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Heritage, Myths & Legends

North Devon has a wonderful heritage associated to it, and the beauty and diversity of the landscape has been the inspiration for many - from great writers to modern day film crews.

Facts & Figures... Did you know?

- Devonshire is a maritime county, 280 miles in circumference - 130 miles of which are coastal.

- It is mainly farming country for dairy beef and sheep.

- There are more roads in Devon than any other county.

- Exmoor ponies are the oldest pure-bred ponies in the country.

- Exmoor holds the largest red deer herd in the country.

- Tarr Steps is the oldest and longest clapper bridge in the country.

- Culbone church, situated in a tiny hamlet in Exmoor is reportedly the smallest church in use in the country. At only 35 feet long, the Church of St Beuno at Culbone has been mentioned in both the Domesday Book and the Guinness Book of Records.

- Many TV dramas have been filmed in the region, most recently BBC1's drama, Sense and Sensibility,which was shot in the Hartland area of North Devon.

- We have a unique and varied landscape including some of the most stunning coastlines and beaches in Britain, the rolling hills of Tarka Country, and the wilds of remote Exmoor.

- Bideford saw the last ever hangings for witchcraft in England. The Bideford Witch Trial saw Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards tried and punished in 1682.

Famous People:

John Gay, English poet and dramatist who wrote the 'Beggars Opera' in 1728, was born and raised in Barnstaple.

Parson John (Jack) Russell (born 1795), lived in the parish of Swimbridge in Barnstaple. He gave his name to a breed of dog that he created by cross-breeding two types of terriers. He was also a founder member of the Kennel Club. The Jack Russell Inn in Swimbridge is named in his honour.

RD Blackmore was born in Oxfordshire, but spent his childhod and youth in Exmoor and claimed that 'in everything except the accident of my birth I am a Devonian; my ancestry were all Devonians; my sympathies and feelings are all Devonian."
In 1869 he published Lorna Doone - a romantic novel set in late 11th Century Exmoor.

Charles Kingsley, author of The Water Babies was born and raised in Bideford and later published the novel, Westward Ho! in 1855. This book was the inspiration behind the naming of the village of Westward Ho! - the only place in England which contains an !

Henry Williamson moved to Georgham, nr Croyde in 1921, and proceeded to publish his most acclaimed book 'Tarka The Otter' which won the Hawthonden Prize for literature. This classic novel followed the life of a young otter and was based on actual locations in Noth Devon.

Today you will see Tarka (meaning 'little water wanderer') living on in the area - in pub names, cycle hire shops, as well as the Tarka Trail Cycle Path and the Tarka Line train route.

Sir Francis Chichester, who was born in Barnstaple, was the first person to sail single-handed around the world in 1966 and was subsequently knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Modern Day

Local Heroes:

Phi Vickery MBE, the English rugby union footballer who plays prop for Wasps and England, and was part of the England side that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup was born in Barnstaple.

Jonathan Edwards, the World and Olympic Champion triple jump athlete lived in Ilfracombe whilst his father was the vicar of St Philip & St James Church. He is commemorated in a mosaic on the seafront near the Landmark Theatre.

The actor Peter Sellers first set foot on stage in Ilfracombe, and Joan and Jackie Collins both went to school in the town whilst evacuees from The Blitz.

Folk Tales and Legends:

Chambercombe Manor, near Ilfracombe, is reputedly one of the most haunted dwellings in the UK.

One of several legends that attempts to explain the mysterious female skeletal remains at Chambercombe Manor found in 1865, is that they are of the owners' daughter who was found shipwrecked on nearby rocks. Her footsteps are heard walking along corridors, and a low moaning has been heard emanating from the former secret room where her remains were found.

The Earl of Rone is probably the most unusual legend in North Devon. Official origins are now lost, but legend has it that the Earl of Tyrone was fleeing from Ireland and subsequently became shipwrecked on the beach of Combe Martin. Each year the locals re-enact the story over a 3 day celebration. On the final day, the masked Earl rides backwards on a donkey and is led down to the beach, where he is thrown into the sea!

Lundy Island, off the North Devon coast, is reputed to be the entrance to Annwn, a place in Welsh mythology where souls that had departed this world went to. It was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth, where disease was absent and food abundant.

Lynmouth was once noted for the particularly large catches of herrings that its fishermen would bring home. However, in 1823 the herrings bizarrely deserted the area.

Some say it was because the local church was extracting a herring tax from the locals - a particular unpopular tax - and the herring apparently couldn't bear to be the cause of such contention. Another version is that, because there were more herrings that could be eaten or sold, they were used as manure on the land which insulted the herring who departed, never to return.

Tarr Steps on Exmoor is an ancient clapper bridge, thought to be dating from about 1000BC. It has 15 arches across the River Barle and some chunks of stone weigh up to 5 tons. It has been swept away by floodwaters several times but has always been rebuilt.

The story goes that it was built in one night by the Devil after a local giant had challenged him to a strength contest!