X-Nico

42 unusual facts about Devon


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.

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.

Bishop of Truro

It was created by the division of the Diocese of Exeter in 1876 approximately along the Devon-Cornwall border (a few parishes of Devon west of the Tamar were included in the new diocese).

Bobbin lace

Guilds of modern lacemakers still meet in regions as varied as Devonshire, England and Orange County, California.

British M-class submarine

She was captained during her sea trials by experienced submariner Commander Max Horton after his return from the Baltic, and was later lost with all hands while on exercise in the English Channel near Start Point in Devon after a collision with a Swedish collier, SS Vidar, on 12 November 1925.

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.

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.

Darren Schroeder

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

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.

Exercise Tiger

Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, was the code name for one in a series of large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which took place on Slapton Sands or Slapton Beach 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.

Forts in Cornwall

Many Napoleonic forts were built during the Napoleonic War in South East Cornwall to protect Plymouth Sound and Plymouth's docks in Devonport, Devon from attack: some are still in use today by the Ministry of Defence.

Fosse Way

There are further alignments on the A358 at Ball's Farm and Musbury south of Axminster, which imply a Roman road did continue along the River Axe toward Axmouth and Seaton.

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.

George Manson

But his health had been gradually failing, and he was ordered to Lympstone in Devonshire where he died in 1876.

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.

Henry Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale

Duke was the second son of William Edward Duke, a granite merchant of Merrivale, Devon, and his wife Elizabeth Ann (née Lord).

James Polkinghorne

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

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 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.

Lowland Mounted Brigade

In late September 1915, the brigade (just two regiments strong, Ayrshire Yeomanry and Lanarkshire Yeomanry) left Fife for Devonport.

Luffincott

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

Maris Wigeon

Until recently (2008/9) the only commercial seed distributor for Maris Widgeon, was Pickards Seeds, of Burrington, Devon.

Miles Partridge

His wife's name was Jane, and after his death she was granted the manor of Kenn, Devon.

New Shute House

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

P. D. Orton

He frequently visited his friend and fellow mycologist T.J. Wallace in Membury, Devon, publishing a number of new agaric species from Dawlish Warren and other Devon localities.

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 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.

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.

Topsham, Maine

The first sawmill was built in 1716 on the Cathance River, and in 1717 the plantation received the name Topsham, named for Topsham in Devon, England.

Uncle Tom Cobley

Cobley disapproved of his nephew and kept him out of his will (signed at Pascoe house, Colebrooke).

Victor Daley

He was born at the Navan, County Armagh, Ireland, and was educated at the Christian Brothers at Devonport in England.

William Courtenay, 1st Viscount Courtenay

William Courtenay, 1st Viscount Courtenay (11 February 1709–16 May 1762), also de jure 7th Earl of Devon, was a British peer.


Berry Castle

Berry Castle, Weare Giffard, an Iron Age hill fort near Weare Gifford, Devon, United Kingdom

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

British NVC community MC10

This community is found in coastal areas on the west coast of Britain from Devon and Cornwall north to Shetland, with outlying examples in southeast Scotland and Northumberland.

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.

Chrisstanleyite

First discovered by Dr. Werner Paar from a sample received from Hope’s Nose, Torquay, Devon, England, chrisstanleyite has since been discovered in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and in El Chire, La Rioja, Argentina.

Cornish cuisine

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

Danielle Senior

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

David A. Tall

Born in Plympton, he was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for Devon.

DVD Monthly

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

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.

Eric Buller

He represented Devon until 1926, and returned in 1931 to play a single match against Cornwall.

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.

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.

Harvest jug

They are traditional in the south-west of England, especially the ports of Barnstaple and Bideford in north Devon and Donyatt in Somerset.

Henry Garrett Newland

In the autumn of 1855 he moved to the vicarage of St Marychurch with Coffinswell, near Torquay in Devon, where Henry Phillpotts the bishop of Exeter appointed him his domestic chaplain.

Hort baronets

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

Horton Priory

It was founded as a Benedictine abbey around 970 by Ordgar, Earl of Devon, or his son, Ordulph, and dedicated to Olfrida, the mother of Saint Edith of Wilton by King Edgar the Peaceful.

John Rolle

John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1756–1842), British Member of Parliament for Devon, 1780–1786

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.

Joseph Lloyd Brereton

In recognition of his work in Devon, in 1858 Brereton was made prebendary of Exeter Cathedral.

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.

Lifton, Devon

Lifton is a village and civil parish in Devon, South West England near the confluence of the rivers Wolf and Lyd, 1¼ miles south of the A30 trunk road and very near the border between Devon and Cornwall.

Maiden Castle, Dorset

This was a characteristic of Vespasian's campaign in the region; there was military occupation at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, Hembury in Devon, and Hodd Hill in Dorset.

Marble Hill House

but more commonly thereafter, and provided a standard model for the English villas built throughout the Thames Valley and further afield, for example New Place, King's Nympton, Devon, built between 1746–9 to the design of Francis Cartwright of Blandford in Dorset.

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.

Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton

Apart from the many valuable manors inherited from her father she also inherited the patronage of the Rolle pocket borough of Callington in Cornwall, and nominated in 1761 as its MP her Devon agent Richard Stevens (1702-1776), of Winscott, in the parish of Peters Marland, adjacent to Petrockstowe, who was the brother-in-law of Margaret's distant, but locally resident, cousin Henry Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1708-1750) of Stevenstone.

Mary Gillham

She lectured in the universities of Exeter (Devon), Massey (New Zealand), Melbourne (Australia), Kano (Nigeria), and worked in the Adult Education Department at University College Cardiff from 1961 until her retirement in 1988.

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.

Mike Zito

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

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.

Royal Dart Yacht Club

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

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.

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.

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.

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).