The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has, on the advice of English Heritage, given the Bedford Foundry statutory protection.
For much of the 19th Century Tavistock was a world-class centre of engineering and mining skill and in the early 1850s the Bedford Foundry was one of the most important mine foundries in Devon.
It produced specialist equipment which was sent, via the Tavistock Canal, to other parts of the West country and even America and Australia. At this time 99 men were employed at the site.
The foundry, in its present form, was operating from the 1840s to the 1870s and is now owned by the Morris Brothers Funeral Directors.
A proposal to convert the building into flats last year was rejected by West Devon Borough Council because it was felt the application was not sympathetic to the building?s architectural character.
The authority served a building protection notice on the foundry last Autumn whilst it was being considered for listed status.
The listing of a building does not prevent it being converted for an alternative use but it does mean the council has a duty to ensure any proposal protects the architectural and historic character of the building.
Local resident Tom Greeves, who has been campaigning for the building to be protected, is delighted by the news.
?This is a great fillip for the heritage of Tavistock and for all those interested in the industrial heritage of the West country,? he said.
?The building is very interesting architecturally, with many original exterior features including a vent running along the ridge of the roof.
?It also has an intimate connection with the 19th Century housing of adjoining streets, where many of the workers must have lived.?