97-591: Babb is surname of mostly English origin which has been documented as far back as 1322 in Devon County, England . While the name appears to have originated in the Devon area, Y-DNA Genetic testing has revealed a number of distinct lineages throughout various parts of England. The surname also appears in the Bavaria state of Germany . Y-DNA Genetic testing has confirmed that this Bavarian line does not relate to
194-599: A "plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain". There was much less inward migration during the Iron Age, so it is likely that Celtic reached Britain before then. Barry Cunliffe suggests that a Goidelic branch of Celtic may already have been spoken in Britain, but that this middle Bronze Age migration would have introduced the Brittonic branch. Brittonic languages were probably spoken before
291-473: A Celtic word that might mean 'painted ones' or 'tattooed folk', referring to body decoration. Knowledge of the Brittonic languages comes from a variety of sources. The early language's information is obtained from coins, inscriptions, and comments by classical writers as well as place names and personal names recorded by them. For later languages, there is information from medieval writers and modern native speakers, together with place names. The names recorded in
388-595: A common ancestral language termed Brittonic , British , Common Brittonic , Old Brittonic or Proto-Brittonic , which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century BC. A major archaeogenetics study uncovered a migration into southern Britain in the middle to late Bronze Age , during the 500-year period 1,300–800 BC. The newcomers were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from Gaul . During 1,000–875 BC, their genetic markers swiftly spread through southern Britain, but not northern Britain. The authors describe this as
485-428: A discussion, see Celtic languages .) Other major characteristics include: Initial s- : Lenition: Voiceless spirants: Nasal assimilation: The family tree of the Brittonic languages is as follows: Brittonic languages in use today are Welsh , Cornish and Breton . Welsh and Breton have been spoken continuously since they formed. For all practical purposes Cornish died out during the 18th or 19th century, but
582-472: A further grant of crest and supporters was obtained. The crest is the head of a Dartmoor Pony rising from a "Naval Crown". This distinctive form of crown is formed from the sails and sterns of ships, and is associated with the Royal Navy . The supporters are a Devon bull and a sea lion. Devon County Council adopted a "ship silhouette" logo after the 1974 reorganisation, adapted from the ship emblem on
679-626: A large part in the religious life of Devon today, although the county has shared in the post-World War II decline in British religious feeling. The Diocese of Exeter remains the Anglican diocese including the whole of Devon. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth was established in the mid 19th century. There was no established coat of arms for the county until 1926: the arms of the City of Exeter were often used to represent Devon, for instance in
776-553: A progressive aspect form has evolved which is formally similar to those found in Celtic languages, and somewhat less similar to the Modern English form, e.g. 'I am working' is Ich bin am Arbeiten , literally: 'I am on the working'. The same structure is also found in modern Dutch ( Ik ben aan het werk ), alongside other structures (e.g. Ik zit te werken , lit. 'I sit to working'). These parallel developments suggest that
873-522: A result of some reintroductions. Another recent reintroduction is the Eurasian beaver , primarily on the river Otter. Other rare species recorded in Devon include seahorses and the sea daffodil. The botany of the county is very diverse and includes some rare species not found elsewhere in the British Isles other than Cornwall. Devon is divided into two Watsonian vice-counties : north and south,
970-738: A revival in Cornish has led to an increase in speakers of that language. Cumbric and Pictish are extinct, having been replaced by Goidelic and Anglic speech. The Isle of Man and Orkney may also have originally spoken a Brittonic language, but this was later supplanted by Goidelic on the Isle of Man and Norse on Orkney. There is also a community of Brittonic language speakers in Y Wladfa (the Welsh settlement in Patagonia ). The names "Brittonic" and "Brythonic" are scholarly conventions referring to
1067-571: A revival movement has more recently created small numbers of new speakers. Also notable are the extinct language Cumbric , and possibly the extinct Pictish . One view, advanced in the 1950s and based on apparently unintelligible ogham inscriptions, was that the Picts may have also used a non- Indo-European language. This view, while attracting broad popular appeal, has virtually no following in contemporary linguistic scholarship. The modern Brittonic languages are generally considered to all derive from
SECTION 10
#17327867652161164-615: A soft, sooty coal, which is known in Devon as culm , or from the contortions commonly found in the beds. This formation stretches from Bideford to Bude in Cornwall, and contributes to a gentler, greener, more rounded landscape. It is also found on the western, north and eastern borders of Dartmoor. The sedimentary rocks in more eastern parts of the county include Permian and Triassic sandstones (giving rise to east Devon's well known fertile red soils); Bunter pebble beds around Budleigh Salterton and Woodbury Common and Jurassic rocks in
1261-479: Is a county bird society dedicated to the study and conservation of wild birds. The RSPB has reserves in the county, and Natural England is responsible for over 200 Devon Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves , such as Slapton Ley . The Devon Bat Group was founded in 1984 to help conserve bats. Wildlife found in this area extend to a plethora of different kinds of insects, butterflies and moths; an interesting butterfly to take look at
1358-432: Is a far greater overlap in terms of Celtic vocabulary than with English, it is not always possible to disentangle P- and Q-Celtic words. However, some common words such as monadh = Welsh mynydd , Cumbric monidh are particularly evident. The Brittonic influence on Scots Gaelic is often indicated by considering Irish language usage, which is not likely to have been influenced so much by Brittonic. In particular,
1455-471: Is a wide range of wildlife (see Dartmoor wildlife , for example). A popular challenge among birders is to find over 100 species in the county in a day. The county's wildlife is protected by several wildlife charities such as the Devon Wildlife Trust , which looks after 40 nature reserves. The Devon Bird Watching and Preservation Society (founded in 1928 and known since 2005 as "Devon Birds")
1552-582: Is at this day named by the Britans Duffneit, that is to say, Low valleys. [...] But the Country of this nation is at this day divided into two parts, knowen by later names of Cornwall and Denshire, [...] The term Devon is normally used for everyday purposes (e.g., "Devon County Council"), but Devonshire has continued to be used in the names of the " Devonshire and Dorset Regiment " (until 2007) and " The Devonshire Association ". One erroneous theory
1649-546: Is lined with tourist resorts, many of which grew rapidly with the arrival of the railways in the 19th century. Examples include Dawlish, Exmouth and Sidmouth on the south coast, and Ilfracombe and Lynmouth on the north. The Torbay conurbation of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham on the south coast is now administratively independent of the county. Rural market towns in the county include Barnstaple, Bideford, Honiton , Newton Abbot , Okehampton , Tavistock , Totnes and Tiverton . The boundary with Cornwall has not always been on
1746-613: Is probable that at the start of the Post-Roman period, Common Brittonic was differentiated into at least two major dialect groups – Southwestern and Western. (Additional dialects have also been posited, but have left little or no evidence, such as an Eastern Brittonic spoken in what is now the East of England .) Between the end of the Roman occupation and the mid-6th century, the two dialects began to diverge into recognizably separate varieties,
1843-569: Is relatively uncommon away from high land, although there are few exceptions. The county has mild summers with occasional warm spells and cool rainy periods. Winters are generally cool and the county often experiences some of the mildest winters in the world for its high latitude, with average daily maximum temperatures in January at 8 °C (46 °F). Rainfall varies significantly across the county, ranging from over 2,000 mm (79 in) on parts of Dartmoor, to around 750 mm (30 in) in
1940-677: 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 . There are references to both Defnas and Defenasċīre in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 CE (the former is a name for the "people of Devon" and the latter would mean 'Shire of the Devonians'), which translates to modern English as Devonshire . The term Devonshire may have originated around
2037-400: Is the chequered skipper . Devon is a national hotspot for several species that are uncommon in Britain, including the cirl bunting ; greater horseshoe bat ; Bechstein's bat and Jersey tiger moth . It is also the only place in mainland Britain where the sand crocus ( Romulea columnae ) can be found – at Dawlish Warren, and is home to all six British native land reptile species, partly as
SECTION 20
#17327867652162134-621: Is the 218 m (715 ft) Little Hangman, which marks the western edge of coastal Exmoor. One of the features of the North Devon coast is that Bideford Bay and the Hartland Point peninsula are both west-facing, Atlantic facing coastlines; so that a combination of an off-shore (east) wind and an Atlantic swell produce excellent surfing conditions. The beaches of Bideford Bay ( Woolacombe , Saunton , Westward Ho! and Croyde ), along with parts of North Cornwall and South Wales, are
2231-405: Is the city of Exeter. The largest city in Devon, Plymouth, and the conurbation of Torbay (which includes the largest town in Devon and capital of Torbay, Torquay, as well as Paignton and Brixham) have been unitary authorities since 1998, separate from the remainder of Devon which is administered by Devon County Council for the purposes of local government. Devon County Council is controlled by
2328-406: Is the largest settlement, and the city of Exeter is the county town . The county has an area of 2,590 sq mi (6,700 km ) and a population of 1,194,166. The largest settlements after Plymouth (264,695) are the city of Exeter (130,709) and the seaside resorts of Torquay and Paignton , which have a combined population of 115,410. They all are located along the south coast, which
2425-407: Is the most populous part of the county; Barnstaple (31,275) and Tiverton (22,291) are the largest towns in the north and centre respectively. For local government purposes Devon comprises a non-metropolitan county , with eight districts, and two unitary authority areas: Plymouth and Torbay . Devon has a varied geography. It contains Dartmoor and part of Exmoor , two upland moors which are
2522-409: Is the origin of Derwent, Darent, and Darwen (attested in the Roman period as Deru̯entiō ). The final root to be examined is went/uent . In Roman Britain, there were three tribal capitals named U̯entā (modern Winchester, Caerwent, and Caistor St Edmunds), whose meaning was 'place, town'. Some, including J. R. R. Tolkien , have argued that Celtic has acted as a substrate to English for both
2619-457: Is traceable to Brittonic influence. Others, however, find this unlikely since many of these forms are only attested in the later Middle English period; these scholars claim a native English development rather than Celtic influence. Ian G. Roberts postulates Northern Germanic influence, despite such constructions not existing in Norse. Literary Welsh has the simple present Caraf = 'I love' and
2716-605: The Brittonic languages , Devon is known as Welsh : Dyfnaint , Breton : Devnent and Cornish : Dewnens , each meaning 'deep valleys'. (For an account of Celtic Dumnonia , see the separate article.) Among the most common Devon placenames is -combe which derives from Brittonic cwm meaning 'valley' usually prefixed by the name of the possessor. William Camden , in his 1607 edition of Britannia , described Devon as being one part of an older, wider country that once included Cornwall : THAT region which, according to
2813-727: The Celtic languages of Britain and to the ancestral language they originated from, designated Common Brittonic , in contrast to the Goidelic languages originating in Ireland. Both were created in the 19th century to avoid the ambiguity of earlier terms such as "British" and "Cymric". "Brythonic" was coined in 1879 by the Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython . "Brittonic", derived from " Briton " and also earlier spelled "Britonic" and "Britonnic", emerged later in
2910-457: The College of Arms . The main part of the shield displays a red crowned lion on a silver field, the arms of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall . The chief or upper portion of the shield depicts an ancient ship on wavers, for Devon's seafaring traditions. The Latin motto adopted was Auxilio Divino (by Divine aid), that of Sir Francis Drake . The 1926 grant was of arms alone. On 6 March 1962
3007-688: The Devonian strata of north Devon and south west Devon (and extending into Cornwall); ii) the Culm Measures (north western Devon also extending into north Cornwall); and iii) the granite intrusion of Dartmoor in central Devon, part of the Cornubian batholith forming the 'spine' of the southwestern peninsula. There are blocks of Silurian and Ordovician rocks within Devonian strata on the south Devon coast but otherwise no pre-Devonian rocks on
Babb - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-586: The Devonian geologic period, which includes the slates and sandstones of the north coast. Dartmoor and Exmoor have been designated national parks , and the county also contains, in whole or in part, five national landscapes . In the Iron Age , Roman and the Sub-Roman periods, the county was the home of the Dumnonii Celtic Britons . The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in
3201-488: 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 Convocation , which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748. Devon straddles a peninsula and so, uniquely among English counties, has two separate coastlines: on
3298-584: The Iron Age and Roman period . In the 5th and 6th centuries emigrating Britons also took Brittonic speech to the continent, most significantly in Brittany and Britonia . During the next few centuries, in much of Britain the language was replaced by Old English and Scottish Gaelic , with the remaining Common Brittonic language splitting into regional dialects, eventually evolving into Welsh , Cornish , Breton , Cumbric , and probably Pictish . Welsh and Breton continue to be spoken as native languages, while
3395-643: The Medieval Latin lingua Britannica and sermo Britannicus and the Welsh Brythoneg . Some writers use "British" for the language and its descendants, although, due to the risk of confusion, others avoid it or use it only in a restricted sense. Jackson, and later John T. Koch , use "British" only for the early phase of the Common Brittonic language. Before Jackson's work, "Brittonic" and "Brythonic" were often used for all
3492-909: The Order of Brothelyngham —a fake monastic order of 1348 — regularly rode through Exeter, kidnapping both religious men and laymen, and extorting money from them as ransom. 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
3589-738: The P-Celtic languages , including not just the varieties in Britain but those Continental Celtic languages that similarly experienced the evolution of the Proto-Celtic language element /kʷ/ to /p/ . However, subsequent writers have tended to follow Jackson's scheme, rendering this use obsolete. The name "Britain" itself comes from Latin : Britannia~Brittania , via Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Breteyne , possibly influenced by Old English Bryten[lond] , probably also from Latin Brittania , ultimately an adaptation of
3686-591: The Prayer Book Rebellion caused the deaths of thousands of people from Devon and Cornwall. During the English Reformation , churches in Devon officially became affiliated with the Church of England . From the late sixteenth century onwards, zealous Protestantism – or 'puritanism' – became increasingly well-entrenched in some parts of Devon, while other districts of the county remained much more conservative. These divisions would become starkly apparent during
3783-573: The rain shadow along the coast in southeastern Devon and around Exeter. Sunshine amounts also vary widely: the moors are generally cloudy, but the SE coast from Salcombe to Exmouth is one of the sunniest parts of the UK (a generally cloudy region). With westerly or south-westerly winds and high pressure the area around Torbay and Teignmouth will often be warm, with long sunny spells due to shelter by high ground ( Foehn wind ). The variety of habitats means that there
3880-484: The "Deep Valley Dwellers". The region to the west of Exeter was less Romanised than the rest of Roman Britain since it was considered a remote part of the province. After the formal Roman withdrawal from Britain in AD 410, one of the leading Dumnonii families attempted to create a dynasty and rule over Devon as the new Kings of Dumnonii. Celtic paganism and Roman practices were the first known religions in Devon, although in
3977-712: The 19th century. "Brittonic" became more prominent through the 20th century, and was used in Kenneth H. Jackson 's highly influential 1953 work on the topic, Language and History in Early Britain . Jackson noted by that time that "Brythonic" had become a dated term: "of late there has been an increasing tendency to use Brittonic instead." Today, "Brittonic" often replaces "Brythonic" in the literature. Rudolf Thurneysen used "Britannic" in his influential A Grammar of Old Irish , although this never became popular among subsequent scholars. Comparable historical terms include
Babb - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-496: The 5th century through the settlement of Irish-speaking Gaels and Germanic peoples . Henry of Huntingdon wrote c. 1129 that Pictish was "no longer spoken". The displacement of the languages of Brittonic descent was probably complete in all of Britain except Cornwall , Wales , and the English counties bordering these areas such as Devon , by the 11th century. Western Herefordshire continued to speak Welsh until
4171-563: The 7th century onward and are possibly due to inherent tendencies. Thus the concept of a Common Brittonic language ends by AD 600. Substantial numbers of Britons certainly remained in the expanding area controlled by Anglo-Saxons , but over the fifth and sixth centuries they mostly adopted the Old English language and culture. The Brittonic languages spoken in what are now Scotland , the Isle of Man , and England began to be displaced in
4268-459: The 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia ( Latin ) to Defenasċīr . Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30 to 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
4365-675: The Babbs of England. Devon Devon ( / ˈ d ɛ v ə n / DEV -ən ; historically also known as Devonshire /- ʃ ɪər , - ʃ ər / -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
4462-621: The Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea in the north, and on the English Channel in the south. The South West Coast Path runs along the entire length of both, around 65% of which is named as Heritage Coast . Before the changes to English counties in 1974, Devon was the third largest county by area and the largest of the counties not divided into county-like divisions (only Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were larger and both were sub-divided into ridings or parts, respectively). Since 1974
4559-816: The Brittonic languages were displaced is that of toponyms (place names) and hydronyms (names of rivers and other bodies of water). There are many Brittonic place names in lowland Scotland and in the parts of England where it is agreed that substantial Brittonic speakers remained (Brittonic names, apart from those of the former Romano-British towns, are scarce over most of England). Names derived (sometimes indirectly) from Brittonic include London , Penicuik , Perth , Aberdeen , York , Dorchester , Dover , and Colchester . Brittonic elements found in England include bre- and bal- for 'hill', while some such as co[o]mb[e] (from cwm ) for 'small deep valley' and tor for 'hill, rocky headland' are examples of Brittonic words that were borrowed into English. Others reflect
4656-459: The Confessor by Lyfing's successor Bishop Leofric , hitherto Bishop of Crediton, who became first Bishop of Exeter under Edward the Confessor, which was established as his cathedral city in 1050. At first, the abbey church of St Mary and St Peter, founded by Athelstan in 932 and rebuilt in 1019, served as the cathedral. Devon came under the political influence of several different nobles during
4753-965: The Conservatives, and the political representation of its 60 councillors are: 38 Conservatives , 10 Liberal Democrats , six Labour , three Independents , two Green and one South Devon Alliance. At the 2024 general election , Devon returned six Liberal Democrats, four Conservatives and three Labour MPs to the House of Commons . Historically Devon was divided into 32 hundreds : Axminster , Bampton , Black Torrington , Braunton , Cliston , Coleridge , Colyton , Crediton , East Budleigh , Ermington , Exminster , Fremington , Halberton , Hartland , Hayridge , Haytor , Hemyock , Lifton , North Tawton and Winkleigh , Ottery , Plympton , Roborough , Shebbear , Shirwell , South Molton , Stanborough , Tavistock , Teignbridge , Tiverton , West Budleigh , Witheridge , and Wonford . A devolution deal
4850-496: The Devon Flora by Ivimey-Cook appeared in 1984, and A New Flora of Devon , based on field work undertaken between 2005 and 2014, was published in 2016. Rising temperatures have led to Devon becoming the first place in modern Britain to cultivate olives commercially. In January 2024, plans were announced to plant over 100,000 trees in northern Devon to support Celtic rainforests , which are cherished yet at risk ecosystems in
4947-470: The Devon mainland. The metamorphic rocks of Eddystone are of presumed Precambrian age. The oldest rocks which can be dated are those of the Devonian period which are approximately 395–359 million years old. Sandstones and shales were deposited in North and South Devon beneath tropical seas. In shallower waters, limestone beds were laid down in the area now near Torquay and Plymouth. This geological period
SECTION 50
#17327867652165044-482: The English Civil War of 1642–46, when the county split apart along religious and cultural lines. The Methodism of John Wesley proved to be very popular with the working classes in Devon in the 19th century. Methodist chapels became important social centres, with male voice choirs and other church-affiliated groups playing a central role in the social lives of working class Devonians. Methodism still plays
5141-496: The English progressive is not necessarily due to Celtic influence; moreover, the native English development of the structure can be traced over 1000 years and more of English literature. Some researchers (Filppula, et al., 2001) argue that other elements of English syntax reflect Brittonic influences. For instance, in English tag questions , the form of the tag depends on the verb form in the main statement ( aren't I? , isn't he? , won't we? , etc.). The German nicht wahr? and
5238-641: The French n'est-ce pas? , by contrast, are fixed forms which can be used with almost any main statement. It has been claimed that the English system has been borrowed from Brittonic, since Welsh tag questions vary in almost exactly the same way. Far more notable, but less well known, are Brittonic influences on Scottish Gaelic , though Scottish and Irish Gaelic, with their wider range of preposition-based periphrastic constructions, suggest that such constructions descend from their common Celtic heritage. Scottish Gaelic contains several P-Celtic loanwords, but, as there
5335-608: The Geographers, is the first of all Britaine, and, growing straiter still and narrower, shooteth out farthest into the West, [...] was in antient time inhabited by those Britans whom Solinus called Dumnonii, Ptolomee Damnonii [...] For their habitation all over this Countrey is somewhat low and in valleys, which manner of dwelling is called in the British tongue Dan-munith, in which sense also the Province next adjoyning in like respect
5432-648: The Middle Ages, especially the Courtenays Earl of Devon . During the Wars of the Roses, important magnates included the Earl of Devon, William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville , and Humphrey Stafford, earl of Devon whose wider influence stretched from Cornwall to Wiltshire. After 1485, one of the county's influential figures included Henry VII's courtier Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke . In 1549,
5529-616: The Patron Saint of Devon. Devon's toponyms include many with the endings "coombe/combe" and "tor". Both 'coombe' (valley or hollow, cf. Welsh cwm , Cornish komm ) and 'tor' (Old Welsh twrr and Scots Gaelic tòrr from Latin turris ; 'tower' used for granite formations) are rare Celtic loanwords in English and their frequency is greatest in Devon which shares a boundary with historically Brittonic speaking Cornwall. Ruined medieval settlements of Dartmoor longhouses indicate that dispersed rural settlement (OE tun , now often -ton)
5626-646: The River Tamar as at present: until the late 19th century a few parishes in the Torpoint area were in Devon and five parishes now in north-east Cornwall were in Devon until 1974 (however, for ecclesiastical purposes these were nevertheless in the Archdeaconry of Cornwall and in 1876 became part of the Diocese of Truro ). The region of Devon was the dominion of the pre-Roman Dumnonii Celtic tribe , known as
5723-524: The River Tamar—-with a division almost exactly following the modern county boundary —but also between Devon and the rest of Southern England. Devon's population also exhibited similarities with modern northern France, including Brittany . This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited, rather than a mass movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on
5820-492: The Roman invasion throughout most of Great Britain , though the Isle of Man later had a Goidelic language, Manx . During the period of the Roman occupation of what is now England and Wales (AD 43 to c. 410 ), Common Brittonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words, both for concepts unfamiliar in the pre-urban society of Celtic Britain such as urbanization and new tactics of warfare, as well as for rather more mundane words which displaced native terms (most notably,
5917-449: The Roman period are given in Rivet and Smith. The Brittonic branch is also referred to as P-Celtic because linguistic reconstruction of the Brittonic reflex of the Proto-Indo-European phoneme * kʷ is p as opposed to Goidelic k . Such nomenclature usually implies acceptance of the P-Celtic and Q-Celtic hypothesis rather than the Insular Celtic hypothesis because the term includes certain Continental Celtic languages as well. (For
SECTION 60
#17327867652166014-425: The Teign Valley Museum), as well as one of the county's football teams, Plymouth Argyle . On 17 October 2006, the flag was hoisted for the first time outside County Hall in Exeter to mark Local Democracy Week, receiving official recognition from the county council. In 2019 Devon County Council with the support of both the Anglican and Catholic churches in Exeter and Plymouth, officially recognised Saint Boniface as
6111-530: The UK. The project aims to create 50 hectares of new rainforest across three sites, planting trees near existing rainforest areas along the coast and inland. Among the tree species to be planted is the rare Devon whitebeam , known for its unique reproduction method and once-popular fruit. Led by the National Trust and with the assistance of volunteers and community groups, the initiative will focus on locations in Exmoor , Woolacombe , Hartland , and Arlington Court . The administrative centre and capital of Devon
6208-407: The Western into Cumbric and Welsh, and the Southwestern into Cornish and its closely related sister language Breton, which was carried to continental Armorica . Jackson showed that a few of the dialect distinctions between West and Southwest Brittonic go back a long way. New divergencies began around AD 500 but other changes that were shared occurred in the 6th century. Other common changes occurred in
6305-402: The badge of the Devonshire Regiment . During the forming of a county council by the Local Government Act 1888 adoption of a common seal was required. The seal contained three shields depicting the arms of Exeter along with those of the first chairman and vice-chairman of the council ( Lord Clinton and the Earl of Morley ). On 11 October 1926, the county council received a grant of arms from
6402-407: The boundary being an irregular line approximately across the higher part of Dartmoor and then along the canal eastwards. Botanical reports begin in the 17th century and there is a Flora Devoniensis by Jones and Kingston in 1829. A general account appeared in The Victoria History of the County of Devon (1906), and a Flora of Devon was published in 1939 by Keble Martin and Fraser. An Atlas of
6499-437: The coat of arms, but following the loss in 1998 of Plymouth and Torbay re-adopted the coat of arms. In April 2006 the council unveiled a new logo which was to be used in most everyday applications, though the coat of arms will continue to be used for "various civic purposes". Devon also has its own flag which has been dedicated to Saint Petroc, a local saint with dedications throughout Devon and neighbouring counties. The flag
6596-421: The county has attractive rolling rural scenery and villages with thatched cob cottages. All these features make Devon a popular holiday destination. In South Devon the landscape consists of rolling hills dotted with small towns, such as Dartmouth , Ivybridge , Kingsbridge , Salcombe , and Totnes . The towns of Torquay and Paignton are the principal seaside resorts on the south coast. East Devon has
6693-452: The county is ranked fourth by area (due to the creation of Cumbria) amongst ceremonial counties and is the third largest non-metropolitan county . The island of Lundy and the reef of Eddystone are also in Devon. The county has more mileage of road than any other county in England. Inland, the Dartmoor National park lies wholly in Devon, and the Exmoor National Park lies in both Devon and Somerset. Apart from these areas of high moorland
6790-545: The diocese of Wessex, while nothing is known of the church organisation of the Celtic areas. About 703 Devon and Cornwall were included in the separate diocese of Sherborne and in 900 this was again divided into two, the Devon bishop having from 905 his seat at Tawton (now Bishop's Tawton ) and from 912 at Crediton , birthplace of St Boniface. Lyfing became Bishop of Crediton in 1027 and shortly afterwards became Bishop of Cornwall . The two dioceses of Crediton and Cornwall, covering Devon and Cornwall, were united under Edward
6887-510: 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 Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid ninth century. A genetic study carried out by the University of Oxford & University College London discovered separate genetic groups in Cornwall and Devon. Not only were there differences on either side of
6984-641: 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 the silver mint at Hlidaforda Lydford in 997 and Taintona (a settlement on the Teign estuary) in 1001. Devon was the home of a number of anticlerical movements in the Later Middle Ages . For example,
7081-544: The easternmost parts of Devon. Smaller outcrops of younger rocks also exist, such as Cretaceous chalk cliffs at Beer Head and gravels on Haldon, plus Eocene and Oligocene ball clay and lignite deposits in the Bovey Basin, formed around 50 million years ago under tropical forest conditions. Devon generally has a cool oceanic climate, heavily influenced by the North Atlantic Drift . In winter, snow
7178-511: The elements der-/dar-/dur- and -went e.g. Derwent, Darwen, Deer, Adur, Dour, Darent, and Went. These names exhibit multiple different Celtic roots. One is * dubri- 'water' (Breton dour , Cumbric dowr , Welsh dŵr ), also found in the place-name Dover (attested in the Roman period as Dubrīs ); this is the source of rivers named Dour. Another is deru̯o- 'oak' or 'true' (Bret. derv , Cumb. derow , W. derw ), coupled with two agent suffixes, -ent and -iū ; this
7275-632: The first seaside resort to be developed in the county, Exmouth and the more upmarket Georgian town of Sidmouth , headquarters of the East Devon District Council. Exmouth marks the western end of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site . Another notable feature is the coastal railway line between Newton Abbot and the Exe Estuary: the red sandstone cliffs and sea views are very dramatic and in
7372-507: The late nineteenth century, and isolated pockets of Shropshire speak Welsh today. The regular consonantal sound changes from Proto-Celtic to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton are summarised in the following table. Where the graphemes have a different value from the corresponding IPA symbols, the IPA equivalent is indicated between slashes. V represents a vowel; C represents a consonant. The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which
7469-561: The lexicon and syntax. It is generally accepted that Brittonic effects on English are lexically few, aside from toponyms, consisting of a small number of domestic and geographical words, which "may" include bin , brock , carr , comb , crag and tor . Another legacy may be the sheep-counting system yan tan tethera in the north, in the traditionally Celtic areas of England such as Cumbria . Several words of Cornish origin are still in use in English as mining-related terms, including costean , gunnies , and vug . Those who argue against
7566-645: The main centres of surfing in Britain. A geological dividing line cuts across Devon roughly along the line of the Bristol to Exeter line and the M5 motorway east of Tiverton and Exeter. It is a part of the Tees–Exe line broadly dividing Britain into a southeastern lowland zone typified by gently dipping sedimentary rocks and a northwestern upland zone typified by igneous rocks and folded sedimentary and metamorphic rocks . The principal geological components of Devon are i)
7663-616: The mid-fourth century AD, Christianity was introduced to Devon. In the Sub-Roman period the church in the British Isles was characterised by some differences in practice from the Latin Christianity of the continent of Europe and is known as Celtic Christianity ; however it was always in communion with the wider Roman Catholic Church . Many Cornish saints are commemorated also in Devon in legends, churches and place-names. Western Christianity came to Devon when it
7760-399: The name of the river Trent simply comes from the Welsh word for a 'trespasser' (figuratively suggesting 'overflowing river'). Scholars supporting a Brittonic substrate in English argue that the use of periphrastic constructions (using auxiliary verbs such as do and be in the continuous/progressive) of the English verb , which is more widespread than in the other Germanic languages ,
7857-492: The native word for the island, * Pritanī . An early written reference to the British Isles may derive from the works of the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia ; later Greek writers such as Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo who quote Pytheas' use of variants such as πρεττανική ( Prettanikē ), "The Britannic [land, island]", and νησοι βρεττανιαι ( nēsoi brettaniai ), "Britannic islands", with Pretani being
7954-461: The old Roman walls of Exeter, are nearly always near the coast, as in those days travelling was done mainly by sea. The Devonian villages of Petrockstowe and Newton St Petroc are also named after Saint Petroc and the flag of Devon is dedicated to him. The history of Christianity in the South West of England remains to some degree obscure. Parts of the historic county of Devon formed part of
8051-672: The partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the kingdom of Wessex in the eighth and ninth centuries, and the western boundary with Cornwall was set at the Tamar by king Æthelstan in 936. The name Devon derives from the name of the Brythons who inhabited the southwestern peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain known as the Dumnonii , thought to mean 'deep valley dwellers' from Proto-Celtic * dubnos 'deep'. In
8148-687: The presence of Britons such as Dumbarton – from the Scottish Gaelic Dùn Breatainn meaning 'Fort of the Britons', and Walton meaning (in Anglo-Saxon) a tun 'settlement' where the Wealh 'Britons' still lived. The number of Celtic river names in England generally increases from east to west, a map showing these being given by Jackson. These include Avon, Chew, Frome, Axe, Brue and Exe, but also river names containing
8245-553: The present stative (al. continuous/progressive) Yr wyf yn caru = 'I am loving', where the Brittonic syntax is partly mirrored in English. (However, English I am loving comes from older I am a-loving , from still older ich am on luvende 'I am in the process of loving'). In the Germanic sister languages of English, there is only one form, for example Ich liebe in German, though in colloquial usage in some German dialects,
8342-522: The resorts railway line and beaches are very near. North Devon is very rural with few major towns except Barnstaple , Great Torrington , Bideford and Ilfracombe . Devon's Exmoor coast has the highest cliffs in southern Britain, culminating in the Great Hangman , a 318 m (1,043 ft) "hog's-back" hill with a 250 m (820 ft) cliff-face, located near Combe Martin Bay. Its sister cliff
8439-674: The source of most of the county's rivers, including the Taw , Dart , and Exe . The longest river in the county is the Tamar , which forms most of the border with Cornwall and rises in 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
8536-498: The theory of a more significant Brittonic influence than is widely accepted point out that many toponyms have no semantic continuation from the Brittonic language. A notable example is Avon which comes from the Celtic term for river abona or the Welsh term for river, afon , but was used by the English as a personal name. Likewise the River Ouse, Yorkshire , contains the Celtic word usa which merely means 'water' and
8633-599: The traditional orchard-visiting Wassail in Whimple every 17 January, and the carrying of flaming tar barrels in Ottery St. Mary , where people who have lived in Ottery for long enough are called upon to celebrate Bonfire Night by running through the village (and the gathered crowds) with flaming barrels on their backs. Berry Pomeroy still celebrates Queene's Day for Elizabeth I . Devon's total economic output in 2019
8730-607: The two branches of the Insular Celtic languages; the other is Goidelic . It comprises the extant languages Breton , Cornish , and Welsh . The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython , meaning Ancient Britons as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael . The Brittonic languages derive from the Common Brittonic language, spoken throughout Great Britain during
8827-516: The word for 'fish' in all the Brittonic languages derives from the Latin piscis rather than the native * ēskos – which may survive, however, in the Welsh name of the River Usk , Wysg ). Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brittonic languages. Pictish may have resisted Latin influence to a greater extent than the other Brittonic languages. It
8924-595: Was adopted in 2003 after a competition run by BBC Radio Devon . The winning design was created by website contributor Ryan Sealey, and won 49% of the votes cast. The colours of the flag are those popularly identified with Devon, for example, the colours of the University of Exeter , the rugby union team, and the Green and White flag flown by the first Viscount Exmouth at the Bombardment of Algiers (now on view at
9021-472: Was approved by both Devon County Council and Torbay Council to create a Combined County Authority with various powers such as transport, housing, skills, and support for business devolved from the UK Government. The main settlements in Devon are the cities of Plymouth, a historic port now administratively independent, Exeter, the county town , and Torbay , the county's tourist centre. Devon's coast
9118-531: Was named after Devon by Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick in the 1840s and is the only British county whose name is used worldwide as the basis for a geological time period. Devon's second major rock system is the Culm Measures, a geological formation of the Carboniferous period that occurs principally in Devon and Cornwall. The measures are so called either from the occasional presence of
9215-519: Was over a long period incorporated into the kingdom of Wessex and the jurisdiction of the bishop of Wessex. Saint Petroc is said to have passed through Devon, where ancient dedications to him are even more numerous than in Cornwall: a probable seventeen (plus Timberscombe just over the border in Somerset), compared to Cornwall's five. The position of churches bearing his name, including one within
9312-533: Was over £26 billion, larger than either Manchester, or Edinburgh. A 2021 report states that "health, retail and tourism account for 43.1% of employment. Agriculture, education, manufacturing, construction and real estate employment are also over-represented in Devon compared with nationally". Brittonic languages The Brittonic languages (also Brythonic or British Celtic ; Welsh : ieithoedd Brythonaidd/Prydeinig ; Cornish : yethow brythonek/predennek ; and Breton : yezhoù predenek ) form one of
9409-491: Was very similar to that found in Cornish 'tre-' settlements, however these are generally described with the local placename -(a)cott , from the Old English for homestead, cf. cottage . Saxon endings in -worthy (from Anglo-Saxon worthig ) indicate larger settlements. Several 'Bere's indicate Anglo-Saxon wood groves, as 'leighs' indicate clearings. Devon has a variety of festivals and traditional practices, including
#215784