

DEVON-SHIRK. 



DEWSBURY. 



Of Roman stations in Devonshire the meet important appears to 

 hare been Uca Damnoniorum, which the name and the antiquities 

 discovered concur in fixing at Exeter. Another Roman station, 

 Xoridunum, or Muridunum ('I tin. Anton.'), is agreed by most to hare 

 been in this county. Two other utationi are mentioned by Richard. 

 of Cirencester : ' ad Durium ' (the elation on the Duriui f Dart), 

 supposed to be Totnes ; and Tamara, the name of which indicates iU 

 situation somewhere on the river Taniara (Tamer), and which wan pro- 

 bably at Tamerton Folliot, on the tostuary of the river some miles above 

 Devonport Richard also mentions two British towns, Termolus and 

 Artavia, in the territory of the Ciuibri, and probably in the north of 

 Devon. It has been conjectured that Deulmry, near Newton Abbot, 

 is the place called Dcviouisso by the geographer lUvvuuaa, 



An ancient British road, afterwards converted by the Romans to 

 their own use, trarened the whole county from east to west, passing 

 near Axminster and Honiton to the camp at Hembury, and by a 

 subsequent bend to I sea or Exeter. From Isca it ran south-west over 

 Haldon and near Newton Abbot to Totnes, and thence west to 

 the Tamara, or Tamer. Many other roads may be traced. The 

 Roman antiquities found in the county have not been numerous : 

 the principal Mem to have been at Exeter, where a tessellated pave- 

 ment was found, some bronzes, coins, and other remains. Some 

 antiquities have been found at Seaton and other places. 



In the Saxon invasion this county became the scene of contest. 

 CyuegiN, king of the West Saxons, is said by the Saxon chronicle to 

 have beaten the Britons, A.D. 614, at Beamdune, supposed to have 

 been Bampton, though it is by no means clear whether it U the 

 Hampton in Devonshire or that in Oxfordshire. The pressure of the 

 West Saxons gradually constrained the Britous to retire westward. 

 Devonshire was for a long period debateable ground; it probably 

 was not until the reign of Athelstan, who is said to have defeated 

 Howell, king of Cornwall, near Exeter, A.D. 926, that the Britons wvm 

 finally compelled to retire beyond the Tamer. In A.D. 876, 877, the 

 Danes seem to have wintered at Exeter, and were in 877 besieged by 

 Alfred, who compelled them to make peace and to give hostages for 

 the observance of it In 878, when Alftvil had been compelled 

 by a Danish invasion to conceal himself, Ubbo, or Hubba, one 

 of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrog, and one of the chiefs of the invaders, 

 landed in the north of Devon and blockaded Kyuwith Castle, near 

 Apple lore. Odun (who is styled earl of Devon), who occupied the 

 castle, made a vigorous sally just about daybreak, slew Ubbo and 

 nearly 1000 of his men, and captured the magical standard of the 

 Danes, woven by the sisters of Ubbo and worked with the figure of a 

 raven. In 894 the Danes were ngain iu Devonshire ; those of them 

 whom Alfred had nettled in East Anglia and Xorthumbrio, induced 

 by Hasting, who was then infesting England, took ship, and sailing 

 round the headlands of Kent and along the Channel, besieged Exeter ; 

 but on the approach of Alfred's army they fled to their ships. The 

 great battle of Brunanburh, which has been by some placed in 

 Northumberland, has been by others supposed to have been fought 

 near Axminster in Devonshire. In 997, 1001, and 1003 the Danes 

 committed considerable ravages in the district. 



When William of Normandy attacked England his second campaign 

 was in the west Exeter yielded on bis approach. In the next two 

 yean, when the Saxons of the neighbourhood rose in revolt, or rather 

 renewed the struggle for independence, under the sons of Harold, 

 who had fallen at Hastings, the citizens refused to admit them. 

 William sent some troops to relieve the city, and the Saxons were 

 defeated with great slaughter. 



The coasta of Devonshire were about this time laid waste by the 

 Irish, and the civil broils which arose during the next hundred years 

 between the children and descendant* of the Conqueror rendered Devon- 

 shire the soene of contest The succeeding centuries are marked by few 

 historical events except occasional attacks by the French on tte towns 

 along the coast, and some contests of inferior moment during the 

 war* of the Roses. The nobility of the county were divided 1" 

 the rival bouses; the Courtennys, earls of Devon, were Lancastrians, 

 am! three brother* who successively enjoyed the title fell in the field 

 or died on the scaffold. 



In the rebellion of the Cornish men under Lord Audley and 

 Flammock [CORNWALL], and in the rebellion under Perkin Wurbeck, 

 Exeter was the object of attack ; but in both cases the attack failed. 

 The hut siege was raised by Courtenay, earl of Devon, attended 

 by several Devonshire knights and the 'posse comitatus.' Warbeck 

 retired to Taunton. 



Of tie troubled periods to which the foregoing sketch refers 

 Devonshire contains several memorials in the baronial castles, the 

 ruins of which are .till in existence. At Exeter, Plympton, Oke- 

 hampton, and Tiverton were castles, all of which belonged to the 

 r.mrVnays. [ExaTEB; TIVEBTO.X.] Some of the walls of the keep 

 of I'lymptnn Cartln yet remain, and some scanty ruins of that of 

 Okehampton. Berry Pomeroy Castle, nenr Totues, is an ancient 

 mansion on the brow of a steep hill in a well-wooded country ; it 

 was the neat first of the Pomeroyn, afterwards of the Seymours. 

 Coin p ton Castle near Torbay, and Alton Castle near Chulmleigh, are 

 till standing but converted into farm-houaes ; and there are remains 

 of Oidley Castle ; Hcmyock Castle, near the upper waters of the 

 Culm; Dartmouth Castle; Kinguwcar Castle, near Dartmouth; and 



Lid ford Castle, between Tavistock and Okehampton. Of a 

 mansion-house* Darlington, near Totnes, built in the reigu of 

 Richard II., about the end of the 14th century, and an old inanition 

 at Bradley, near Newton Bushel, built in the 15th century, are among 

 the most remarkable. 



When the alteration of the church service took place at the 

 Reformation, 1549, great disturbances broke out iu Devonshire. 

 They began at Sampford Courtvuay, between Okehaiuptou and 

 rhuliuliMgh, and gradually assumed a serious aspect, as some of the 

 gentry joined in the revolt The spirit of disaffection spread into 

 Cornwall. Exeter was besieged by the rebels ; and it was not until 

 several severe actions had taken place that Lord Russell, who had 

 been sent down to suppress the revolt, succeeded in doing so. In 

 1554 Exeter was occupied by Sir Peter and Sir Oaweu Caruw, who 

 had taken up arms to oppose the coming of Philip of Spain. 



Of the monastic establishments of Devonshire, Tavistock Benedict iue 

 Abbey; Buckland, Buckfastre, Duukeswell, Kurd, and Newci, 

 Cistercian abbeys ; Plympton and Hartloud, the former a priory and 

 the Utter an abbey of Augustiniau Canons; and Tor Abbey for 

 Premonstratensian Canons, were the chief. The ruins of these 

 buildings are inconsiderable : the chapel and other parts of 

 Abbey, on the river Axe ; the refectory and abbot's hall, and lh> 

 house at Tavistock; part of the conventual church of T 



no remains of Bucklaud, llarlland, and other establixlu 

 are yet standing. There are considerable remains of St N icholas's 

 Priory at Exeter ; the crypt, which has massive Norman arches, has 

 been converted into a kitchen. 



In the great civil war of Charles I. the county seems generally to 

 have embraced the cause of the Parliament Plymouth won 

 by the townsmen during the absence of the governor appoiu 

 the king, and the Earl of Ruthen was soon after made go\ 

 Exeter wag the head-quarters of the Earl of Stamford, the parlia- 

 mentary general. In 1043 the Royalists besieged Exeter, which the 

 Earl of Warwick, who commanded the fleet for the Parliament, was 

 unable to relieve. Colonel Digby, a royalist, defeated the Parli 

 tarians at Torrington ; and Barustaple, Bideford, and a strong fort at 

 Appledore, which were held for the Parliament, surrendered, Exeter 

 also was compelled to surrender about the name time. Prince Maurice 

 blockaded Plymouth, but without success; two assault* made in 

 December 1643 were repulsed, and the siege was for a time aban- 

 doned. In the spring of 1644 several fresh attempts were made upon 

 it with a like result In 1644 the Earl of Essex with his army reached 

 Devonshire, but no great or decisive event took place until Essex 

 marched into Cornwall, where his infantry was obliged to capitulate 

 to the king, who bad followed him thither. [CORNWALL.] The king, 

 returning from Cornwall, summoned Plymouth to surrender ; and on 

 iU refusal Sir Richard Qrenville was left to carry on the siege. Iu 

 October Io45 Sir Thomas Fairfax, Commander-in-chief for the Parlia- 

 ment, entered the county with his army, and in the course of the 

 following winter and spring entirely put down the opposite party. 



At the revolution of 1663 the Prince of Orange lauded at Torbay, 

 November 5th ; and on the 8th he made a public entry into Exeter, 

 where he remained for some days before any of the principal ] 

 of the county joined him. Ou the 21st he quitted Exeter on his 

 march to London. 



Teignmouth was burned by the French iu 1690. In 1719, upon 

 the apprehension of a French invasion, an encampment was formed 

 on Clint Heath, 4or5 miles N'.K. from Exeter. In 1771* the appearance 

 of the combined French and Spanish fleets off Plymouth caused great 

 alarm, and the prisoners of war were removed to Exeter. In 1798, 

 upon the alarm of a French invasion, several regiments of volunteers 

 were raised, artillery was brought from Plymouth for the defence of 

 Exeter and placed in an ancient intreuchmeut on Woodbury Down, 

 a few miles south-east of Exeter, where a camp was formed. Similar 

 measures were taken upon the renewal of the alarm iu 1 b03. 



Devonshire is an agricultural county. It has but few manufactures, 

 but many of its inhabitant* ore employed in quarrying stone, or in 

 obtaining some other of the valuable minerals it contains. In 1851 

 the county possessed six savings banks, of which two were established 

 iu connection with the dockyards, and four in the towns of Devonport, 

 Exeter, Plymouth, and Tavistock : the amount owing to depositors 

 on 20th November 1851 was 1,504,8052. 19* be/. 



DKVYNNUCK. [BaiCJUIOCUIUIlB.] 



DEWSBURY, West Hiding of Yorkshire, a market-town and the 

 seat of a Poor- Law Union, in the parish of Dewsbury, U situated at 

 the base of a hill rising from the left bank of the river Calder, in 

 53 42' N. lat, 1 39' W. long., distant 32 miles S.W. from York, 

 IMl mile* N.N.W. from London by road, and 18i) miles by the Great 

 Northern and Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. The population 

 of the town of Dewsbury in 1851 was 5033. The living is a vicarage 

 iu the archdeaconry of Craven and diocse of Kipou. Uewsbury 

 Poor- Law Union contains 11 parishes and townships, with an area of 

 24,166 acres, aud a population in 1S51 of 71,708. 



Iu I he time of the Saxons the parish of Dewsbury was one of the 

 most extensive in England, comprising an area of 400 square miles. 

 That area U now divided into nine parishes, including those of 

 Uuddersfield, Bradford, aud Halifax. Paulinus, the first archbishop 

 of York, resided at this place, and some have supposed that from the 



