The Little History of Devon E-Book

Suze Gardner

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 228

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Traditionally, Devon was seen as unimportant because of its distance from London and its bad roads – lesser, it was thought, than the historical capital or culturally rich home counties. How wrong could non-Devonians have been? The county is all about its splendid prehistoric and historic remains, its myths, and its maritime legacy. That's not to forget the tenacious people who have lived there for thousands of years: wreckers, misbehaving clergymen, eccentrics and determined women who bucked the trends. From stories of early man right up to modern times and every period in-between, Devon (and this book) has it all.

Leseprobe

For my friendsLinda, Di, Rich, Pam and Adrian.

First published 2021

The History Press97 St George’s Place, Cheltenham,Gloucestershire, GL50 3QBwww.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Suze Gardner, 2021

The right of Suze Gardner to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9689 1

Typesetting and origination by Typo•glyphixPrinted and bound in Turkey by Imak

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 A Little Bit of Geology

2 Kents Cavern and Early Humans

3 The Mid and New Stone Age 10,000 to 2300 BC

4 The Bronze Age 2300 BC to 700 BC

5 The Iron Age 700 BC to AD 100

6 The Romans: Conquerors!

7 The Saxons: Christianity

8 The Vikings: Raiders

9 The Middle Ages: The Conqueror to Richard III

10 The Tudors: Religion and Seafaring

11 The Early Stuarts: The Trouble with Religion

12 The Civil War: County in Turmoil

13 The Cromwellian Era: Political Conundrums

14 The Later Stuarts: Merry Making and More Religious Strife

15 The Georgians: Science, Arts and War

16 Victorian and Edwardian Innovation and More Exploration

17 The First World War: Tragedy and Heroism

18 Between the Wars: Spanish Flu and Votes for Women

19 The Second World War: Bombs, Shortages and Smiling Through

20 Modern Devon: New Towns, Films and Floods

21 A Back Track: Mining, Wool and Modern/ Ancient Traditions

Conclusion

Bibliography

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suze Gardner can’t remember a time when she wasn’t fascinated by history. She has written three previous books for The History Press. Suze has worked as a teacher and at the Women’s History Library, London (Formerly the Fawcett Library). She has worked at Exeter’s Medieval Underground Passages for several years, where she conducts guided tours and is involved in research. Suze also writes comedy plays with historical themes, which have been produced locally. She and her partner, Seal, live in a small village in mid-Devon surrounded by farmland.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks are due to the staff of the Devon and Exeter Institution, Exeter Central Library, Devon Heritage Centre, Plymouth Central Library, My colleagues at Exeter’s Underground Passages, Di the graphics whizz, Crediton Library, Councillor Stuart Penny and everyone who contacted me with interesting historical stories to share, lent me books and gave me ideas. As ever a big, big thank you to my partner, Seal, for having lots of patience and doing more than his fair share of the cooking.

INTRODUCTION

Devon’s history is eventful to say the least. In spite of being a little isolated from most of the rest of the country, Devon has played its part in many important events from early history to the present time. Putting together The Little History of Devon definitely did not involve scratching around looking for things to write about! Rather, it was a case of choosing from the many important, interesting, entertaining and surprising historical events that have taken place in the county. Writing about them was a challenge in itself. This book is for people who are interested in history and want to know more without having to wade through hundreds and hundreds of pages. As a former history student the author knows how daunting that can be even to people who love the subject!

1

A LITTLE BIT OF GEOLOGY

Devon is the third largest English county and is made up of a variety of types of stone, some of which have been quarried for use as building materials, altering the landscape for thousands of years. Here are just a few of the more common ones that will feature in this Little History of Devon:

Granite – Dartmoor is famous for its extensive 300-million-year-old granite, formed by molten rock rising from deep underground. Visitors to the moor are fascinated by the weirdly shaped and weathered grey outcrops known as tors. These have given rise to a number of legends, but more of that later!

Limestone – Along parts of Devon’s coast are huge pale yellow limestone cliffs around 400 million years old. These are made up of billions of compressed layers of dead pre-historic sea creatures and plants.

Red sandstones – The striking red sandstones of Devon were laid down as sediment between 280 and 200 million years ago and can most easily be seen on Devon’s south-east coast. Perhaps its most famous location is 250-million-year-old Orcombe Point at Exmouth. Here the cliffs form the most westerly and oldest part of the Jurassic Coast.

Blame it on the USA

Only part of the Jurassic Coast is actually from the Jurassic era. Orcombe Point is Triassic and the most easterly part in Dorset is Cretaceous. The popularity of the Jurassic Park Hollywood movies is partly responsible for what amounts, in some parts of the coast, to an inaccuracy of around 150 million years!

Orcombe Point

2

KENTS CAVERN AND EARLY HUMANS

Kents Cavern at Torquay is a remarkable place to visit. The caves were formed around 370 million years ago from limestone that was eroded by water seepage. Curious stalactites hang from the caves’ roofs, and stalagmites rise up from the floor. These have been formed over hundreds of thousands of years by dripping water that contains calcites and other minerals.

No one seems to know why the cavern is called ‘Kents’. The county of Kent is over 180 miles away. An ancient story suggests that it was once believed that the cavern was connected to caves in the county of Kent and that they were used by the Devil to store evil souls. Another story suggests that Druids met there to perform sacrifices. Whatever lurid stories there are, it is a fact that Kents Cavern is very important in the understanding of early humans.

In the 1500s a man named Will Petre is said to have found his way into Kents Cavern. He picked up some odd bits of bone and flints that were actually ancient tools. Among the first and most important modern explorers of Kents Cavern was William Pengelly (1812–94). He was a geologist by trade with a fascination for archaeology. He made himself very unpopular with many Victorian people by rubbishing the idea that God created the earth in six days, ready made with all its different animals!

Kents Cavern would have been very different from the way it looks today. Pengelly and his assistants had to squeeze through tiny gaps and dig through layers of accumulated mud and stones. And all without modern lighting!

As Pengelly and later explorers dug through the mud layers of Kents Cavern and areas nearby, they discovered and began to excavate an incredible array of early man-made tools and, more importantly, human bones. These included evidence of Homo Erectus from around 350,000 years ago, Neanderthals who lived up to 40,000 years ago and Homo Sapiens – essentially the same as us. A jawbone from one individual that dates back over 30,000 years was found at Kents Cavern. Modern dating techniques suggest that this could be even earlier.

Early Devon people used Kents Cavern as a place of shelter but they were not alone. Cave bears also lived there in separate parts. The people were not in danger of being eaten though – the bears were vegetarians!

Other animal remains found at Kents Cavern include hyena, elk, horses, a species of lion, woolly rhinos and mammoths. Most of these are no longer found naturally in Britain and, in the case of mammoths and woolly rhinos, nowhere else either. Many of the bones in Kents Cavern were from animals killed and eaten by humans who lived there.

3

THE MID AND NEW STONE AGE 10,000 TO 2300 BC

Britain was once connected to Europe – and no, I don’t mean as a member of the European Union! Until around 7,000 years ago south-eastern Britain was joined to what is now the Netherlands by a land mass known as Doggerland. Rising water levels due to the end of the last ice age and resultant storms covered Doggerland and separated Britain from the European continent.

Prehistoric people lived in various areas of Devon, but it is on Dartmoor where evidence of their presence is really plentiful. It is possible to see a number of different sites in a day and many can be seen after just a short walk.

High Dartmoor is around 1,400ft above sea level and the moor covers 25 square miles. Human habitation goes back 8,000 years, though this is scarce compared with later prehistoric eras when temperatures were warmer. As the climate warmed up, more people occupied the moors for its resources – stone and wood for building and animals for food.

Dartmoor would have looked very different from how it does today as vast areas of it were covered in forests of oak, hazel and alder trees. Deforestation of Dartmoor began slowly.

Early Stone Age people were hunter-gatherers with nomadic lifestyles but by the mid-Stone Age people were changing to farming and a more settled way of surviving.

Flint stones worked into tools were left on Dartmoor by mid-Stone Age people. There is lots of evidence of this.

Dolmen

Tombs from this period are known as Dolmen. Dartmoor’s best is Spinster’s Rock in a field near Drewsteignton. Dolmen are usually made from three substantial granite slabs forming a triangle. These support an equally solid roof. Spinster’s Rock top is 14ft by 10ft and originally would probably have been covered by earth.

A legend says that the three upright stones were once evil witches. They murdered a traveller and carried him to their hovel. Evil witches used body parts in their unholy spells. They were turned to stone by a good witch who just happened to be passing.

In the Stone Age, hunters were occasionally able to hunt and kill a small type of hippopotamus in east Devon.

4

THE BRONZE AGE 2300 BC TO 700 BC

At the risk of upsetting Devon cream tea enthusiasts, clotted cream may well first have been brought to the area by Phoenician traders around 3,000 years ago! They were probably the first foreign traders to reach Devon via Hartland point, which the Romans called the Promontory of Hercules when they finally got around to conquering Britain around 1,000 years later.

Migrants and traders from Europe came to Britain. They were known as the Beaker People because of the distinctive pottery they made. This was often a reddish colour with elaborate horizontal patterns. The beakers were used for cooking and storing foods. It may have been the Beaker People who introduced bronze-making to Britain.

Bronze was probably first made in the Middle East 5,000–6,000 years ago. The knowledge spread through Europe and then Britain that copper and tin smelted together produced bronze. The metal was harder than any other available in the Bronze Age. Weapons with much sharper cutting edges could be made using liquid bronze and moulds. Bronze was hard to break and it didn’t rust. This Bronze Age technology was an important development in human history.

Today, Dartmoor can be very inhospitable, especially in the winter, but in the Bronze Age it was warmer. Much of high Dartmoor is little changed from this time. Bronze Age people began deforestation on a larger scale. People felled trees for building and began farming the cleared land. Trees once found in abundance on Dartmoor included oak, hazel and birch. Today these survive in small pockets, usually in rugged areas where felling trees was difficult.

Dartmoor granite made a very good building material for early settlers. As the stone weathers, softer parts dissolve to leave slabs that are useful as a building material.

In the Bronze Age there were more people living on Dartmoor than today. They led settled lives, grew crops such as barley and oats, and kept animals for food and clothing. Bronze Age people enclosed large fields with stone walls to keep their animals safe. Other settlements known as pounds usually had circular walls and covered large areas, often with houses inside.

Although Bronze Age people were farmers, hunting was still an important source of food. Flint tools were still made and used extensively. There is evidence that different groups on Dartmoor traded with each other, shared new ideas and possibly intermarried.

Round Houses

These were circular dwellings. The foundations and walls were made of blocks of granite. Round houses had low walls and high cone-shaped ceilings. The walls enclosed a space up to 30ft in diameter. Wooden roofs rested on top of the walls. Larger houses had a centre pole made from a tree that supported the roof, which was covered in deep layers of gorse or heather. The huts often had fireplaces and granite seats. Basic cooking pottery found by archaeologists often has patterns etched into it. People lived in communities with many huts. These were surrounded by a granite wall.

Men might have enjoyed relaxing in their huts after a day’s work, but if an ancient story can be believed, women did not relax. Apparently, after cooking, cleaning and childcare all day, the women had to hold up candles made of fat so the men could eat in light. Women also got the less appetising meat and spent much of their time in the kitchen area separate from men, showing their lower status.

Grimspound

Grimspound is Dartmoor’s most visited Bronze Age settlement. ‘Pound’ means ‘enclosure’. Grimspound is around 3,000 years old. The site is easily accessible, and there is still a lot to see. The settlement is surrounded by a wall with a circumference of around 1,500ft and there were around twenty-four huts enclosed by it.

Stone Rows

Dartmoor still has over seventy Bronze Age stone rows. Some are very long and substantial, while others are shorter with smaller stones. Menhirs are larger stones placed at the end of a row. Some rows are single while others have many rows running alongside each other leading to burial mounds known as cairns. There is probably some religious significance in stone rows.

Upper Erme Stone row is the longest on Dartmoor and probably in the world! It runs for over 2 miles and has around 1,000 stones. Following Erme Row up an incline is like approaching a ragged row of misshapen monster’s teeth. The experience is awesome and a little creepy.

Stone Circles

Some stone circles were used for religious rites. Some may well have been tribal meeting places.

Scorhill Stone Circle is arguably the most impressive on Dartmoor – one of its stones is over 8ft tall. The circle is 50ft in diameter. Today there are twenty-three upright stones with ten more lying down. Scorhill originally had around seventy stones. Unfortunately, the missing ones were probably removed in the recent past for use in building. Scorhill is dramatically beautiful, with its backdrop of stark moor. Legend said that animals won’t go through the circle because they sense its fabled power. Sadly, the author has to report that this is untrue. On an extending lead, her friend’s dog ran straight into the middle of the circle, relieved itself on one of the stones then sat down for a scratch!

The Legend of the Nine Maidens Stone Circle

Many years ago nine young women from Belstone on Dartmoor decided that they were bored with Sundays. Apart from attending church or sitting at home reading their Bibles, they were not allowed to do anything. One Sunday after church they sneaked off onto the moor and had a dance. This was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath! Their punishment was to be turned to pillars of stone. They can still be seen on the moor today. Legend has it that sometimes visitors can still see the ‘maidens’ swaying as if to music.

Cists

These were a form of burial tomb. Essentially they were boxes with sides, top and bottom made from slabs of granite. Usually the bodies within had not been cremated. Sadly, Dartmoor’s acidic soil and seeping rain means that there are few human remains left. There are hundreds of cists on the moor, though. Many have been opened. At Drizzlecombe on Dartmoor there is a good example of an opened cist. Visitors can peer into it, which is a spooky experience!

Round Barrows

Round barrows are burial chambers. The best site for these is Chapmans Barrows on Exmoor, where there are eleven together on a ridge; they are bowl shaped and covered in earth and turf. They vary in size from 10m in diameter to 25m. A spectacular site and a spectacular sight! The Longstone to the East of Chapmans Burrows is the tallest on Exmoor at almost 10ft.

In 1823 a young tourist visited Chapmans Barrows. He was alone because his friends were not interested in ancient sites. The young man forgot the time as he looked around the barrows and suddenly realised that the light was fading. It was a long walk over rough moor to his lodgings. As he hurried away he heard a screeching cackle. Looking back, he saw a giant flying reptile with enormous wings. The creature swooped and he threw himself into a dip in the ground under a bush. The animal flew away. For hours the young man didn’t move. Then a search party found him. Later it was claimed he was a scientist trying to scare away artefact hunters. His Devon hosts knew him better – he was an accountant!

Wistman’s Wood and the Druids

Wistman’s Wood is on Dartmoor (some people say that the name is derived from the term ‘Wise man’s Wood’). It is a small ancient oak forest nestled in a hollow near the West Dart River. Druids – pagan religious leaders who worshipped nature – believed that Wistman’s trees were sacred. The wood is certainly strange; its oak trees are stunted to only half their normal size with roots tangled among the granite boulders that cover the ground. Bizarre ‘curtains’ of lichen grow from the branches. Anyone who ventures into Wistman’s Wood on a windy day and stays until dusk may find that the fronds of lichen begin to look like the swaying robes of the long-dead Druids. However, tales of witches making the trees walk about can be discounted!

Hollowed out rocks that look like basins can be seen on Dartmoor. Until quite recently some people believed that these ‘basins’ were made by Druids to mix up spell ingredients, or even to catch the blood of sacrifice victims! In reality, rain falling on softer spots wears the stone away.

Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor

At the end of the Bronze Age people began to move to lower areas because of worsening weather, which affected crops.

5

THE IRON AGE 700 BC TO AD 100

Dumnonii was the name of the Iron Age people who lived in the south-west, including Devon. The name means ‘Deep Valley Dwellers’ and is a Romanised version of an original name. Iron Age people in England possibly shared a similar language base with Europeans. The Iron Age was the last ‘prehistoric’ period. That is, the last period without native written records. This makes the Iron Age mysterious for many people who are keen on ancient history. (Written Roman records survive but were heavily biased and are incomplete anyway!)

Iron

The smelting of iron and production of iron tools and weapons led to far-reaching changes in society.

Early iron manufacturing took place in the centre of what is now Turkey. The knowledge spread through much of Europe, and iron smelting began in Britain around 2,800 years ago. To make iron, rocks containing iron ore had to be smelted in basic furnaces called ‘bloomeries’. Ore-containing rocks were broken up and heated. This allowed the removal of bits of stone and other debris. The process of smelting was known as ‘blooming’. The iron did not melt. Instead, small bits stuck together forming lumps or ‘blooms’. As it cooled it went hard again and would have looked like a metal sponge.

To make iron tools, the iron was heated until it was red hot then beaten into the shape required. This is known as ‘forging’. Early iron tools were probably luxury items available to the elite, but iron began to take over from bronze as a general material. This was because iron made far superior tools. It was much harder than bronze and more efficient than flint. Iron blades could be made sharper and stayed sharp for longer. Iron axes, blades for ploughs, nails, hammers and other tools were more efficient. Iron does have a disadvantage though – it rusts and decomposes over time. Sadly, a lot of Iron Age artefacts have not survived for this reason.

◆ Before smelting began, ancient Egyptians made jewellery from bits of iron meteorite that they called ‘Black Copper’.

◆ Although we use the terms Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age to denote different periods, it is difficult to separate them completely in terms of these materials. Flint tools were still in use throughout these periods for some jobs. Bronze was still being used in the Iron Age as iron was probably the preserve of the wealthy at first. Confusing? You bet!

Iron Age Trade with Europe

During the Iron Age, trading was common between Britain and Europe. Among goods traded were cattle hides, salt, grains and other foods, jewellery and gems, silver and gold.

Hunting dogs from Britain were popular with Europeans. The dogs were known for their intelligence, ferocious pursuit of prey, speed and stamina. Slaves were exported from Britain to Rome even before the Roman conquest. Possibly the people sent to Rome were criminals, or captives from different tribes.

Hill Forts

Iron Age hill forts are impressive historical monuments. Many of their earth ramparts can still clearly be seen today, usually on high ground dominating the surrounding area. Sadly, the wooden palisades (high wooden fences for extra defence) have not survived. There are around 2,000 hill forts in Britain and seventy are in Devon. Some are better preserved than others and some more easily accessible.

Victorian archaeologists gave the name ‘hill fort’ to Iron Age enclosures and sparked a debate that still goes on. Many of the largest hill forts on high ground with extensive earth banks and (probably) wooden walls were obviously defensive. They may have housed tribal chiefs and other important citizens, and were possibly administrative centres and a way to show off how powerful the leaders were. They would also have been a place of sanctuary for people from nearby communities in times of tribal war or natural disaster.

At other hill forts archaeologists have found evidence that suggests there were once Iron Age round houses inside. Wooden walls do not survive, of course, but fragments of pottery do. Smaller less well defended ‘hill forts’ were possibly animal enclosures or villages, and not forts at all!

Just to add to the debate about ‘Iron Age’ hill forts, many of the sites were first used in the Bronze Age (or even earlier) and some were later adapted and used by the Romans. Not everyone could have lived permanently in a hill fort – there wouldn’t have been enough room!

An Assortment of Hill Forts

The remains of many of Devon’s hill forts can still be seen. Some, of course, are larger and more spectacular than others, while some are better preserved and retain obvious features and others are more easily accessible.

Cadbury Castle near Bickleigh is reached after a steep walk. It is 800ft above sea level and, like most of its kind, has far-reaching views. During the English Civil War, Parliamentarian forces camped within its defences.

According to legend, an evil monster was killed by sling shots fired from Cadbury Castle after attacking people there. The monster’s remains were apparently paraded around the local area to show the people how well they were being looked after.

Hembury hill fort is an example of early recycling! Some 240m up in the Blackdown Hills, the site was originally used by Stone Age people before an Iron Age fort was built. Later the Romans reoccupied it. Lots of earth ramparts can still be seen. Fragments of Stone Age pottery found at the site are known as Hembury Ware.

Clovelly Dykes is a large high hill fort near Hartland. It has over a mile of earth ramparts enclosing 20 acres of land. Parts of the interior were used for keeping animals, and trade probably went on from the site. The fort was also defensive.

Milber Down Hill fort near Newton Abbot is around 500ft above sea level. It had four rows of ramparts and is roughly rectangular in shape. Ornamental and household objects found there suggest a residential site.

Hillsborough Hill fort is over 300ft above sea level. The fort was defensive and overlooked what is now Ilfracombe Harbour. There were probably residential round houses and workshops there.

Denbury Hill fort, which is easy to get to, is located near a village of the same name. It is 159ft above sea level on a steep hill. There are still some high earth ramparts. The size of the hill fort suggests that it would have been used as a place of refuge and possibly housed a local chieftain and his warriors.

Iron Age Communication

Trackways, probably paved with wood, ran on low ground between hill forts and smaller communities allowing for easier travelling, better communication and trade. Ridgeways along the tops of hills could be used as lookout points or as an easier means of walking or moving goods by horse than steep-sided ground. Heavy wooden carts would have been rare, particularly in very hilly areas. Wicker chariots, while seen by many as war machines, were also used to transport goods. Wicker carts could be more easily repaired than wooden carts.

Druids

In the Iron Age, Druids were the religious leaders in many parts of Britain. It was believed that they had magical powers and they were healers and teachers. Much of what we know about them comes from the Romans, who describe Druid sacrifices (sometimes human) and cannibalism! Of course, the Romans sought to discredit the Druids to supplant them with Roman beliefs and thus control the native population. A number of Devon place names are said to have Druidic origins. The word ‘Nymet’, which means ‘sacred grove’ (a Druid religious site), appears as a prefix to several modern Devon villages such as Nymet Rowland. There were (and are) many Druid festivals. These included Imbolc, which welcomed the end of winter; Beltane in May, which marked the start of the summer months; Lughnasa in August, a harvest festival; and Samhain, the arrival of winter in November.

Legend has it that Trojan military commander Brutus of Troy (Troy is now part of Turkey) visited Devon in 130 BC