34 Facts About Devon

Devon is a county in South West England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south.

Devon was later constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England.

North and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the county's bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns and ports.

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 'deep'.

William Camden, in his 1607 edition of Britannia, described Devon as being one part of an older, wider country that once included Cornwall:.

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Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid ninth century.

Devon's population exhibited similarities with modern northern France, including Brittany.

Devon was the home of a number of anticlerical movements in the Later Middle Ages.

Devon has 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.

Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times.

Key train operator for Devon is Great Western Railway, which operates numerous regional, local and suburban services, as well as inter-city services north to London Paddington and south to Plymouth and Penzance.

All Devon services are diesel-hauled, since there are no electrified lines in the county.

Okehampton station in Devon was closed in 1972 to passenger traffic as a result of the Beeching cuts, but regained regular passenger services run by GWR to Exeter in November 2021, funded by the UK Government's Restoring your Railway programme.

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.

North Devon is very rural with few major towns except Barnstaple, Great Torrington, Bideford and Ilfracombe.

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 wind and an Atlantic swell produce excellent surfing conditions.

Devon generally has a cool oceanic climate, heavily influenced by the North Atlantic Drift.

The Devon Bird Watching and Preservation Society is a county bird society dedicated to the study and conservation of wild birds.

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.

Devon is divided into two Watsonian vice-counties: north and south, the boundary being an irregular line approximately across the higher part of Dartmoor and then along the canal eastwards.

At the 2019 general election, Devon returned 10 Conservatives and two Labour MPs to the House of Commons.

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 is lined with tourist resorts, many of which grew rapidly with the arrival of the railways in the 19th century.

Region of Devon was the dominion of the pre-Roman Dumnonii Celtic tribe, known as the "Deep Valley Dwellers".

Parts of the historic county of Devon formed part of the diocese of Wessex, while nothing is known of the church organisation of the Celtic areas.

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Devon came under the political influence of several different nobles during the Middle Ages, especially the Courtenays Earl of Devon.

Devon has its own flag which has been dedicated to Saint Petroc, a local saint with dedications throughout Devon and neighbouring counties.

In October 2008, Devon was awarded Fairtrade County status by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Devon has been home to a number of customs, such as its own form of Devon wrestling, similar in some ways to Cornish wrestling.

Devon has three professional football teams, based in each of its most populous towns and cities.

Devon is known for its mariners, such as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Chichester.

Actor Matthew Goode was raised in Devon, and Bradley James, an actor, was born there.

The singer Joss Stone was brought up in Devon and frontman Chris Martin from the British rock group Coldplay was born there.

Devon has been represented in the House of Commons by notable Members of Parliament such as Nancy Astor, Gwyneth Dunwoody, Michael Foot and David Owen and the Prime Ministers Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston.