Chagford is a market town and civil parish on the north-east edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, close to the River Teign and the A382, 4 miles (6 km) west of Moretonhampstead. The name is derived from chag, meaning gorse or broom, and the ford suffix indicates its importance as a crossing place. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 1,449.
History
Archaeological remains confirm that a community has existed here for at least 4000 years. In historical times, Chagford grew due to the wool trade and from tin mining in the area. A weekly market was held here from before 1220, and a monthly livestock market in the town survived until the 1980s. In 1305 it was made a stannary town where tin was traded. Among the most prominent tin-mining families in the 16th century were the Endecotts, Knapmans, Whiddons and Lethbridges.
In an English Civil War skirmish Sidney Godolphin, the poet and Royalist MP for Helston, was shot and killed in the porch of the Three Crowns.
In 1987, the New Scientist reported that Chagford contained "the most radioactive loo in the world", a reference to the high levels of Radon gas in this granite area.
Historic estates
The parish of Chagford comprises historic estates including: Whiddon, seat of the Whiddon family. Sir John Whiddon (d.1576), a Justice of the King's Bench under Queen Elizabeth I, purchased the manor of Chagford, built a new manor house at Whiddon, part of which survives today, and built a deer park, the massive granite block wall of which survives today.
Today
Today Chagford is a thriving community with high property prices, busy streets, and an unusually wide range of shops for a town of this size, although not immune to national trends having lost its two banks and seen its post office downgraded. Two large hardware stores side by side in the town square were run by the same two families for over a century, but one of these closed in 2017. It is also known for its arts community, celebrated through Chagfilm (the autumn Chagford Film Festival), Chagword (the springtime literary festival, every two years from 2013-2019), Chagstock (the summer music festival, annually from 2007-2022), Wonderworks (the annual crafts weekend), the popular Summer Music Series (free Friday lunchtime concerts in the church throughout the summer), and other regular cultural events. There are several tea rooms and whole food cafés and four pubs. There is a good selection of holiday accommodation in and around the town for the influx of visitors during the year.
The early 20th century Edwin Lutyens house Castle Drogo lies 2 miles away, in Drewsteignton parish, and overlooks Chagford.
Governance
The town has a parish council which meets monthly.
In 1976 Chagford was twinned with Bretteville-sur-Laize, France. Regular twinning activity was sustained for over 20 years, but lapsed. Chagford retains its "Bretteville Close", and Bretteville its "Rue de Chagford".
Landmarks
A 16th century building called Endecott House, on the edge of the town square, was given this name in the early 1990s in acknowledgment of a 17th-century governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Endecott, who is thought to have been born in or near Chagford. This building was possibly built as a "church house", and has certainly been in community use for many years, including use as a village school. It now serves as a meeting hall.
One of the social centres of Chagford is the village hall, the Jubilee Hall, in the south-east corner of the town next to the public car park. Built in 1936 by public subscription, it was significantly extended between 2016 and 2018 and also houses the library (which opens three part-days a week) and a local history resource centre. It provides a venue for the regular Friday morning flea markets as well as other activities such as badminton, table tennis, parties, discos, comedy nights, kung fu, Pilates, etc.
The Three Crowns Hotel dates to the 13th century and is reportedly haunted by the ghost of the cavalier poet, Sidney Godolphin, who was fatally wounded there in the English Civil War.
The former Easton Court Hotel became popular with authors as a writers' retreat in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and was where Evelyn Waugh completed A Handful of Dust in 1933 and Brideshead Revisited in 1944.