Tyrwhitt's Tramway Talk by Simon Dell

Name: Tyrwhitt's Tramway Talk by Simon Dell
Start: 2025-09-05T19:00:00+01:00
Location: Tavistock Guildhall Heritage Centre

Schedule

Fri, 05 Sep, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

Tavistock Guildhall Heritage Centre | Calstock, EN

Tyrwhitt’s Tramway
(Properly known as
The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway)
This talk by Simon Dell follows a few years of research and walking the whole route from Princetown to Sutton Harbour in Plymouth.
During the Georgian period long before steam railway engines arrived in Devon Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, builder of Princetown and the Prison, had a dream to develop Dartmoor into an agricultural and industrial heartland of Devon.
He dreamed of a tramway to connect Princetown with the harbour in Plymouth, 25 miles away, to export granite and to import important commodities to the village.
This tramway was the first ‘iron railroad’ in Devon and involved building one of the earliest railway tunnels in the world.
The story is intriguing and little known.
Many visitors to Dartmoor will have never heard of Tyrwitt’s Tramway and even fewer will know of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, possibly confusing it with the Great Western Railway steam engine service which was built over much of the tramway in 1883.
Come and listen to this free talk at Tavistock Guildhall at 7pm on Friday 5th September during the Festival Week. Donations to the Tavistock Guildhall are always welcome on the evening. As part of the festival come and listen to an aspect of Dartmoor’s long and eclectic history.