AN iconic historic monument in the centre of Tavistock needs more than £200,000 worth of repair work, a report reveals.

Tavistock town councillors, who are responsible for the upkeep of Grade I listed Betsy Grimbal’s tower, have been told it will need £169,000 worth of work, while the authority is looking at spending another £68,000 on the nearby Still House tower.

The buildings represents two of the few standing remnants of Tavistock Abbey, which dates from the tenth century, although Betsy Grimbal’s tower, the western gateway to the Abbey, was built 500 years later. It got its name from a legend which involves a girl being murdered by a jealous monk, although experts believe the name is a corruption of Blessed Grimbald, a saint revered by the Benedictine monks who lived in the Abbey.

The Grade II listed Still House tower, which dates from around the same time, was used by monks who distilled herbs from their nearby garden.

The town council’s budget and policy committee were examining a raft of ‘to do’ repairs and other work at their latest meeting as the Times was going to press. A report on the town council’s commitments was drawn up against a background of financial pressure caused mainly by a drastic increase in insurance and energy costs.

The report says estimates for the work on the Abbey buildings were put together in 2017 and accepts the council will have to find grant funding for the project, seen as a ‘medium to long-term’ project.

It says the council, five years ago, secured a grant of £9,745 from Historic England to appoint a conservation architect to survey, investigate and produce a condition survey assessment, including suggested proposals for ‘repair, stabilisation and conservation of Betsy Grimbal’s Tower and The Still House Tower’.

The contract would be supported with a detailed quantity surveyor’s budget costing outlining the conservation and restoration proposals and associated techniques for the work being done.

The report says that arising from that, ‘essential urgent remedial works were commissioned to mitigate some of the impacts of vegetation growth on both structures’.

It adds: ‘It is recognised that this is a medium to long-term aspirational project to deliver the scope in its entirety, working with heritage partners, with grant funding essential.

‘It is intended to revisit options with this project in 2023, but for context, budget estimates to deliver the full scope of works identified in 2017 were £68,434.75 for The Still House Tower and £163,787.78 for Betsy Grimbal’s Tower.’