Bow, Devon

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Bow is a village and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England, about eight miles west of Crediton. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,093.

The village grew up as a market along the main Crediton to Okehampton road (now the A3072), with the church of Nymet Tracy, St Bartholomew's , about a mile from the main centre. (The bulk of the poplace of Nymet Tracy decamped to Bow after Nymet Tracy was destroyed in a fire. The church remained.) The A3072 road is almost certainly a Roman road, although not the first in the area. The first was south of the village, and runs from the Roman fort at North Tawton to Isca (Exeter). There is a Henge west of the village. Charles I stayed one night here during the Civil War when he was chasing the Earl of Essex into Cornwall.

The name Nymet is associated in Roman terms with the Druids, as it means "Sacred Grove".

The name Tracy comes from the 'de Tracey' family - from Traci near Bayeaux - who settled in the area after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The face of a de Tracey knight is carved over the south entrance to the church at Nymet Tracey.

Bow is described as one of many Devonshire "failed towns", in that it was granted charters for a fair and market but, due to location, failed to attract enough trade and remained a village.^[1]

Bow boasts two general stores, a large garden centre (Bow aquatic centre), a post office and two public houses. It has a doctors surgery and a community policeman.