History of Devon

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History of Devon

Overview
Medieval kingdom
Rulers and titles
Historical governance
Culture
Politics
Local history
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Ancient extent of Devon


Devon is a county in south west England, bordering Cornwall to the west with Dorset and Somerset to the east. There is evidence of occupation of the county from the Stone Age onwards. Its recorded history starts in the Roman period, when it was a civitas. It was then a separate kingdom for a number of centuries until it was incorporated into early England. It has remained a largely agriculture-based region ever since, though tourism is now very important.

Prehistory

standing stone (see menhir). Because most of Dartmoor was not ploughed during the historic period, the archaeological
record is relatively easy to trace.

The name "Devon" derives from the tribe of Celtic people who inhabited the south-western peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman invasion in 43 AD, the Dumnonii: possibly meaning "deep valley dwellers" (Cornish: Dewnens, Welsh: Dyfnaint, Breton: Devnent) or "worshippers of the god Dumnonos". This tribal name carried on into the Roman and post-Roman periods. The Dumnonii did not mint coins, unlike their neighbours to the east, the Durotriges, but coins of the Dobunni have been found in the area.

There was a Bronze Age trading port at Mount Batten in Plymouth Sound.[1]

Archaeology

In February 2022, archaeologists led by Rob Bourn, managing director of Orion Heritage, announced the discovery of the remains of a woolly mammoth, reindeer, rhinoceros, bison, wolf and hyena in a cave system during the building of a new town named Sherford. Over 200 clusters of bones were removed by the explorers to analyse the life in Ice Age in Britain. Remains of a tusk, molar tooth, other bones of a woolly mammoth, a partial skull and a mandible of a woolly rhinoceros date to the middle of the last ice age between 60,000 and 30,000 years ago.[2][3][4][5]

Roman period

Devon was not as heavily Romanized as Somerset and Dorset, with the majority of the occupation's traces being in the Exeter area, where the Roman fortifications can still be seen. It is likely a settlement at

Roman roads
of the sophisticated cobbled type.

Post Roman Independence

Main article: Dumnonia

After the end of Roman rule in Britain in about 410, the kingdom of Dumnonia emerged, covering Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, based on the former Roman civitas and named after the pre-Roman Dumnonii. Gildas criticised King Constantine, who was probably a second generation ruler of Dumnonia in the early sixth century.[6] The Roman episcopal structure survived, and shortly before 705 Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, wrote a letter to King Geraint of Dumnonia and his bishops.[7]

Exeter, known as "Caer Uisc", may have been central to the kingdom, but some historians and antiquaries have speculated that the Kings of Dumnonia may have been itinerant with no fixed capital and moved their court from place to place. The Welsh Triads name Celliwig in Cornwall as a possible site of a royal court; another is High Peak, close to Sidmouth. The former Roman city of Exeter may have become an ecclesiastical centre, as evidenced by a sub-Roman cemetery discovered near the cathedral.

Anglo-Saxon conquest of Dumnonia

Dumnonia remained intact in the sixth century, but it lost territory to Wessex in the mid-seventh.

Quantocks (in what is now Somerset) and were pressing forward into the coastal plain.[9]
The West Saxons were in control of Exeter by the 680s, when
Boniface received his education at an Anglo-Saxon monastery there. Dumnonia still retained part of Devon at this time, and before he became a bishop in 705, Aldhelm wrote on behalf of a council to King Geraint of Dumnonia and his bishops.[10] In 710, Ine defeated Geraint, who was the lst recorded king of Devon.[11] In the eighth century there was a large-scale replacement of British placename by English ones in Devon.[12]

Devon in Anglo-Saxon times

A Map of British Kingdoms circa 800 AD

By the 9th century, the major threat to peace in Devon came from

Callington in 832. Sporadic Viking incursions continued, however, until the Norman Conquest, including the disastrous defeat of the Devonians at the Battle of Pinhoe in 1001. A few Norse placenames remain as a result, for example Lundy Island. The men of Devon are said by Asser to have fought the Danes at the Battle of Cynwit in 878, which may have been at Kenwith Castle or Countisbury, although Cannington
in Somerset is also claimed as the site of the battle. In 894, the Danes attempted to besiege Exeter but were driven off by Alfred; however it was sacked in 1001.

Devon was originally part of the

Leofric was appointed Bishop of Exeter.[13]

Norman and medieval period

Immediately after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror recognised the importance of securing the loyalty of the West Country and thus the need to secure Exeter. The city withstood an eighteen-day siege[14] and the new king was only eventually allowed to enter upon honourable terms.

The many great estates subsequently held by William's barons in Devon were known as "honours". Chief amongst them were

hundreds of Devon were under the control of the great lords who did not appoint sufficient bailiffs
for their proper government.

During the

Dartmouth. Later, Richard III travelled to Exeter to personally punish those who had inflamed the West against him. Several hundred were outlawed, including the Bishop
and the Dean.

Dartmoor and Exmoor (mainly in Somerset) were Royal Forests, i.e. hunting preserves. The men of Devon paid 5000 marks (£3,333) to have these deforested in 1242. The 11th to 14th centuries were a period of economic and population growth, but the Black Death in 1348 and subsequent years caused decline in both, with resulting social change; many villages and hamlets such as 12th century Hound Tor were said to have been deserted, whilst new settlements were later granted to the rising class of tenant farmers exemplified by the surviving 14th century Dartmoor longhouse settlement at Higher Uppacott, and peasant farmers subsequently prospered with large flocks of sheep and cattle. Towns such as Totnes were particularly noted for their wealth derived from the wool and tin trade with the Continent in this period.

Tudor and Stuart period

Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (yellow), 1642 — 1645
Atlas of Devon by Christopher Saxton from 1575

Early in Henry VII's reign, the royal pretender, Perkin Warbeck, besieged Exeter in 1497. The King himself came down to judge the prisoners and to thank the citizens for their loyal resistance.

Great disturbances throughout the county followed the introduction of

Whit Sunday 1549, a priest at Sampford Courtenay was persuaded to read the old mass.[15] This insubordination spread swiftly into serious revolt. The Cornish quickly joined the men of Devon in the Prayer Book Rebellion and Exeter suffered a distressing siege until relieved by Lord Russell.[16]

Devon is particularly known for its

Richard Grenville and Sir Walter Raleigh. Plymouth Hoe is famous as the location where Drake continued to play bowls after hearing that the Spanish Armada had been sighted. Plymouth was also the final departure point for the Mayflower in 1620, although the settlers themselves were mainly drawn from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire
.

Main article: First English Civil War

During the

Sir Thomas Fairfax
. He then captured Tiverton and defeated Lord Hopeton's army at Torrington. The last place held for the king was Charles Fort at Salcombe.

After the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, Judge Jefferies held one of his ‘bloody assizes’ at Exeter. In 1688, the Prince of Orange first landed in England at Brixham (where his statue stands in the town harbour) to launch the Glorious Revolution and his journey to London to claim the English throne as William III. He was entertained for several days at both Forde and at Exeter.

Modern period

In the modern period, since 1650, the city of Plymouth has grown considerably, becoming the largest city in Devon, mainly due to the naval base at Devonport to its west. Plymouth played an important role as a naval port in both World War I and World War II. South Devon was a training and assembly area during World War II for the D-Day landings, and there is a memorial to the many soldiers who were killed during a rehearsal off Slapton Sands. Both Plymouth and Exeter suffered badly from bombing during the war, and the centre of Exeter and vast swathes of Plymouth had to be largely rebuilt during the 1960s.

Cold winters were a feature of the 17th century, that of 1676 being particularly hard. There were smallpox epidemics in the 1640s, 1710s and 1760s, resulting in many deaths. In October 1690 there was an earthquake in Barnstaple. Daniel Defoe published an account of a tour through Devon in 1724 and 1727. South Devon impressed him, but he thought that north Devon was wild, barren and poor.

During the Napoleonic War a prison was built at Princetown on Dartmoor to hold French and American prisoners of war. This prison is still in use.

In 1842 the population was said to be mainly employed in agriculture. The population rose in the 19th century, but the rate of increase was only around half that of the population of England and Wales as a whole.[17]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Devon has experienced great changes, including the rise of the tourist industry on the so-called

English Riviera, decline of farming and fishing, urbanisation, and also proliferation of holiday homes, for example in Salcombe
. Devon has become famous for its clotted cream and cider. Dartmoor has become a National Park, as has Exmoor.

Devon has suffered many severe storms, including one that largely swept away Hallsands in 1917.

Politically Devon has had a tendency to lean towards the Conservative and Liberal/Liberal-Democrat parties.

Mining history

Devon has produced

Tavistock
) was believed to be the largest copper mine in the world.

Devon's tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devon's

Henry VIII
.

Tin and tungsten have most recently been mined at Hemerdon Ball (near Plymouth). During World War 2 the mine was operated to ensure a domestic supply of both metals. The mine has periodically re-opened since then and is currently known as Hemerdon Mine

See also

References

  1. ^ Barry Cunliffe : Mount Batten Plymouth: A Prehistoric and Roman Port. Oxford University Press 1988
  2. ^ "- Sherford". sherford.org. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Woolly mammoth and rhino among Ice Age animals discovered in Devon cave". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  4. ^ Magazine, Smithsonian; Osborne, Margaret. "Dozens of Extinct Ice Age Animal Remains Found During Construction of a New Town in England". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Remains of woolly mammoth found on Devon building site". The Guardian. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. ISBN 978-1-118-42513-8
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-118-42513-8
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-821731-2
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-582-07297-8
    .
  10. ^ Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, pp. 22, 428
  11. ^ Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest, p. 50
  12. ISBN 978-0-415-16639-3
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-470-65632-7
    .
  14. ISBN 0-521-41707-4
    .
  15. ISBN 0-19-826924-2
    .
  16. ISBN 0-86012-289-1
    .
  17. ^ Glyn-Jones, Anne (1991). "The Repopulation of the Countryside in Devon and Cornwall" (PDF). Local Population Studies (46): 20–31.

Further reading

  • Samuel Tymms (1832). "Devonshire". Western Circuit. The Family Topographer: Being a Compendious Account of the ... Counties of England. Vol. 2. London: J.B. Nichols and Son.
    OCLC 2127940
    .
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