Construction began on a smart new row of two-up, two down cottages on Dolvin Road in 1845. The development was all part of a major redevelopment of Tavistock by the 7th Duke of Bedford. The town and the then-thriving tin, copper and arsenic mines surrounding it, were part of the

Duke's prosperous Devon estate.

 

The new houses on Dolvin Road provided homes for working-class and lower-middle class tenants, including pupil-teachers employed at Dolvin Road School (now St Rumon's school). Shared facilities in the gardens included wash-houses, pig sties and space to grow fruit and vegetables, with the River Tavy flowing at the bottom of the gardens.

 

The cottages on Dolvin Road, along with Tavistock shops, pubs and houses and more owned by the Bedford Estate were sold in a huge auction in 1911,  dubbed The Sale of the Century by the local press.

​