Editing History of Devon

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2008}}
{{History of Devon}}
[[Image:EnglandDevonTrad.png|thumb|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==
[[Devon]] was one of the first areas of [[Great Britain]] settled following the end of the last [[ice age]].  [[Kents Cavern]] in [[Torbay]] is one of the earliest places in England known to have been occupied by modern man. [[Dartmoor]] is thought to have been settled by [[Mesolithic]] [[hunter-gatherer]] peoples from about 6000 BC, and they later cleared much of the [[oak]] forest, which regenerated as moor.  In the [[Neolithic]] era, from about 3500 BC, there is evidence of farming on the moor, and also building and the erection of monuments, using the large [[granite]] boulders that are ready to hand there; Dartmoor contains the remains of the oldest known buildings in England.  There are over 500 known [[Neolithic]] sites on the moor, in the form of burial mounds, stone rows, stone circles and ancient settlements such as the one at [[Grimspound]].  Stone rows are a particularly striking feature, ranging in length from a few metres to over 3&nbsp;km.  Their ends are often marked by a cairn, a stone circle, or a [[standing stone]] (see [[menhir]]).  Because most of Dartmoor was not ploughed during the historic period, the [[archaeology|archaeological]] record is relatively easy to trace.

The name "Devon" derives from the tribe of [[Celts|Celtic]] people who inhabited the south-western peninsula of Britain at the time of the [[Roman Empire|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]].<ref>Barry Cunliffe : Mount Batten Plymouth: A Prehistoric and Roman Port. Oxford University Press 1988</ref>

=== 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 (new town)|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)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=- Sherford |url=http://sherford.org/news/megafauna-archaeological-finds-discovered-in-devon-with-a-mammoth-rhino-and-wolf-among-amazing-remains-uncovered-at-sherford-/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=sherford.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Woolly mammoth and rhino among Ice Age animals discovered in Devon cave |url=https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/february/woolly-mammoth-rhino-among-ice-age-animals-discovered-devon-cave.html |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=www.nhm.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Osborne |first2=Margaret |title=Dozens of Extinct Ice Age Animal Remains Found During Construction of a New Town in England |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/remains-of-extinct-ice-age-animals-found-on-a-construction-site-in-england-180979539/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-03 |title=Remains of woolly mammoth found on Devon building site |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/feb/03/remains-of-woolly-mammoth-found-on-devon-building-site |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

==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 [[Exeter]] of some sort pre-existed the Romans and that the local Brythonic tribe inhabiting the area, the [[Dumnonii]], maintained a tradition of independence. It appears that initially the Dumnonii tribe of Britons were a client kingdom of Rome, but from about AD 55 the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] held at least part of the area under military occupation, maintaining a [[navy|naval]] port at [[Topsham, Devon|Topsham]] and a garrison of the [[Legio II Augusta|2nd Augustan Legion]] at [[Exeter]], which they called '[[Isca Dumnoniorum|Isca]]'. This banked and palisaded fortress contained mostly barracks and workshops, but also a magnificent [[Roman bath|bath-house]] and was occupied for approximately twenty years. Then the legion moved to [[Caerleon]] and the civilians of the surrounding settlement took control. All the associated trappings of local government followed, such as a [[forum (Roman)|forum]] and [[basilica]] and, eventually a stone [[city wall]]. The Roman administration stayed here for over three centuries. There were several smaller [[Roman fort|forts]] across the county and a number of [[pagan]] [[shrine]]s, as remembered in the name of the ''Nymet'' villages ([[Nemeton]]), but the lands west of the [[River Exe|Exe]] remained largely un-Romanized. The higher status locals there often lived in banked homesteads known as '[[Ringforts|Rounds]]', while [[East Devon]] had a number of luxurious [[Roman villa|villas]], such as that discovered at [[Holcombe, East Devon|Holcombe]], as well as [[Roman road]]s of the sophisticated cobbled type.

==Post Roman Independence==
{{main|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 (Briton)|Constantine]], who was probably a second generation ruler of Dumnonia in the early sixth century.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Pauline|editor-last=Stafford|title=A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500–c. 1100|first=Barbara|last=Yorke|chapter=Britain and Ireland c. 500|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2013|page=48|isbn=978-1-118-42513-8}}</ref> The Roman episcopal structure survived, and shortly before 705 [[Aldhelm]], abbot of [[Malmesbury Abbey|Malmesbury]], wrote a letter to King [[Geraint of Dumnonia]] and his bishops.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Pauline|editor-last=Stafford|title=A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500–c. 1100|first=Thomas|last=Pickles|chapter=Church Organization and Pastoral Care|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2013|page=164|isbn=978-1-118-42513-8}}</ref>

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, Devon|High Peak]], close to [[Sidmouth]]. The former Roman city of Exeter may have become an ecclesiastical centre, as evidenced by a [[sub-Roman Britain|sub-Roman]] cemetery discovered near the [[Exeter Cathedral|cathedral]]. 

== Anglo-Saxon conquest of Dumnonia ==
Dumnonia remained intact in the sixth century, but it lost territory to Wessex in the mid-seventh.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Charles-Edwards|authorlink=Thomas Charles-Edwards|title=Wales and the Britons 350–1064|page=22|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-821731-2}}</ref> The historian [[Henry Loyn]] comments that the conquest of Devon was "probably swift, set in motion by the West Saxons about 660, and virtually complete by the death of [[Ine of Wessex|King Ine]] in 725." By 682 they had reached the [[Quantocks]] (in what is now Somerset) and were pressing forward into the coastal plain.<ref>{{cite book| last=Loyn|first=Henry |title=Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest|page=49 |publisher=Longman |location =London, UK |year=1991|edition=2nd|isbn= 978-0-582-07297-8 }}</ref>
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.<ref>Charles-Edwards, ''Wales and the Britons'', pp. 22, 428</ref> In 710, Ine defeated Geraint, who was the lst recorded king of Devon.<ref>Loyn, ''Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest'', p. 50</ref> In the eighth century there was a large-scale replacement of British placename by English ones in Devon.<ref> {{cite book|first=Barbara|last=Yorke |authorlink= Barbara Yorke |title= Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England|publisher= Routledge|location =London, UK|year=1990|pages=141-142|isbn= 978-0-415-16639-3 }}</ref>

==Devon in Anglo-Saxon times==

[[Image:British kingdoms c 800.svg|right|thumb|200px|A Map of British Kingdoms circa 800 AD]]

By the 9th century, the major threat to peace in Devon came from [[Viking]] raiders. Thus [[Alfred the Great]] refortified Exeter as a defensive [[burh]], followed by new fortifications at [[Lydford]], [[Halwell]] and [[Pilton, Devon|Pilton]], although these were relatively small compared to burhs further east; suggesting these were protection for only the elite. [[Edward the Elder]] built similarly at [[Barnstaple]] and [[Totnes]]. The English defeated a combined Cornish and Danish force at [[Callington, Cornwall|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 [[Old Norse|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, Somerset|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 [[Bishop of Winchester|bishopric of Winchester]], but in around 705 the see was divided and a separate bishopric of [[Diocese of Sherborne|Sherborne]] was established, covering Devon, Dorset and Somerset, with [[Aldhelm]] as its first bishop. In about 910 the bishopric was again divided, with each county getting its own bishopric. [[Eadwulf of Crediton|Eadwulf]] became the first [[Bishop of Crediton (ancient)|Bishop of Crediton]]. In 1050 King [[Edward the Confessor]] combined Devon and Cornwall and [[Leofric, Bishop of Exeter|Leofric]] was appointed [[Bishop of Exeter]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Keynes  |first=Simon  |title=Appendix II: Archbishops and Bishops 597–1066|pages=549–53|year=2014|editor1-first= Michael|editor1-last= Lapidge|editor2-first= John|editor2-last= Blair|editor3-first= Simon|editor3-last= Keynes |editor4-first= Donald|editor4-last= Scragg |encyclopedia=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England|edition=Second|location=Chichester, UK|publisher= Blackwell Publishing|isbn=978-0-470-65632-7}}</ref>

==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]]<ref name=palliser>Palliser, David Michael; Clark, Peter; and Daunton, Martin J. (2000). ''The Cambridge Urban History of Britain'', p. 595. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-41707-4}}.</ref> 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 [[Plympton]], [[Okehampton]], [[Barnstaple]], [[Totnes]] and [[Harberton]]. In the 12th century, the honour of Plympton, along with the [[Earl of Devon|Earldom of Devon]], was given to the Redvers family. In the following century, it passed to the Courtenays, who had already acquired Okehampton, and in 1335 they received the earldom too. It was also in the 14th century that the [[Duke of Exeter|Dukedom of Exeter]] was bestowed on the Holland family, but the dukedom became extinct in the reign of [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]]. The ancestors of Sir [[Walter Raleigh]], who was born at [[East Budleigh]], held considerable estates in the county from a similar period. Devon was given an independent [[High sheriff|sheriff]]. Originally an hereditary appointment, this was later held for a year only. In 1320, the locals complained that all the [[hundred (division)|hundreds]] of Devon were under the control of the great lords who did not appoint sufficient [[bailiff]]s for their proper government.

During the [[The Anarchy|civil war]] of [[Stephen of England|King Stephen]]'s reign, the castles of Plympton and [[Rougemont Castle|Exeter]] were held against the king by [[Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon|Baldwin de Redvers]] in 1140. Conflict resurfaced in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the French made frequent raids on the Devon coast; and during the [[Wars of the Roses]], when there were frequent skirmishes between the [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrian]] [[Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon|Earl of Devon]] and the [[House of York|Yorkist]] Lord Bonville. In 1470, Edward IV pursued [[Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick|Warwick]] and [[George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence|Clarence]] as far as Exeter after the [[Battle of Lose-coat Field]]. Warwick eventually escaped to France via [[Dartmouth, England|Dartmouth]]. Later, [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] travelled to Exeter to personally punish those who had inflamed the West against him. Several hundred were outlawed, including the [[Peter Courtenay (bishop)|Bishop]] and the Dean.

Dartmoor and Exmoor (mainly in Somerset) were Royal Forests, i.e. hunting preserves. The men of Devon paid 5000 [[mark (currency)#England and Scotland|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==

[[Image:English civil war map 1642 to 1645.JPG|thumb|180px|Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (yellow), 1642 — 1645]]

[[File:Devoniae Comitat' Rerumquae.jpg|thumb|180px|Atlas of Devon by [[Christopher Saxton]] from 1575]]

Early in [[Henry VII of England|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 [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]]'s [[Book of Common Prayer]]. The day after [[Whit Sunday]] 1549, a priest at [[Sampford Courtenay]] was persuaded to read the old [[mass (liturgy)|mass]].<ref>Heal, Felicity (2003). ''Reformation in Britain and Ireland'', p. 225. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-826924-2}}.</ref> This insubordination spread swiftly into serious revolt. The [[Cornish people|Cornish]] quickly joined the men of Devon in the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]] and Exeter suffered a distressing siege until relieved by Lord Russell.<ref>Secor, Philip Bruce (1999). ''Richard Hooker: Prophet of Anglicanism'', p. 13. Continuum International Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-86012-289-1}}.</ref>

Devon is particularly known for its [[Tudor period|Elizabethan]] mariners, such as Sir [[Francis Drake]], Mayor of Plymouth, Gilbert, Sir [[Richard Grenville (Elizabethan sailor)|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|First English Civil War}}

During the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], the cities of Devon largely favoured the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] cause, and by and large the rural areas favoured the [[Royalists]].  but there was a great desire for peace in the region and, in 1643 a treaty for the cessation of hostilities in Devon and [[Cornwall]] was agreed. Only small-scale skirmishes continued until the capture of Dartmouth and Exeter in 1646 by [[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, [[George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys|Judge Jefferies]] held one of his ‘bloody assizes’ at Exeter. In 1688, the [[William III of England|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, Devon|Forde]] and at Exeter.

==Modern period==
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}
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.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS46/LPS46_1991_20-31.pdf|title=The Repopulation of the Countryside in Devon and Cornwall|first=Anne|last=Glyn-Jones|journal=Local Population Studies|date=1991|issue=46|pages=20–31}}</ref>

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 [[tin]], [[copper]] and other metals from ancient times. Until about 1300 it produced more than Cornwall, but production declined with the opening of the deep Cornish mines. Tin was found largely on [[Dartmoor]]'s granite heights, and copper in the areas around it. It was exported from Mount Batten in prehistoric times. The [[Dartmoor tin-mining]] industry thrived for hundreds of years, continuing from pre-Roman times right through to the first half of the 20th century. In the 18th century [[Devon Great Consols]] mine (near [[Tavistock, Devon|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 [[stannary parliament]], which dates back to the 12th century. Stannary authority exceeded English law, and because this authority applied to part-time miners (e.g. tin streamers) as well as full-time miners the stannary parliament had significant power. Until the early 18th century the stannary parliament met in an open air parliament at [[Crockern Tor]] on [[Dartmoor]] with stannators appointed to it from each of the four stannary towns.  The parliament maintained its own gaol at [[Lydford]] and had a brutal and 'bloody' reputation (indeed [[Lydford law]] became a byword for ''in''justice), and once even gaoled an English MP in the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|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==
*[[Devon]]
*[[History of Plymouth]]
*[[List of places in Devon]]
*[[List of SSSIs in Devon]]
*[[History of England]]
*{{section link|List of lost settlements in the United Kingdom|Devon}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Samuel Tymms|location=London |publisher=J.B. Nichols and Son |year=1832 |series=The Family Topographer: Being a Compendious Account of the ... Counties of England |oclc=2127940 |volume=2 |title=Western Circuit |chapter=Devonshire |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/familytopograph01tymmgoog#page/n62/mode/2up }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070526055226/http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonHist1850.html General History and Description of the County of Devon, 1850]

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[[Category:History of England by county|Devon]]