A CHURCH foundation stone which is thought to be hundreds of years old could be rescued from obscurity and restored to its rightful Tavistock ‘home’.

The stone is currently languishing in a corner of the Meadows by the Wharf, apparently forgotten by all but a few residents for more than 60 years – but all that may be about to change.Local historian, former local police officer Simon Dell is hopeful that the one and a half ton stone, a remnant of the town’s former Congegational Church in Brook Street, could return to its original resting place.The imposing church, demolished in 1960 in what local author Gerry Woodcock described as ‘one of the more extreme acts of vandalism in Tavistock’s recent history’, closed as attendances fell and the land on which it stood was sold to the Pearl Assurance Company, who built an office block on the site.

The building in turn became the Tavistock Hub, who have revamped the former and disused Old Folks Meeting Room next door.

Now hub manager Rhiannon Spurgeon wants to work with Mr Dell to return the stone to Brook Street, where it will probably be resited near the meeting room.

She is also curious to know how a sizeable piece of granite at least a metre wide managed to find its way from Brook Street to a resting place by Tavistock canal.

Ms Spurgeon said: ‘Simon Dell got in touch with me and I went down to have a look at it. It really is in quite remarkably good condition, since it’s been where it is for the last 50 or 60 years.

‘We reckon that if it got a good clean up, it would look fabulous and we also wondered if there was anyone who knew how it got there.

‘We’re in a bit of a quandary as we want to ask permission from whoever owns the land to move it to Brook Street, but we don’t know quite who that is, so if anybody knows, we’d be glad to hear from them.

‘My feeling is that somebody moved it to its present position to keep it safe, then it got forgotten about. It would be great to get it back to where it originally came from.’

Mr Dell said he had first been made aware of the stone in 1981 by an employee of South West Water, Martyn Langsford. He said: ‘I’ve been on about doing something about it for years, because it’s part of Tavistock’s history. The Congregational Church was demolished in the 1960s and was quite a beautiful building.

‘I approached Rhiannon about getting it moved back to Brook Street. They’ve been restoring the meeting room and I thought it would be ideal if it could be placed somewhere outside. I wasn’t sure if it could be done, but I’m delighted that she’s keen to do something with it.’

Mr Dell said once the stone was returned to Brook Street, there was little danger of someone trying to make off with it. He added: ‘It isn’t a small stone and I would guess we are talking more than a ton in weight, so some form of equipment would be required to move it.’

The Congretational Church in Tavistock had a chequered career. The first church, sited in Bedford Square, burned down and replaced with a new building. The church was moved to Brook Street, where a completely new building was constructed, opening in 1873 and capable of holding 700 people.