Devon is a land riddled with history, legends, myths and true stories...

e-mail me: heather@dawnmist.org

On this part of our website I share with you just a few aspects of Devon that have inspired me.


The amazingly varied landscape and its busy natural and historical past has been for centuries,
and still is, the inspiration of artists, writers and scholars the world over.
Once the home of prehistoric animals and cave-dwellers it went on to become a land of Bronze Age and
Iron Age settlement. The British tribes called the Dumnonii lived here on the far reaches of the Roman empire.
Place names reflect the settlements and activity of Celtic Christians, the Saxons and also Danish invaders.
Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066 great pieces of Saxon Devon were given over to be owned by powerful
inheritors of the invading army who made it their home. Between this time and the early medieval period many historic
castles and homes of England were seated in the Devon valleys and along the coasts. Kings and Queens, Barons, Bishops
and Lords ruled the land while the villages and towns began to grow bigger and prosper. In the Tudor period mariners such
as Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh set sail to the New World to establish the first English colonies there as well as plunder Spanish gold.
All said when you study Devon in more detail you can get to know those less known hidden aspects that might be lost in time...
Old trackways once busy with horses now silent other than occasional walkers, and the ruins of more humble cottages and mine
workings can be discovered in the less known corners. Beautiful forests with their gnarled oaks, waterfalls, mosses and lichens
await to inspire around the next corner and high on the hill tops the granite tors speak like God's who have watched over the
landscape and all who have lived there for thousands of years.







Scenes of Devon: Photograph Gallery



Explore Berry Pomeroy Castle - History, Folklore and Hauntings



A Study of Devon's Ancient Ways



A Study of Cornwall's Ancient Ways