Place:Devon, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Devon (; archaically known as Devonshire) is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is a part of South West England, and bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, and Dorset to the east. The City of Exeter is the county town; seven other districts of East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, and West Devon are under the jurisdiction of Devon County Council; Plymouth and Torbay are each a part of Devon but administered as unitary authorities. Combined as a ceremonial county, Devon's area is , and its population is about 1.1 million.

Devon has its historical origins in classical antiquity and derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age and Roman Britain, was the homeland of the Dumnonii Celts. The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries, resulting in emigration of some Celts to Cornwall and Domnonee (in what is now Brittany). Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter, with the River Tamar forming the western boundary with Cornwall as set by King Æthelstan in 936.

Geographically, Devon is distinguished as the only county of England to have two separate coastlines (northern and southern), both of which are peppered by lofty cliffs and sandy shores; Devon's bays are typically used as fisheries, ports or seaside towns used for tourism. The inland terrain of Devon is broadly rural and hilly, and has a low population density in comparison to other counties of England. Dartmoor, the largest open space in southern England at , is indicative of the Devonshire uplands, covered with wide moorland and underlying granite geology. In the valleys and lowlands the soil is fertile, traversed by rivers such as the Exe, the Culm, the Dart, and the Otter.

The economy of Devon is linked closely with tourism. The comparative mild climate and salubrious landscape give rise to Devon as a destination for recreation and leisure in England, with travellers particularlly attracted to the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks, the Jurassic Coast, the Braunton Burrows UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape and the ribbon of resort towns along the south-coast known collectively as the English Riviera.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Toponymy

The name Devon derives from the name of the Celtic people who inhabited the southwestern peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman invasion c. AD 50, known as the Dumnonii, thought to mean "deep valley dwellers" from proto Celtic *dubnos 'deep'. In the Brythonic Celtic languages, Devon is known as Dyfnaint (Welsh), Devnent (Breton) and Dewnens (Cornish) each meaning 'deep valleys'. (For an account of Celtic Dumnonia see the separate article).

William Camden, in his 1607 edition of Britannia, described Devon as being one part of an older, wider country that once included Cornwall:

The term "Devon" is normally used for everyday purposes e.g. "Devon County Council" but "Devonshire" continues to be used in the names of the "Devonshire and Dorset Regiment" and "The Devonshire Association". One erroneous theory is that the "shire" suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire, resident in Derbyshire. However, there are references to "Defenascire" in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD (this would mean "Shire of the Devonians"), which translates to modern English as "Devonshire". The term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia (Latin) to Defenascir.

Human occupation

Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago. Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under military occupation for around 350 years. Later, the area began to experience Saxon incursions from the east around 600 AD, firstly as small bands of settlers along the coasts of Lyme Bay and southern estuaries and later as more organised bands pushing in from the east. Devon became a frontier between Brythonic Dumnonia and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. The border with Cornwall was set by King Athelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD. Danish raids also occurred sporadically along many coastal parts of Devon between around 800AD and just before the time of the Norman conquest, including at Taintona (a settlement on the Teign estuary) in 1001.

Devon has also featured in most of the civil conflicts in England since the Norman Conquest, including the Wars of the Roses, Perkin Warbeck's rising in 1497, the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, and the English Civil War. The arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham.

Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times. Devon's tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devon's Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748.

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