| Bere Alston | |
|---|---|
 Bere Alston | |
  Bere Alston Location within Devon | |
| OS grid reference | SX4466 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | YELVERTON |
| Postcode district | PL20 |
| Dialling code | 01822 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers.
With a population of about 2,000, [1] the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the rivers Tamar and Tavy. Its origins lie in the once thriving local mining industry, including silver and lead, and the market gardening sector. At one time, the mainline trains to London would stop at the village to pick up locally grown produce destined for the capital.
Bere Alston is about 12 km north of the centre of Plymouth as the crow flies, but the road trip requires either a long detour via Tavistock or else negotiating narrow lanes and a narrow bridge.
Trains still run to Bere Alston railway station on the picturesque Tamar Valley Line between Plymouth and Gunnislake, and trains reverse at this station. There has been discussion of making the station a junction once again by reopening the former 'main line' to Tavistock, the largest town in Devon currently without a railway station. Occasionally, the reopening of the line through to Okehampton and Exeter is suggested, since the current Plymouth to Exeter route is dependent on an extremely vulnerable route below the sea cliffs at Dawlish Warren. [2]
Bere Alston elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons. Only a few burgage holders were entitled to vote; but as most, if not all, of these holdings were held by a single individual for most of the time that Bere Alston was a parliamentary borough, elections were seldom contested (see rotten borough). Its MPs included Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet, Peter King, 1st Baron King and Josceline Percy. The borough was stripped of its franchise in the Reform Act 1832.
Once home to numerous pubs, the village now only has one public house, The Edgcumbe Hotel, on Fore Street, which at one time was also a jail and later a schoolhouse. There is also a modern cafe located next door to Bere Alston United Church.
The village is surrounded by woodland and fields.
The village is notable for having one of the oldest primary schools in Devon, Maynard's School. Erected by Sir John Maynard in 1665, the original building still forms part of the primary school today (the date is carved on a porch above the original red doorway).
The Bere Alston United Church on Fore Street was built in 1811. The Anglican church of the Holy Trinity was built in 1848. [3]
Bere Alston United Football Club is a member of the Devon Football Association. The 1st team play their matches in the East Cornwall Premier Division. [4] and are managed by Kevin Taylor.
There are four pool teams playing in the Winter Tamar Valley Pool League. [5] from Bere Alston.
From the Edgcumbe Hotel: [6] The Edgcumbe 'Aces' – Division 2 & The Edgcumbe 'B' – Premier Division (Division 1 Champions 2009–2010)
There is also a lawn bowling club in the village, playing in many leagues in Devon. The club is visited by many touring teams throughout the season. [7]
The Tamar is a river in south west England that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall. A large part of the valley of the Tamar is protected as the Tamar Valley National Landscape, and some is included in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape due to its historic mining activities.
Okehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town. Their joint population at the same census was 7,500.
Tavistock is an ancient stannary and market town in West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards had a population of 13,028. The town traces its recorded history back to at least 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.
Crediton is a town and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, 7 miles (11 km) north west of Exeter and 14 miles (23 km) from the M5 motorway. It has a population of 21,990.
Callington is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about 7 miles (11 km) north of Saltash and 9 miles (14 km) south of Launceston.
The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, it is unelectrified and all trains are diesel powered. The entire line is single track past St. Budeaux Junction.
Bere Ferrers, sometimes called Beerferris, is a village and civil parish on the Bere peninsula in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is located to the north of Plymouth, on the west bank of the River Tavy. It has a railway station on the Tamar Valley Line.
The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PD&SWJR) was an English railway company. It constructed a main line railway between Lydford and Devonport, in Devon, England, enabling the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to reach Plymouth more conveniently than before.
St Budeaux Victoria Road railway station is a suburban station in St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon, England. The station is managed and served by Great Western Railway.
Bere Ferrers station on the Tamar Valley Line is situated near the village of Bere Ferrers in Devon, England. The station is on the former Southern main line between Exeter and Plymouth via Okehampton. It is currently operated by Great Western Railway (GWR).
Calstock is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Tavistock and 10 miles (16 km) north of Plymouth.
Bere Alston railway station serves the village of Bere Alston in Devon, England, 10+1⁄4 miles (16.5 km) north of Plymouth on the Tamar Valley Line to Gunnislake.
Gunnislake is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Plymouth The first woman cabinet minister in the British Empire, Mary Ellen Smith, was born here in 1863.
The South Devon and Tavistock Railway linked Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon; it opened in 1859. It was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, in Cornwall in 1865. It was a broad gauge line but from 1876 also carried the standard gauge trains of the London and South Western Railway between Lydford and Plymouth: a third rail was provided, making a mixed gauge. In 1892 the whole line was converted to standard gauge only.
The East Cornwall Mineral Railway was a 1,067 mm gauge railway line, opened in 1872 to connect mines and quarries in the Callington and Gunnislake areas in east Cornwall, England, with shipping at Calstock on the River Tamar. The line included a rope-worked incline to descend to the quay at Calstock.
The Exeter to Plymouth railway of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) was the westernmost part of a route competing with that of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and its 'associated companies' from London and Exeter to Plymouth in Devon, England. Whereas the GWR route from Exeter followed the coast to Newton Abbot and then went around the southern edge of Dartmoor, the LSWR route followed the northern and western margins of Dartmoor, passing through the towns of Crediton, Okehampton, and Tavistock.
Callington railway station was a railway station in the village of Kelly Bray, one mile (1.6 km) north of the centre of the small town of Callington, Cornwall. It was the terminus of a branch line from Bere Alston, built by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway, but operated by the London and South Western Railway. The station closed in 1966. The Tamar Valley Line still operates services from Bere Alston, with services terminating at Gunnislake railway station, 5 miles (8 km) to the east of Callington.
Tavistock North was a railway station serving the town of Tavistock, operated by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway, but forming part of the Exeter to Plymouth section of the London and South Western Railway.
New Quay is a small once industrial abandoned hamlet and intensive mining port on the steep, winding banks of the River Tamar in Devon. New Quay village is immediately east of and downstream of the similar port of Morwellham Quay. New Quay was an important copper, tin and later arsenic port serving the local mines including the George and Charlotte Mine, Bedford Consolidated Mine and Gawton Arsenic Mine. Since July 2006 New Quay is within the World Heritage Site that is the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
Tavistock railway station is a proposed new station to serve Tavistock in Devon, England, in order to reinstate a rail connection between the town and Plymouth, about 13 miles (21 km) to the south.
