Devon

Contemporary content

From our Transactions

• A list of titles of all papers. Those available to read on this website are linked.

Abstracts of papers published in our Transactions

• Abstracts since 1999

Book reviews

Over the years we have published many reviews of Devon-related books in our Transactions and in DA News. A selection can be read here.

The Devonshire Dialect Dictionary

We are pleased to be able to host this new work compiled by Geoffrey Dearson. It is the largest compilation of Devon dialect words yet created. Arranged in dictionary form, it consists of about 14,400 words with some 22,000 attributions and over 4,000 etymologies and derivations. See the introduction here.

DA News Magazine

A lively magazine published twice-yearly to keep members informed of what has been going on and what is to come. It is issued free to members of the Devonshire Association and contains both material relevant to DA membership and numerous articles of general Devon interest.

Back issues of the magazine from 2018 onwards are available as pdf files to read online or to download, here.

List of Devon Beetles

Martin Luff, Country Recorder for Coleoptera, has created a list of the 2,725 (and counting!) beetle species that have been recorded in Devon. There are many distribution maps and illustrations too. See the database here.

A New Flora of Devon

The authors have kindly given permission for us to include A New Flora of Devon (published in hardback in 2016) on this website. See it here.

Videos of talks available

We have recorded many of the Zoom talks given to the DA since December 2020. See the list here. Note that access to most of the videos is restricted to DA members only.

Section reports

Our annual conferences are held in a different town in Devon each year (though we do occasionally stray into Cornwall or Somerset). Our Sections produce reports on the town and its surroundings and collectively these provide a useful introduction to the place:

• Axminster (2011): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – History – Geology – Literature
• Torquay (2012): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – Literature & Art
• Kingsbridge (2013): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – Literature & Art
• Barnstaple (2014): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – Literature & Art
• Tavistock (2015): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – History – Industrial Archaeology – Literature & Art
• Cullompton (2016): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – History – Industrial Archaeology – Literature & Art – Music
• Buckfast (2017): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – History – Industrial Archaeology – Literature & Art
• Dartmouth (2018): Botany – Buildings – Entomology – Geology – History – Industrial Archaeology – Literature & Art
• Launceston (2019): Botany – Buildings – Geology – History – Literature & Art
• Bideford (2020). Although the Conference was postponed, reports have been produced and will appear here in due course.

Buildings Section survey reports

These are reports of detailed surveys of individual buildings undertaken by members of the Buildings Section since 1988.

Blagdon Cider Barn, near Paignton, 1988

Other contemporary materials

These are mostly copies of papers from our Transactions which the authors have kindly allowed us to republish, but other work is also included. They are listed below in order of publication from 1980 to date.

1980 – 99

• Government Assisted Emigration from Plymouth in the Nineteenth Century. A paper by Mark Brayshay (1980).
• The Records of the Bishop of Exeter’s Consistory Court. A paper by J. A. Vage (1982).
• The Duke of Bedford’s Model Cottages in Tavistock, 1840-1870. A paper by Mark Brayshay (1982).
• Crime and Society in Thirteenth-Century Devon. A paper by Henry Summerson (1987).
• Devon’s Farm Labourers in the Victorian Period: the Impact of Economic Change. A paper by Greg Finch (1987).
• A Re-appraisal of the Erratic Suite of the Saunton and Croyde Areas, North Devon. A paper by P. A Madgett and E. A. Inglis (1987).
• Plymouth’s Coastal Defences in the Year of the Spanish Armada. A paper by Mark Brayshay (1987).
• The Moorland Meavy – A Tinners’ Landscape. A paper by Philip Newman (1987).
• Royal Post-Horse Routes in South West England in the Reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. A paper by Mark Brayshay (1991).
• Tinners and Tenants on South-West Dartmoor: A Case Study in Landscape History. A paper by Philip Newman (1994).
• The Rural Manor in South-West Devon in the Nineteenth Century. A paper by Brad Scott (1997).

2000 – 09

Photos of coins from John Allan’s paper on the Lydford Mint

• The Anglo-Saxon Mint at Lydford. A paper by John Allan (2002).
• Druid Mine, Ashburton. A paper by Philip Newman (2003)
• Mobility and Persistence of Families in Cheriton Bishop. A paper by Sophia Lambert (2007).
• Ancient Forests of the South Devon Coast: 8,000 years of changing vegetation determined by pollen analysis. A paper by Mary Cove (2007).
• The Landscape around Chulmleigh in 1711: A Reconstructed Map. A paper by Martin Ebdon (2008).
• Tamar View, The Horn of Plenty and the Devonshire Great Consolidated Copper Mining Company. A paper by John Goodridge  (2008)
• Anne Edgcumbe/Dowriche and The French Historie. A pair of related papers by Dr Julie Sampson (2009).
• The Husbandry of Devon and Cornwall. A paper by Robin Stanes (2009).

2010 – 14

• A Devon By-Election: South Molton, 1891. A paper by Sophia Lambert (2010).
  
  

  Synchaeta pectinata from The Hudson Transparencies

• Evidence for a Twelfth-Century Community of Benefactors in a North Devon Charter. A paper by Dorothea Rowse (2011).
• The Hudson Transparencies. A summary, list and illustrations that complement an article by Dr Robin Wootton in Transactions volume 143 (2011) pp. 61–90.
• William Pengelly, The Devonshire Association, and 150 Years of Scholarship. A paper by Dr Robin Wootton (2012).
• The Geodiversity of Torbay. A paper by Prof. Malcolm Hart (2012).
• The Poetry of Anne Born: an Appreciation. A paper by John R. Cole (2013).
• The History and Hydrogeology of Laywell, a Celebrated Ebb and Flow Spring at Brixham, Devon. A paper by Prof. John Mather (2013).

2015 – 19

• Facing sin: late medieval roof bosses in Ugborough church, Devon. An article by Dr Susan Andrew (2015).
• Trojans at Totnes and Giants on the Hoe: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historical Fiction and Geographical Reality. A paper by John Clark (2016).
• Bronze Age Geometry: the layout of the Ceremonial Site at Merrivale. A paper by John Morgan (2016).
• The Emergence of the Pinwill Sisters. A paper by Dr Helen Wilson (2016).
• The Three Hares in Medieval Devon and Beyond. Book extract by Dr Sue Andrew (2016).
• Stories on the Stones: Peter Hill, Parish Clerk and Sexton, Lydford. The tale of a ‘most worthy’ West Devon character, by Dr Sue Andrew (2017).
  
  

  Slate gravestone, believed to have been carved by William Shillibeer in 1780

• Stories on the Stones: William Shillibeer: Sculptor, Schoolmaster, Surveyor. Another tale of a West Devon character, by Dr Sue Andrew (2017).
• ‘A Master in the Art’: Harry Hems and St Peter’s Revelstoke, Noss Mayo, Devon. A paper by Dr Sue Andrew.
• Geological Highlights and Controversies Recorded in Early Volumes of the Transactions. A paper by Prof. John Mather and Dr Jenny Bennett (2018).
• John and Jane Cranch. The role of natural history in a Georgian domestic crisis. A shortened version of the presentation given by Dr Ian Varndell at our 2019 Conference (video, 2019).
• Insects – when will people realise they are fascinating? A plea from Dr Robin Wootton. (DA News Autumn 2019).

2020 –

• Geology Section: history, interests and the importance of Devon’s geology. An annotated presentation by Professor Malcolm Hart (2020).
• The death of Charles Stothard at Bere Ferrers, May 28th 1821 and some of its ramifications. An article by Clive Charlton, first published in Tamar (2020).
• Powne’s House in Crediton – “A very complete mid C18 town house”. An article by Clive Betts (2020).
• Some Exeter Cathedral Nave Corbels. An exploration by Diane Walker of the ideas presented in John Ramsden’s blog post “Dual identities of some Exeter Cathedral carvings.” (2021).
• A Photographic Friendship, James Ravilious and Chris Chapman. A video based on Chris Chapman’s presentation at the Beaford Photography Symposium, RAMM on October 1st 2022. Hosted on YouTube.
  

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  For content originally published before 1980, see the other contents page.