Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to the east. Its southern coast abuts the English Channel and its northern coast the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea. The name "Devon" derives from the kingdom of Dumnonia, which was home to the tribe of Celtic people who inhabited this area of the southwestern peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman invasion in AD 43, Dumnonii—possibly meaning "Deep Valley Dwellers" or "Worshippers of the god Dumnonos".
Devon is the fourth largest of the English counties by area and has a population of 1,141,600 making it the 11th largest. The county town is the cathedral city of Exeter. In addition to Devon County Council, the county contains two unitary authorities (independent from Devon County Council's control): the port city of Plymouth and Torbay, a conurbation of seaside resorts. Plymouth is also the largest city in Devon. Much of the county is rural (including national park) land, with a low population density by British standards. It contains Dartmoor 954 km2 (368 sq mi), the largest open space in southern England. It is the only English county to have two separate coastlines – a north and southern coastline.
The county is home to part of England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dorset and East Devon Coast, known as the Jurassic Coast for its geology and geographical features. It is also home to Braunton Burrows UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a dune complex in the north of the county. Along with Cornwall, Devon is known as the "Cornubian massif". This geology gives rise to the landscapes of Dartmoor and Exmoor, the latter two being national parks. Devon has seaside resorts and historic towns and cities, rural scenery and a mild climate, accounting for the large tourist sector of its economy.
Toponymy
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 c. AD 50, known as the Dumnonii, thought to mean "deep valley dwellers". In the Brythonic Celtic languages, Devon is known as Dyfnaint (Welsh), Devnent (Breton) and Dewnens (Cornish). (For an account of Celtic Dumnonia see the separate article.)William Camden, in his 1607 edition of Britannia, described Devon as being one part of an older, wider country that once included Cornwall:
The term "Devon" is normally used for everyday purposes e.g. "Devon County Council" but "Devonshire" continues to be used in the names of the "Devonshire and Dorset Regiment" and "The Devonshire Association". One erroneous theory 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. However, there are references to "Defenascire" in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD (this would mean "Shire of the Devonians"), which translates to modern English as "Devonshire". The term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia (Latin) to Defenascir.THAT region which, according to 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 Dunmonii, […] But the Country of this nation is at this day divided into two parts, knowen by later names of Cornwall and Denshire, […]
Human occupation
Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 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 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 Brythonic Dumnonia and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. The border with Cornwall was set by King Athelstan on 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 at Taintona (a settlement on the Teign estuary) in 1001.
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 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 Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748.
Economy and industry
Like neighbouring Cornwall to the west, historically Devon has been disadvantaged economically compared to other parts of Southern England, owing to the decline of a number of core industries, notably fishing, mining and farming. Agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century. The 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis harmed the farming community severely.. Since then some parts of the agricultural industry have begun to diversify and recover, with a strong local food sector and many artisan producers. It is also the headquarters of the UK's largest organic veg box provider - Riverford Organics, based near Totnes and River Cottage based near Axminster. Nonetheless the dairy industry is still suffering from the low prices offered for wholesale milk by major dairies and especially large supermarket chains.
Since the rise of seaside resorts with the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, Devon's economy has been heavily reliant on tourism. The county's economy followed the declining trend of British seaside resorts since the mid-20th century, but with some recent revival and regeneration of its resorts, particularly focused around camping; sports such as surfing, cycling, sailing and heritage. This revival has been aided by the designation of much of Devon's countryside and coastline as the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks, and the Jurassic Coast and Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Sites. In 2004 the county's tourist revenue was £1.2 billion.. More successful visitor attractions in recent years have tended to target higher spending tourists, particularly focusing around the food and drink sector and watersports. Examples such as the Venus Cafes; Damien Hirst's restaurant in Ilfracombe; Burgh Island; surfing and camping around Croyde and Woolacombe and sailing around Salcombe have all proved a big draw in recent years.
Incomes vary significantly across the county, with parts of Torridge and Torbay having among the lowest earnings in the whole of the UK. Incomes in much of the South Hams and in villages surrounding Exeter and Plymouth are by contrast above the national average. Likewise levels of deprivation tend to be highest in urban areas such as Torbay, Plymouth, plus parts of Exeter and Ilfracombe. They are lowest in the rural fringes of big settlements, easily commutable and leafy, such as Ivybridge, Woodbury, Kenton and Braunton.
Geography and geology
The principal geological formations of Devon are the Devonian (in north Devon, south west Devon and extending into Cornwall); the Culm Measures (north western Devon also extending into north Cornwall); and the granite intrusion of Dartmoor in central Devon, part of the Cornubian batholith. There are small remains of pre-Devonian rocks on the south Devon coast.
Devon gave its name to a geological period: the Devonian period, so named because of the abundance of the grey limestone found there. It was Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick who originally named the Devonian Period following research they carried out in Devon, and in particular, Torbay. They found some unusual marine fossils in the limestone at Lummaton Quarry and it was this discovery that led to the time period becoming known globally as the Devonian.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 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 Devon's well known fertile red soils); Bunter pebble beds around Budleigh Salterton and Woodbury Common and Jurassic rocks in the easternmost parts of Devon. Smaller deposits of even newer 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 50m years ago under tropical forest conditions.
Devon is the only county in England to have two separate coastlines; the South West Coast Path runs along the entire length of both, around 65% of which is named as Heritage Coast. Devon has more mileage of road than any other county in England: before the changes to counties in 1974 it was the largest by area of the counties not divided into two or three parts. (Its acreage was until 1974 1,658,288: only exceeded by the West Riding of Yorkshire.) The islands of Lundy and Eddystone are also in Devon.
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 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 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 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 (1043 ft) "hog's-back" hill with an 250 m (820 ft) cliff-face, located near Combe Martin Bay. Its sister cliff is the 218 m (716 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 the main centres of surfing in Britain.
Politics and administration
The administrative centre of Devon is the city of Exeter. The largest city in Devon, Plymouth, and the conurbation of Torbay (including Torquay, 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 the Conservatives, and the political representation of its 62 councillors are: 41 Conservatives, 14 Liberal Democrats, four Labour, two Independents and one Green. At a national level, Devon has seven Conservative MPs, two Liberal Democrat MPs, and two Labour MPs.
In December 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government referred Exeter City Council's bid to become a Unitary Council to the Boundary Committee for England, as they felt the application did not meet all their strict criteria. The Boundary Committee was asked to look at the feasibility of a unitary Exeter in the context of examining options for unitary arrangements in the wider Devon county area, and reported back in July 2008 recommending a "unitary Devon" (excluding Plymouth and Torbay), with a second option of a "unitary Exeter & Exmouth" (combined) and a unitary "rest of Devon". These proposals were put out to consultation until September 2008 and the Committee was expected to make final recommendations to the Secretary of State by the end of the year. As a result of a number of legal challenges to the process and also dissatisfaction on the part of the Secretary of State with the manner in which the Boundary Committee is assessing proposals, it now looks likely that a recommendation will not be forthcoming until March or April 2009.
Cities, towns and villages
The boundary with Cornwall has not always been on 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.)
Education
Devon has a mostly comprehensive education system. There are 37 state and 23 independent secondary schools. There are three tertiary (FE) colleges and an agricultural college (Bicton College, near Budleigh Salterton). Torbay has 8 state (with 3 grammar schools) and 3 independent secondary schools, and Plymouth has 17 state (with 3 grammar schools – two female and one male) and one independent school, Plymouth College. East Devon and Teignbridge have the largest school populations, with West Devon the smallest (with only two schools). Only one school in Exeter, Mid Devon, Torridge and North Devon have a sixth form – the schools in other districts mostly have sixth forms, with all schools in West Devon and East Devon having a sixth form. The county also plays host to two major British universities, the University of Exeter (split between the Streatham Campus and St Luke's Campus both in Exeter and a campus in Cornwall); in Plymouth the University of Plymouth, the fourth largest university in Britain is present, along with the Marjon's College to the city's north . Both the universities of Exeter and Plymouth have co-formed the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry which has bases in Exeter and Plymouth. There is also Schumacher College.
Sports
Devon has been home to a number of customs, such as its own form of wrestling. As recently as the 19th century, a crowd of 17,000 at Devonport, near Plymouth, attended a match between the champions of Devon and Cornwall. Another Devon sport was outhurling which was played in some regions until the 20th century (e.g. 1922, at Great Torrington). Other ancient customs which survive include Dartmoor step dancing, and "Crying The Neck".
Devon has three professional football teams, based in each of its three most populous towns and cities. In the 2011/2012 football season, Exeter City F.C. will compete in Football League One, and Torquay United F.C. and Plymouth Argyle F.C. in Football League Two. Plymouth's best performance came in 1987 when they finished seventh in the Football League Second Division, while Torquay and Exeter have never progressed beyond the third tier of the league. The county's biggest non-league club is Tiverton Town F.C. which competes in the Southern Football League Division One South & West.
Rugby Union is popular in Devon with two teams – Exeter Chiefs play in the Aviva Premiership and Plymouth Albion who are, as of 2011, in the RFU Championship. In basketball, Plymouth Raiders play in the British Basketball League. Tamar Valley Cannons, also based in Plymouth, are Devon's only other representatives in the National Leagues. Motorcycle speedway is also supported in the county, with both the Exeter Falcons and Plymouth Devils succeeding in the National Leagues in recent years.
There are four rugby league teams in Devon. Plymouth Titans, Exeter Centurions, Devon Sharks from Torquay and East Devon Eagles from Exmouth. They all play in the Rugby League Conference.
Devon also boasts a field hockey club who play in the National Premier League, the University of Exeter Hockey Club
Horse Racing, particularly point to point racing and National Hunt Racing is also popular in the county, with two National Hunt racecourses (Exeter and Newton Abbot), and numerous point to point courses. There are also many successful professional racehorse trainers based in Devon.
The county is represented in cricket by Devon County Cricket Club, who play at a Minor counties level.
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