HAVING been in existence since the founding of The Abbey more than a thousand years ago, Tavistock has an abundance of history, rich and varied; so much, in fact, that the town needs its own historian — and much to the benefit of the local community, possesses it.

Gerry Woodcock first came to Tavistock in 1966 upon his appointment as head of history at the, now, Tavistock College (subsequently becoming head of sixth form until his retirement in 1995), and has remained in the town ever since.

He has imparted knowledge and, often, love of history both nationally and locally, to generations of students, and during the past three decades or so he has established himself as, arguably, Tavistock's most comprehensive, informative and lucid historian.

So valued over the years has become his sequence of books, 'Tavistock's Yesterdays,' that the publication of a new volume is awaited with enthusiasm.

Well, for the sizeable legion of folk awaiting with eagerness Gerry's latest offering, the news is excellent — number 19 is now available, and is of the highest quality in all aspects of the word.

A quite remarkable feature when considering this historian's work is that he is able to still, after so many hundreds of thousands of words depicting centuries of life in the Tavy Valley and its hinterland, to produce fresh, captivating and perceptive essays and cameos of people and events that have moulded, enriched, and often coloured local history and life. In all these regards, this latest production is of rich vintage.

There are 13 chapters, with a time span equal to the town's — a millennium, plus.

It begins at the founding of the town, with a synopsis of the history of the abbey, told largely through the author's detailed perceptive, yet concise 'pen picture' of the abbots from 974 to 1539, when Henry VIII's greedy and vindictive determination to 'dissolve' all monasteries was a force too powerful for even this resilient establishment to resist.

Another act of violence in the sixteenth century also has a chapter in the book — a 'contract killing', no less.

Local lady, Eulalia Glanville hired two 'hit-men' (at £140 each, a vast sum in those days) to do the deed, and they kept their side of the bargain on a February night in 1590; The law also fulfilled its purpose, with all the murderers, including Eulalia, hanged for their crime.

If this reflects the murkier side of the town's history, there is much more highlighting the positive, in terms of culture, religion, sport and leisure.

Horse racing — on Whitchurch Down in the 19th century and at Kilworthy in the 20th and 21st — is evocatively described, as are stained glass windows in the parish church of St Eustachius designed by those eminent and gifted Victorians, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

The somewhat chequered history of the town band, formed in the 1890s, with its many triumphs, occasional disasters, and, it has to be said, not infrequent disputes, fascinates, as do characters from nineteenth century drinking houses (there were many). And to local communication over the centuries, there is a chapter entitled 'Wires, Lines and Letters'.

In 'Fings aint wot they used t'be,' the author, by judicious selection of 'letters to the editor,' news items, local and editorial comment spanning more than 150 years of the Tavistock Gazette, shows little really changes in terms of peoples' concerns, gripes, idiosyncrasies and prejudices and the ever-pervading illusion, captured by the title of the piece, that things were generally so much better 'years ago'.

A wonderful chapter, this on its own is arguably worth a goodly portion of the purchase price of the entire book.

The high esteem in which Gerry Woodcock is held as a writer, is down in larger measure to an ability to be able to combine manifold qualities. Exhaustive research dovetails with historical perception and an affinity for times past, while he displays acute understanding of human nature, its frailties, occasional nobility, eternal vulnerability.

His style is powerful, direct and economical, each word selected, rather than merely used, his prose spurning embellishment and pretension, yet laced with humour and elevated by his integrity as a professional historian.

This is a book which will bring pleasure to readers, and increased quality to their personal libraries, as it is a work which will be studied, and used for reference, for generations to come.

'Tavistock's Yesterdays — Episodes From Her History, No 19' by Gerry Woodcock, is available from the author at 2 Courtlands Close, Tavistock (01822) 613597) (Free delivery in Tavistock) or at 'Book Stop' Market Street, Tavistock. Priced at £4.95