Portal:Devon

The Devon Portal

Devon (/ˈdɛvən/ DEV-ən, historically also known as Devonshire /-ʃɪər, -ʃər/ -⁠sheer, -⁠shər) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west. The city of Plymouth is the largest settlement, and the city of Exeter is the county town.

Devon has a varied and attractive geography; it contains two national parks and parts of five areas of outstanding natural beauty. Dartmoor and a part of Exmoor are within the county. They are the source of most of the county's rivers, including the Taw, Dart, and Exe. The longest river is the Tamar, which forms most of the border with Cornwall and rises in the Devon's northwest hills. The southeast coast is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and characterised by tall cliffs which reveal the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous geology of the region. The county gives its name to the Devonian geologic period, which includes the slates and sandstones of the north coast.

During the Iron Age, Roman and the early medieval periods the county was the homeland of the Dumnonii Celtic Britons. The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries, and the western boundary with Cornwall was set at the Tamar by king Æthelstan in 936. (Full article...)

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The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End. An additional purpose of the canal was the supply of limestone and coal to lime kilns along with the removal of the resulting quicklime, which was used as a fertiliser and for building houses. This intended canal-link was never completed as planned, as the coming of the railways removed the need for its existence.

Construction was in two phases. A level section, from Tiverton to Lowdwells on the Devon/Somerset border, opened in 1814, and was capable of carrying broad-beam barges, carrying up to 40 tons. The Somerset section, suitable for tub boats (which were about 20 feet (6 m) long and capable of carrying eight tons) opened in 1839. It included an inclined plane and seven boat lifts, the earliest lifts to see commercial service in the UK. The lifts predated the Anderton Boat Lift by nearly 40 years.

The 11 miles of Devon section remains open, despite various threats to its future, and is now a designated country park and local nature reserve, and allows navigation. The Somerset section was closed in 1867, and is gradually disappearing from the landscape, although sections are now used as a footpath. It maintains a historical interest and has been subject to some archaeological excavations. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Devon-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Part of the seafront of Torquay, south Devon, at high tide (from Devon)
Image 2Oil on canvas painting by an unknown artist c.1870. These houses were later demolished to make way for St Edmund's Church. The painting depicts the edge of the River Exe flowing under three arches of the Old Exe Bridge, with houses on the bridge and on the river bank, St Edmund's Church can be seen in the top left. (from Exeter)
Image 3The Exeter Law Courts (from Exeter)
Image 4The Exeter Riddle Sculpture in Exeter High Street, created by artist Michael Fairfax and installed in 2005 (from Exeter)
Image 5"The House That Moved", West Street, Exeter (from Exeter)
Image 6An illustration of Exeter in 1563, entitled Civitas Exoniae (vulgo Excester) urbs primaria in comitatu Devoniae (from Exeter)
Image 7Frontispiece to Shapter's "History of the Cholera in Exeter in 1832" (from Exeter)
Image 8HMNB Devonport – the largest operational naval base in Western Europe. (from Plymouth)
Image 9Exeter Civic Centre (from Exeter)
Image 10Unloading mail by hand from the Sir Francis Drake at Millbay Docks, March 1926 (from Plymouth)
Image 11Exe Flood Relief Channel built after the floods of 1960 (from Exeter)
Image 12Exeter Cathedral and the Devon County War Memorial (from Exeter)
Image 13Royal William Victualling Yard, Stonehouse by Sir John Rennie,1825–33. (from Plymouth)
Image 14Beckley Point (from Plymouth)
Image 15St David's Church, Exeter (from Exeter)
Image 16Roger Deakins, cinematographer (from Devon)
Image 17Prysten House, Finewell Street, 1498, is the oldest surviving house in Plymouth, and built from local Plymouth Limestone and Dartmoor granite (from Plymouth)
Image 18Charter map of Sutton harbour and Plymouth in 1540 (from Plymouth)
Image 19Barnfield Theatre (from Exeter)
Image 20Plymouth the Hoe (postcard c1920) by A.R. Quinton (from Plymouth)
Image 21Exeter Guildhall, which dates from 1470 (from Exeter)
Image 22Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth mourning their lovers, who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792 (from Plymouth)
Image 23St Michael's Church and Episcopal Building (from Exeter)
Image 24Lamp standard from the 1905 Exe bridge, installed at Butts Ferry, on Exeter Quayside, in 1983 (from Exeter)
Image 25Saltram House remodelled by the architect Robert Adam (from Plymouth)
Image 26The gatehouse of Rougemont Castle (from Exeter)
Image 27National Armada memorial (Britannia) (from Plymouth)
Image 28Piazza Terracina, Exeter, named after Terracina, Italy (from Exeter)
$Image 29Ilfracombe, on the coast of North Devon (from Devon)$
Image 29Ilfracombe, on the coast of North Devon (from Devon)
Image 30Remains of the medieval Exe Bridge, built around 1200 (from Exeter)
Image 31Siege of Plymouth, 1643 (from Plymouth)
Image 32The Cathedral Green after a rare snowfall (from Exeter)
Image 33The Mayflower Steps Memorial (from Plymouth)
Image 34Torquay sea front during Storm Emma – March 2018 (from Devon)
Image 35The Devonport Leat on Dartmoor looking up stream (from Plymouth)
Image 36The River Exe (from Exeter)
Image 37Plymouth (1860s-1880s) by Francis Frith (from Plymouth)
Image 38The Parade, Barbican (from Plymouth)
Image 39Sir Francis Drake (from Plymouth)
Image 40The beach at Westward Ho!, North Devon, looking north towards the shared estuary of the rivers Taw and Torridge (from Devon)
Image 41Watercolour by Olive Wharry circa 1942 of St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter, after the Blitz. In the early hours of 4th May 1942 a 250kg bomb fell directly on St Sidwells. The church tower was left standing but was so badly damaged that it was pulled down shortly after. A replacement church was built on the site. From the Royal Albert Memorial Museum's collection (63/2004/4). (from Exeter)
Image 42The Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Boniface (Stonehouse, Plymouth) (from Plymouth)
Image 43Civic Centre, completed 1962, symbolic of the Post War 'Heroic Modernism' of the Welfare State; a listed building since 2007 (from Plymouth)
Image 44Smeaton's Tower (from Plymouth)
Image 45Exeter Canal Basin (from Exeter)
Image 46Cliffs in Devon (from Devon)
Image 47Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay (from Devon)
Image 48Armada Way looking north (from Plymouth)
Image 49Population pyramid of Plymouth (unitary authority) in 2021 (from Plymouth)
Image 50A portion of Exeter's city wall, formed of both Roman and medieval stones (from Exeter)
Image 51Laver Building, University of Exeter (from Exeter)
Image 52The Plymouth Combined Crown and County Court Centre (from Plymouth)
Image 53The coat of arms of Devon County Council (from Devon)
Image 54The High Street ca. 1895 (from Exeter)
Image 55The flag of the historic county of Devon (from Devon)
Image 56Bridge carrying the M5 motorway across the River Exe (from Exeter)
Image 57the 'Invincible' Spanish Armada, 1588 (from Plymouth)
Image 58Plymouth Sound and Breakwater (from Plymouth)
Image 59John Foulston's Town Hall, Column and Library in Devonport (from Plymouth)
Image 60The Great Hall in the Guildhall (from Plymouth)
Image 61Plymouth Drake's Island (1860s-1880s) by Francis Frith (from Plymouth)
Image 62John Rocque's 1744 map of Exeter (from Exeter)
Image 63Agatha Christie, best selling crime novelist (from Devon)
Image 64Plymouth Pavilions, home to the Plymouth City Patriots. (from Plymouth)
Image 65Heathland at Woodbury Common in south east Devon (from Devon)
Image 66MV Pont-Aven: Brittany Ferries service to Roscoff, France and Santander, Spain in Millbay Docks (from Plymouth)
Image 67Naval War Memorial (from Plymouth)
Image 68Plymouth the Promenade Pier (postcard c1925) by A. R. Quinton (from Plymouth)
Image 69Inter-city trains at Plymouth station, operated by Great Western Railway (from Plymouth)
Image 70Geological map of Wales & Southwest England (from Devon)
Image 71The Roland Levinsky Building – Faculty of Arts of the University of Plymouth (from Plymouth)
Image 72Interior of the Drake Circus Shopping Centre in 2006 (from Plymouth)
Image 73Elliot Terrace, Plymouth Hoe (from Plymouth)
Image 74Home Park (from Plymouth)
Image 75Grade I listed Town Hall, Column and Library in Devonport (from Plymouth)
Image 76Exeter International Airport (from Exeter)
Image 77The Higher Market, Exeter, in 1943; at this time the larger firms such as Mac Fisheries had joined the smaller shopkeepers' stalls in the market, which, before the war, along with neighbouring Goldsmith Street, was earmarked for demolition; a new Civic Centre was to be built on the site. (from Exeter)
Image 78Ponies grazing on Exmoor near Brendon, North Devon (from Devon)
Image 79The inner harbour, Brixham, south Devon, at low tide (from Devon)
Image 80Northeastward view of Plymouth Sound from Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall, with Drake's Island (centre) and, behind it from left to right, the Royal Citadel, the fuel tanks of Cattedown, and Mount Batten; in the background, the hills of Dartmoor. (from Plymouth)
Image 81Population pyramid of Exeter (district) in 2021 (from Exeter)
Image 82County Hall, Exeter. Headquarters for Devon County Council. (from Devon)
Image 83Menhir at Drizzlecombe (from Devon)
Image 84Exeter St Davids Railway Station (from Exeter)
Image 85The New Palace Theatre in 2008 (from Plymouth)
Image 86John Lewis Building (right), adjacent to Waterstones (left) in the busy high street (from Exeter)
Image 87Princesshay Shopping Centre with Exeter Cathedral in the background (from Exeter)

Selected image

Little Trowlesworthy Tor on Lee Moor, near Cadover Bridge.

Recently featured: Bigbury sea tractor - Crazywell cross - South Devon Cattle - Dartmoor tors – Plymouth harbour – Westward Ho! beach

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Some of the larger settlements of Devon

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Did you know...

Smeaton's Tower

... that Plymouth's lighthouse, Smeaton's Tower (pictured), was dismantled and then rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe as a memorial?
... that Devon is the third largest of the English counties and has a population of 1,109,900?
... that 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?
... that Devon was one of the first areas of England settled following the end of the last ice age?
... that the St Nicholas Priory in Exeter is being restored with the same methods that were used 500 years ago?
... that Devon is the only county in England to have two separate coastlines?
... that there was no established coat of arms for Devon until 1926?
... that the English Riviera Geopark in Torbay is the world's only urban Geopark?

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Economy and industry of Devon • Flag of Devon • History of Devon • Notable people from Devon

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Ceremonial county of Devon
Devon Portal
Unitary authorities	Plymouth Torbay
Boroughs or districts	East Devon Exeter Mid Devon North Devon South Hams Teignbridge Torridge West Devon
Major settlements (cities in italics)	Ashburton Axminster Bampton Barnstaple Bideford Bovey Tracey Brixham Buckfastleigh Budleigh Salterton Chagford Chudleigh Chulmleigh Colyton Crediton Cullompton Dartmouth Dawlish Exeter Exmouth Great Torrington Hatherleigh Holsworthy Honiton Ilfracombe Ivybridge Kingsbridge Kingsteignton Lynton Moretonhampstead Newton Abbot North Tawton Northam Okehampton Ottery St Mary Paignton Plymouth Plympton Plymstock Salcombe Seaton Sidmouth South Molton Tavistock Teignmouth Tiverton Topsham Torquay Totnes See also: List of civil parishes in Devon
Rivers	Ashburn Avon Axe Barle Bovey Bray Burn Clyst Creedy Culm Dart East Dart West Dart Erme Exe Heddon Lemon Lew Lumburn Lyd East Lyn West Lyn Meavy Mole Okement East Okement West Okement Otter Plym Sid Swincombe Tamar Tavy Taw Teign Thrushel Torridge Walkham Wallabrooke East Webburn West Webburn Wolf Yealm
Topics	Flag Devon County Council Parliamentary constituencies Economy Places Towns by population SSSIs Country houses Grade I listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings Bridges History Schools Museums Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Notable people Dartmoor Exmoor South Devon AONB Tamar Valley AONB Jurassic Coast South West Coast Path Two Moors Way North Devon's Biosphere Reserve