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North Tawton is a small, unspoilt rural town in the heart of Devon, with a population of 1,560. It has maintained its special heritage and character with a large part of North Tawton being protected by the Conservation Area status. At its heart is "The Square". The centrepiece of the Square is the Jubilee Clock Tower built by public subscription to commemorate the Golden Jubliee of Queen Victoria in 1887.
It is just off the northern fringe of Dartmoor National Park with access from the main A30 trunkroad from Exeter to Okehampton, situated on the upper reaches of the River Taw (Celtic for "silent river"). The river has always played an important part of the development of the town not just in its naming, but for agriculture and industry, which has grown alongside the river. Today the Taw is famous as the habitat of "Tarka The Otter" immortalised in the book by Henry Williamson. The Tarka Trail runs alongside the Taw in North Tawton providing a variety of gentle walks in rolling Devon landscape intermingled with industrial heritage of the town.
North Tawton is a traditional working town, with two nineteenth Century water mills located nearby. Whilst some of the old mainline Railway from Plymouth to London Waterloo, now part of the Dartmoor Railway line, is on the Southern outskirts of the town. In 1374 North Tawton was granted its first market charter and remained an important trading centre until the early twentieth century. Agriculture has always been important to the prosperity of the town with the rich red soil providing ideal conditions for mixed farming, and was the centre of the local wool industry. The traditional industries that developed in the town, woollen manufacture, bark stripping for the local tannery and ginger beer bottling. Today there are three main employers in the town. Glanbia Cheese Factory producers of of Taw Valley Cheeses, the home and headquarters of Gregory's Distribution Ltd and Vital Dog pet food suppliers, with around one hundred and fifty small businesses in the area too.
Twinned with Blangy-le-Chateau, France
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