Devon place-names

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-06-04. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-06-13.

County description

The Historic Counties Trust describes Devon as follows:

Devon is large county in the southeastern corner of the land; only Cornwall lies beyond to the west. Devon has two seacoasts to north and south, with the Bristol Channel and English Channel respectively. Dorset and Somerset are to the east. Devonshire has a proud seagoing tradition. The Elizabethan navy that defeated the armada and "singed the King of Spain's beard" was largely drawn from Devon. Sir Francis Drake was a Tavistock man. Only in recent years has the Royal Navy scaled down its dominant presence in Devonport in Plymouth. The southern coast is very lovely, rugged between Thurlestone and Salcombe, from where a network of craggy tidal creeks reaches deep into the land. Cliffs front the sea. The northern coastline is remarkable for steep thickly-wooded cliffs between Lynmouth and Ilfracombe, while beyond the Taw and Torridge estuaries there is again magnificent coastal scenery around Clovelly, and from Hartland to the Cornish border. Inland most of southern Devon is Dartmoor, a bleak but picturesque landscape of granite hill country rising to over 2,000 feet in places. Tavistock is the Queen of Dartmoor, a fine granite-built town on the Tavy. In the north Exmoor begins, where the River Exe rises. There is rolling agricultural land to the north and in the east of the county, particularly along the Exe and Culm Valleys. Exeter, the county town, is a mixture of mediæval and modern. It lies on the Exe a short distance above its estuary. The Exe Valley runs almost the length of eastern Devonshire, north to south, with several smaller towns and picturesque villages of thatched cottages.

Main Towns: Axminster, Barnstaple, Bideford, Dartmouth, Exeter, Exmouth, Ilfracombe, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Sidmouth, Torquay.
Main Rivers: Plym, Lyd, Tavy, Bovey, Dart, Avon, Teign, Exe, Taw, Tamar, Yealm.
Highlights: Dartmoor; Exeter Cathedral; Exmoor; Lynton/Lynmouth; Plymouth.
Highest Point: High Willhays, 621.49 m.
Area: 6228.93 km.

Chronology

19th century

Robin Hood-related place-names first documented in the 19th century.

• Robin Hood (Devonport)
• Robin Hood (Stonehouse)
• Robin Hood (Sutton Harbour)
• Robin Hood and Little John (Prince Rock)

Unknown century

Robin Hood-related place-names whose century of first occurrence is unknown.

All localities

• Little John's Cross (Exeter)
• Little John's Cross Hill (Exeter)
• Robin Hood (Devonport)
• Robin Hood (Stonehouse)
• Robin Hood (Sutton Harbour)
• Robin Hood and Little John (Prince Rock)

Place-name clusters

Clusters of Robin Hood place-names, localities with local traditions, literary locales etc. in Devon.

• Template:PnCluster
• Template:PnCluster

List and Gazetters

• Nothing in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-311
• Gover, J.E.B.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F.M. The Place-Names of Devon (English Place-Name Society, vols. VIII-IX) (Cambridge, 1931-32). Standard work on Devon place-names; does not include any Robin Hood names
  • Gover, J.E.B.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F.M. The Place-Names of Devon (English Place-Name Society, vols. VIII-IX). Reprinted (Cambridge, 1969).

Background

• The Historic Counties Trust: Historic Counties Descriptions
• Wikipedia: Devon.

Notes

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