X-Nico

50 unusual facts about Devon


Admiralty Research Laboratory

During the First World War, the Anti-Submarine Division of the Admiralty had established experimental stations at Hawkcraig (Aberdour) and Parkeston Quay, Harwich, without-stations at Dartmouth and Wemyss Bay, to work on submarine detection methods.

Anthony Horneck

In 1665 he became tutor to Christopher Monck, Lord Torrington, son of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle The duke gave him the living of Dolton in Devon, and procured for him a prebend at Exeter Cathedral, where he was admitted 13 June 1670.

Ashwell, Queensland

Walter Loveday and Henry Stevens provided an acre each of land for a school in this district to be named Ashwell after Walter Loveday's farm titled Ashwell which he named after Ashwell, United Kingdom.

The origin of the name Ashwell is from a town in the United Kingdom by the name of Ashwell.

Broadwoodwidger Rural District

The county boundary was realigned when the district was abolished in 1966, with two parishes, Northcott and Werrington being transferred to Cornwall with the remaining four parishes remaining in Devon and passing to the Holsworthy Rural District.

Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway

The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway built the broad gauge railway line from Totnes to Buckfastleigh and Ashburton in Devon, England.

Butterleigh

Butterleigh is a village in Mid Devon, England situated about three miles south east of Tiverton.

Comet line

The third route from Paris (the Shelburne line) ran to Rennes and then St Brieuc in Brittany, where men were shipped to Dartmouth.

Cookbury

The parish, which lies about five miles east of the town of Holsworthy, is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Thornbury, Bradford, Ashwater, Hollacombe, and Holsworthy Hamlets.

Crediton Parish Church

Sully was lord of the manor of Iddesleigh, but was said by Westcote to have had his seat at "Rookesford", i.e. Ruxford, in the parish of Sandford about 1/2 mile north-west of Crediton.

A vicar of Crediton was appointed together with two chaplains, one of which ministered to Sandford (the adjoining parish).

Custos Rotulorum of Devon

This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Devon.

Danielle Senior

Danielle Senior is a London-based singer and songwriter, originally from Devon in the United Kingdom.

Darby Lux I

William resided at his estate “Ippleden”, located in Devonshire, England.

Darren Schroeder

Darren Schroeder is a pākehā from Christchurch, New Zealand who is now living in Devon, England.

Devon Redlands

From Shillingford it runs initially southwest and then south, taking in Bampton, Cove, Loxbeare and Withleigh.

Ectoedemia heckfordi

It is only known from Devon in Great Britain, having been discovered in 2004 at the National Trust's Hembury Woods by amateur naturalist Bob Heckford, for whom it is named.

Edward Capern

Edward Capern (January 21, 1819 – June 5, 1894), born at Tiverton, Devonshire, was an English poet.

Elizabeth Dickens

Concerned about his father's financial problems, in 1839 Charles Dickens rented a cottage for his parents far from London, and, as he thought, far from temptation, at Alphington in Devon.

Formica cunicularia

:In the New Forest it occurs in earth-mounds, at Seaton under stones, in the Landslip, Isle of Wight, in the side of the cliff, and at Fairlight I found it in the side of the cliff and in earth-mounds in the undercliff - one of the nests being traced by tracking a worker which was carrying home a fly in its jaws.

Francis Foster Barham

After a preliminary training in the grammar school of Penzance, he studied under one of his brothers near Epping Forest, and was then articled for five years (1826–31) to a solicitor at Devonport.

Fremington Army Camp

Fremington Army Camp was a military camp in the village of Fremington, Devon, England, which was used as a base to train the United States Army Air Corps.

Gilbert Bourne

Gilbert Bourne (date of birth unknown; d. 10 September 1569 at Silverton, Devon) was the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Bath and Wells, England.

Hardy Monument

From the top of the monument at a height of 850 feet above sea level it is possible to see on a clear day: Start Point, Devon, St. Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight both of which are 90 kilometres distant and to the North can be seen Pen Hill in the Mendip Hills which is 65 kilometres away.

Hartland Point

It is three miles (5 km) north-west of the village of Hartland.

James Polkinghorne

This match, the purse for which was £200 a side for the best of three back falls, took place at Tamar Green, Morice Town, near Devonport, on 23 October 1826, in the presence of upwards of 12,000 spectators.

Jan Visman

These laboratories were located in Calgary until 1955 when they moved to Edmonton and are still operating alongside the Alberta Research Council at the Coal Research Centre in Devon, Alberta.

Jim Reid

He now lives in Devon with his wife Julie, and daughters Simone (born 2003) and Candice (born 2007).

John Ainsworth-Davis

John Creyghton Ainsworth-Davis (23 April 1895 in Aberystwyth, Wales – 3 January 1976 in Stockland, Devon) was a Welsh athlete.

John Anstey

Anstey was born in Devonshire, England in 1856, and was raised on his father's farm in Tiverton.

John Fancy

Following the death of his wife in 1983 he retired to Slapton, Devon to be near his daughter.

John Morphett

Morphett was born in London, the second son of Nathaniel Morphett, a solicitor, and his wife Mary, née Gliddon, of Cummins, Ide, Devon, and was educated at Plymouth and Highgate Grammar Schools.

Kelly, Devon

Kelly House is mid 18th century but its predecessor the Tudor house was on a different site nearby and is still in existence.

Luffincott

The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Tetcott, Ashwater, St Giles on the Heath and Northcott.

Margaret Cruwys

She died on 12 March 1968 at 31 St Peter Street, Tiverton, Devon, and was buried on 18 March 1968 at the Church of the Holy Cross, Cruwys Morchard, Devon.

Michael Linning Melville

Michael Linning Melville and his wife Elizabeth both died in 1876 and are buried in the old churchyard at Dartington Hall in South Devonshire, England.

Microcon

Microcon is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention, held annually at the University of Exeter in Exeter, Devon, England since 1982, usually over the first weekend in March.

New Shute House

The family moved to temporary lodging at Colyton House in nearby Colyton where they remained for two years.

Philip Richard Morris

Philip Richard Morris (Devonport 4 December 1836 – 22 April 1902, 92 Clifton Hill, Maida Vale, London) was an English painter of genre and maritime scenes (particularly allegorical ones of rural life), Holman Hunt-influenced religious paintings and (later in his career) portraits.

River Burn

The River Burn, Devon, a tributary of the River Tavy on Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England

River Cottage

In September 2006, the show would leave those buildings, then known as River Cottage H.Q., to move on to the Park Farm location near to Uplyme in Devon.

Seán Rafferty

He married Peggy Laing in 1947 and the next year moved with her to Iddesleigh, Devon, where he was landlord of the "Duke of York" public house.

Seaton Branch Line

They opened a station called Colyton for Seaton, near Shute.

Siege of Lisbon

In May 1147, the first contingents of crusaders left from Dartmouth in England for the Holy Land.

Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet

Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet (1678–1741), of Colcombe Castle, near Colyton and Shute, near Honiton, Devon, was an English politician.

South West Water

South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Cornwall and Devon and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset.

St Thomas, Exeter

The other part, about a mile to the west of the main body of the parish, contained the hamlet of Oldridge and was transferred to the parish of Whitestone in 1884.

Thomas Sewell Robins

Born in Devonport, Devon, he was an early member of the New Water-Colour Society and the Institute of Painters in Water-Colours.

Walter Heath Williams

However, Walter Heath Williams lived in the southwest of England in Bath, Somerset, and in Topsham and Torquay in Devon, whereas his namesake lived nearly his entire life in Surrey, on the south side of London.

William Pullen

Pullen was born in Devonport, Devon, the son of Royal Navy Lieutenant William Pullen and Amelia Mary Haswell.


Alec Devon Kreider

Alec Devon Kreider (born February 4, 1991) is a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, criminal who was convicted for the three murders of a Manheim Township family on May 12, 2007.

Baler

On 3 September 2010, on the A381 in Halwell near Totnes, Devon, UK an early member of British rock group ELO Mike Edwards was killed when his van was crushed by a round bale.

Barbastelle

In Britain, only a few breeding roosts are known; Paston Great Barn in Norfolk, parts of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills in Devon and Somerset (see Tarr Steps), the Mottisfont woodland in Hampshire and Ebernoe Common in West Sussex.

Baron Clinton

The present family seat in 2012 is Heanton Satchville, Huish, near Merton, Devon, which was built in 1782 as "Innis House" by Sir James Innis, Duke of Roxburgh, and was purchased by the 18th Baron Clinton in about 1805, renamed Heanton Satchville, which burned down in 1935 and was rebuilt.

Bertie Bolton

Bolton's final game for Dorset came in 1912 against Devon.

Brad Green

Braddon Green (born 1959), first-class cricketer for Victoria and Devon

Budoc

Budoc is reputed to have sailed across the Plymouth Sound, until he found an inlet on the Devon side of the River Tamar.

Burgage

In South Zeal in Devon burgage plots were known as "borough acres".

Carew Reynell

Reynell was the son of Richard Reynell (d.1585) of East Ogwell, Devon, and his wife Agnes Southcote, daughter of John Southcote of Bovey Tracey, Devon.

Charles Carew

Carew was the son of Reverend Robert Baker Carew, Rector of Bickleigh, Devon, grandson of Sir Thomas Carew, 6th Baronet (see Carew baronets).

Childe's Tomb

Devon folk singer Seth Lakeman sang about Childe the Hunter on his 2006 album Freedom Fields.

Cornish cuisine

Cornwall has influenced and been influenced by other British cuisine, as well as having similarities with the cuisine of its neighbour, Devon.

Devon Belle

Both observation cars have been preserved in England and are still in revenue-earning service: No.13 is working on the Dartmouth Steam Railway, in south Devon; while No.14 is now at the Swanage Railway in Dorset, after a lengthy sojourn in North America.

Devon Labour Briefing

In the UK miners' strike (1984-1985), Devon Labour Briefing twinned itself with the Maerdy Colliery in South Wales, and collected money and food.

Devon Railway Centre

The Devon Railway Centre is in the village of Bickleigh in Mid Devon, England, at the former Cadeleigh railway station on the closed Great Western Railway branch from Exeter to Dulverton, also known as the Exe Valley Railway.

DVD Monthly

It was founded by Dave Perry in 1999, in Exeter, Devon, as part of his Predator Publishing company.

DVD Monthly was founded in April 1999 as the first magazine of Dave Perry's Predator Publishing in Exeter, Devon, UK.

Elizabeth Simcoe

Margaret married Admiral Samuel Graves on June 14, 1769 and she grew up at Graves's estate, Hembury Fort near Honiton in Devon.

Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger was relocated from Slapton to Bereton on the Devon coast and used as the background to Kate Ellis's book, The Armada Boy, first published in 1999.

Francis Palmer Selleck

He was the grandson of the first Francis Palmer Selleck (1824–1883), of Shaugh Prior, Meavy and Plympton, Devon.

Frederick Arthur Challinor

Frederick Arthur Challinor was born on 12 November 1866 at Longton, Staffordshire and died on 10 June 1952 at Paignton, Devon.

Gillian Morgan

At the turn of the century Morgan was Chief Executive of the North & East Devon Health AUthority, based in Exeter where her husband was teacher at Exeter School.

Hort baronets

The current Baronet is Sir Andrew Edwin Fenton Hort, of East Prawle, Devon.

James Polkinghorne

Polkinghorne's greatest match was on 23 October 1826 against Abraham Cann of Colebrooke who was the champion of Devon.

John Carpenter Garnier

Carpenter Garnier, born Carpenter, was the son of John Carpenter of Mount Tavy, Tavistock, Devon and his wife Lucy Garnier, daughter of Rev. William Garnier.

John Creemer Clarke

Clarke was the son of Robert Clarke of St Giles in the Wood, Devon and his wife Graciana Creemer, daughter of John Creemer of Exbourne Devon.

Jon Godden

Though she returned to England with her now-retired father and her mother in the spring of 1936 and briefly stayed with them in Totnes, Devon, she soon set off back to India with Rumer, who had married and established a Calcutta dancing school.

Karan Ashley

Her first big debut as, editor and executive producer was the independent film Devon's Ghost, alongside fellow Power Ranger alumnus Johnny Yong Bosch and executive producer Koichi Sakamoto for Gag Order Films, Inc.

Liber Exoniensis

It contains a variety of administrative materials concerning the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

Mike Zito

Zito met Devon Allman while working together at the Guitar Center in St. Louis.

Old Roman Catholic Church in North America

The Most Reverend Francis P. Facione is the Titular Archbishop of Devon and the current Presiding Bishop of this Independent Catholic denomination.

Penrose Methodist Chapel

The Methodist societies established by William O’Bryan (1778-1868) became known as the Bible Christians, and the first formed at Launcells and Shebbear along the Devon and Cornwall border largely on agricultural land.

Peril at End House

Transposed from Devon to Cornwall, the Majestic Hotel of the book is based on the Imperial Hotel in Torquay.

Peter Pindar

Peter Pindar, a pen name of John Wolcot (1738–1819), satirist, born in Dodbrooke in Devon

Philip Nicholas

Nicolas died in 1952 and was buried at St. John the Baptist's Church Cemetery in Bishop's Tawton, Devon.

RAF Northleach

Glider Training School left RAF Stoke Orchard and RAF Northleach for good relocating to RAF Exeter, Devon and its satellite of RAF Culmhead, Somerset.

Robert de Brantingham

The action was a plea of covenant concerning Drewsteignton, Devon, for which de Brantingham and his fellow plaintiffs paid 100 marks, and in return were granted the manor of Drewsteignton.

Robert Denys

Anne Denys, who married Sir Henry Rolle (d.1616) of Stevenstone in Devon, an ancestor of John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842) and Barons Clinton, the latter of whom restored Livery Dole after the WWII bomb damage.

Rodney Pocceschi

In the evening of June 23, 2003, Christina Marie Tatem, an 18-year-old IHOP employee, let two men into the back door of the restaurant: her boyfriend and convicted felon LeKeith Devon Speller, 21, and his accomplice Shawn Anthony Zhe.

Royal Dart Yacht Club

The Royal Dart Yacht Club was founded in 1866 located in Kingswear, Devon, England.

Shirwell

The parish was successively the seat of two of the leading families of North Devon, the Beaumonts (to the end of the 15th century) and their heirs the Chichesters of Raleigh, Pilton, both of which families lived on the estate of Youlston within the Manor of Shirwell.

Sir John Northcote, 1st Baronet

Northcote was the eldest surviving son of John Northcote (1570-1632) of Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton, Devon, (whose splendid monument he erected in Newton St Cyres Church) by his second wife Susanna Pollard, daughter of Sir Hugh II Pollard of King's Nympton.

Sport in Plymouth

Sport in Plymouth, Devon, England, dates back to the 19th century with its first club, Plymouth United F.C., being founded in 1886.

St Clement's Day

Ironworkers gather from all over the Britain to celebrate St Clement’s Day at Finch Foundry near Okehampton in Devon.

Stannary

Plympton became the fourth Devon stannary town in 1328 after a powerful lobby persuaded the Sheriff of Devon that it was nearer the sea and therefore had better access for merchants.

Tønder

The Scouts of Tønder are twinned with Hemyock, in Devon, England, and make exchange trips between the countries every few years.

Tricia Pursley

She is best known for her role as Devon Shepherd McFadden, the daughter of Ellen Shepherd (Kathleen Noone), on the soap opera All My Children.

Wassailing

The West Country is the most famous and largest cider producing region of the country and some of the most important wassails are held annually in Carhampton and Dunster (Somerset) and Whimple (Devon), both on 17 January (old Twelfth Night).

Whimple

The Whimple Wassail is an orchard-visiting wassail ceremony and was first mentioned by the Victorian author and folklorist; the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould in his book Devon Characters and Strange Events (published 1908).