an important event in the local calendar, as it has been since 1554. On the first Thursday in May, a Queen is crowned, there is maypole dancing in the High Street, and a banner proclaims the greeting “Us be plazed to zee ‘ee”.

About a mile south of Great Torrington, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Rosemoor Garden occupies a breathtaking setting in the Torridge Valley. Notable as a centre for rose cultivation - there are some 200 varieties on show - the 40-acre site includes mature planting in Lady Anne Palmer’s magnificent garden and arboretum; a winding rocky gorge with bamboos and ferns beside the stream, and a more formal area that contains one of the longest herbaceous borders in the country. There are trails for children, a picnic area and an award-winning Visitor Centre with a licensed restaurant, plant centre and shop.