The History Of Great Torrington
Great Torrington has a long and fascinating history.
The Romans certainly came close, because the evidence of a temporary Roman marching Fort can be found a few miles away at Alverdiscott.
Torrington is first mentioned in writing in the Devonshire Domesday Survey of 1086. The town of Great Torrington sits atop a high ridge above the Torridge valley. Richard de Merton built a castle and keep here in the 14th century. The wall with castellations by the car park is sadly not part of the original castle but a piece of Victorian whimsy. The real medieval castle at Torrington fell into disrepair and for most of the intervening centuries, this small north Devon town has gone about its business quietly and unobtrusively.
That is until February 16th 1646 when a Civil War battle between Royalist and Parliamentary forces for control of the town ended with the Royalists under Lord Hopton being routed by an element of the Parliamentary Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The defeat of the Royalist force was compounded by the accidental death of around 200 of them imprisoned in the local church. The Royalists had apparently stored gunpowder in the church and the explosive was somehow ignited soon after the prisoners were put into the building. Both church and prisoners were utterly destroyed.
The end of the battle of Torrington was actually the end of Royalist opposition in the west and led to the end of the Civil War.
After the Civil War, Torrington returned to its usual pursuits; trade and agriculture. The town has prospered over the years and is now a vibrant centre of the arts for this part of rural North Devon as well as a hub of local business activity.
The town has recently become well known in the media recently due to the
efforts of the Torrington Cavaliers, an organisation of volunteers who are
renowned for building spectacular bonfires. On August 26th 2005, they set
light to a stunngly detailed half-scale replica of Nelson’s Trafalgar
flagship the HMS Victory. Thousands of spectators and the world's media came
to Torrington to witness this event.
