Trail 1: Tavistock Abbey. 

Discover the history of Tavistock Abbey, which was founded between 972 and 975 by Ordulph, the brother in-law of King Edgar who unified separate Anglo Saxon kingdoms to create England. Tavistock was one of 22 new monasteries created in Edgar’s reign to control the countryside. The location was strategically important because it was close to the border with Cornwall. In 997 the abbey was sacked by Danish raiders and subsequently rebuilt. The site of the Saxon and Norman buildings, which were probably timber, is not known.