Whitchurch is a village just to the south-east of the town of Tavistock, Devon, England. It lies in the West Devon local authority area, and within Tavistock Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. Due to the expansion of Tavistock in recent years, the two settlements have joined and Whitchurch is now considered part of Tavistock, but historically, Whitchurch formed part of the Roborough Hundred.
It is believed that a church must have been present in Whitchurch as early as the 11th century, and that it was most likely built from the white elvan that can be found at Roborough Down only a few miles away. This may be the derivation of the name of the village ("White-church"), though many other English villages bearing the same name are considered to be thus named simply because their churches were either built of stone, or were whitewashed.[1] The main church currently standing in Whitchurch—St. Andrew—is for the most part a 15th century building made from granite as well as elvan. Many memorials can be found in the church, including a monument to Francis Pengelly (1722) made by John Weston of Exeter showing a "celestial ballet" on a medallion, and also an early 17th century slate slab to the Mooringes of Moortown.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1801 | 478 |
| 1901 | 1508 |
There are several interesting houses within the parish: Walreddon is an Elizabethan house, altered to some extent in the 18th century, was the home of a younger branch of the Courtenays in the 18th and early 19th centuries; while the so-called Priory, near the church, is a 19th century granite building incorporating a square 4th century entrance tower from an earlier structure.