D E V 



685 



D E V 



Devon- and the buildings are old, and chiefly built of timber 

 sl " re - J and plaster, though several of the houses and shops 

 """Y^ are handsome. The principal public edifices are two 

 churches, a chapel, and four meeting houses for dissen- 

 ters. The ditch, with which the river was inclosed, 

 forms a road round the town, and upon a small emi- 

 nence within the town, the ruins of its strong castle are 

 still to be seen. The principal manufactures of this 

 place, which are kerseymeres, broad cloth, and serges, 

 employ about 1800 individuals; and a great trade in 

 malt and corn is carried on, by means of the Kennet 

 and Avon canal, which is close to the town. 



The following is an abstract of the population return 

 for 1811. 



Number of houses 696 



Number of families 855 



Families employed in agriculture 191 



Families employed in trade and manufacture 498 



Males 1776 



Females 1975 



Total population in 1811 3750 



DEVONSHIRE, a maritime county in the south- 

 west of England, is bounded on the north and north- 

 west by the Bristol Channel, on the south and south- 

 east by the English Channel, on the west by the coun- 

 ty of Cornwall, and on the east by the counties of So- 

 merset and Dorset. It is divided from Cornwall by the 

 river Tamar, and a small rivulet called Marsland-water : 

 oundarips The boundaries between it and the counties of Dorset 

 id extent, and Somerset are artificial. Its figure is nearly rhom- 

 boidal : From north to south it is nearly 70 miles, from 

 east to west about 65, and in circumference about 280 

 miles. It is reckoned that there are 52 miles on the 

 Bristol Channel, and 82 on the English Channel, in a 

 direct line, not including the prominent headlands and 

 coves or inlets. The shores of Devonshire, on the 

 English channel, are flat, gravelly, or sandy ; and this 

 coast, in general, consists of a great number of bays, 

 not deeply incurvated, which are bounded by head- 

 lands, composed for the most part of reddish clay or 

 sandstone. The coast on the Bristol Channel is more 

 bold and picturesque. In point of size, Devonshire is 

 the second county in England, being inferior only to 

 Yorkshire. It is reckoned to contain about 1,600,000 

 acres. It is divided into 33 hundreds, and subdivided 

 into 432 parishes and tythings, besides the 22 parishes 

 which are contained within the boundaries of Exeter. 

 There are in it 40 market towns. It sends 26 members 

 to parliament, two for the county, and two for each of 

 the following places : Plymouth, Exeter, Tavistock, 

 Dartmouth, Ashburton, Barnstaple, Tiverton, Oak- 

 hampton, Honiton, Plympton, Totness, and Beeralston. 

 The principal places in it besides these, are Crediton, 

 Biddeford, Axminster, Chudleigh, Cullumpton, Combe 

 Martin, Ilfracombe, and South Molton. Devonshire 

 lies within the province of Canterbury, and diocese of 

 Exeter. It is included within the western circuit, pays 

 one-twentieth part of the land tax, and provides 1600 

 men for the militia, 

 j Devonshire is naturally divided into the districts of 



1S . Dartmoor, the Vale of Exeter, South Hams, jWest 

 Devonshire, and North Devon. Dartmoor stretches 

 across the county, from Exeter to the borders of Corn- 

 wall. It is a rushy, naked morass, bounded on the 

 north by bleak hills. In this district, taken in its most 

 comprehensive sense, there are nearly 250,000 acres of 

 open and uncultivated lands ; and, what is strictly call- 

 L 



Dartmoor. 



ed Dartmoor, is supposed to comprise upwards of 

 80,000 of these. The forest of Dartmoor belongs to 

 the Prince of Wales, in his character of Duke of Corn- 

 wall ; but the outskirts belong to the surrounding ma- 

 nors, many of which have a right of common on the fo- 

 rest, on paying a small sum of money, called Venville 

 money. It was originally made a forest by King John, 

 and its boundaries accurately ascertained in the reign 

 of Henry III. Immense masses of granite lie on its 

 surface, which are distinguished by the name of Tors. 

 To the north and west of the moor, there are vast 

 tracts of wet swampy ground, which supply the neigh- 

 bouring inhabitants with peat for fuel. Besides the 

 common peat, a singular species is found, which, when 

 dried and chaired, is used by the smiths for tempering 

 their tools. In those parts of Dartmoor where peat is 

 not found, the soil consists of a thin, black, and light 

 mould, lying on a pale, cold, yellow clay, intermix- 

 ed with sand and gravel. On the higher parts of this 

 district, the soil is of a superior quality, consisting of a 

 good loam. Though Dartmoor forest was undoubted- 

 ly covered with wood formerly, at present only a few 

 oaks, of unhealthy appearance and stinted growth, with 

 a few trees of mountain ash, willows, &c. are to b&. 

 found. The mean height of the forest of Dartmoor, 

 deduced from the trigonometrical survey, conducted by 

 Colonel Mudge, is 1782 feet; and the mean height of 

 the most commanding situations of the county below 

 Dartmoor, by the same survey, was found to be 737 

 feet above the level of the sea. The Vale of Exeter is Vale of 

 a district of a quite opposite character to that which has Exeter, 

 been just described. It is bounded on the north by the 

 hills that stretch from Clanaborough to Black Down ; 

 on the south-east, by the Sidmouth hill, East Down, 

 and Woodbury ; on the west, by the moimtainous tract 

 of Haldon, and the. less elevated hills that lie towards 

 Bow ; and by the east by a mountainous ridge, a con- 

 tinuation of the hills that bound it on the north. This 

 district contains about 200 square miles. In the' 

 central and southern parts the surface is nearly level, 

 but between Tiverton and Exeter, and Exeter and Cul- 

 lumpton, there is a good deal of rising ground. The 

 soil of this district varies considerably ; but it consists 

 principally of a strong red loam, of uncommon fertility, 

 and of what is provincially denominated skillet, a foli- 

 ated clay, inferior in fertility to the red soil, and ex- 

 tremely liable to be parched in a dry summer. The 

 district of South Hams is the most fertile in Devon- South 

 shire. It is bounded on the north by Dartmoor, and Ham;. 

 the high^grounds near Chudleigh ; on the south by the 

 English Channel ; on the west by Plymouth Sound; and 

 on the east. by Torbay. It comprises nearly 250 

 square miles. The northern part of this district is dis- 

 tinguished for its' romantic and picturesque scenery. 

 The soil, in general, is a strong red loam, similar to 

 that which is found in the vale of Exeter ; the subsoil, 

 a strong clay. The district of West Devonshire is West De- 

 bounded on the east by the Dartmoor mountains ; on vonshire. 

 the west by the river Tamar ; on the north by Brent 

 Tor, and the contiguous heaths ; and on the south by 

 Plymouth Sound. The appearance of this district is 

 very striking ; the vallies in it generally rise with a 

 steep ascent from the banks of the rivulets that divide 

 them, while the hills are rent and broken in a very 

 singular manner. The soil' is pretty uniform, consist- 

 ing of what is called tilt, on a substratum of soft, slaty 

 rock or rubble. The district of North Devon is some- North ^ 

 times understood to comprise the whole tract of coun- von _ 

 try lying between Dartmoor and the British Channel, 



