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This is a list of resources (books and internet) potentially useful to editors writing about Devon topics (mostly its history and topography). At present only sources that cover the whole of Devon are included: an enhancement would be to include the main sources for Dartmoor and the major population centres of Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay.

Most of the entries are suitably formatted for copy-pasting as references into articles (look at edit mode), but do ensure that for books that you're using the same edition as the one cited and remember to fill in the page parameter. For websites the accessdate parameter should be completed, though in most cases the links here are to entry pages so won't be useful to cite directly.

Anyone is welcome to add to this list of course – it does presently rather reflect the interests of its creator – but please try to keep entries to those which stand some chance of being used in articles! Most of the books listed here will be available to one or another of the members of this Wikiproject: feel free to ask on the Talk page if you need anything specific looked up.

Secondary sources

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Reliable secondary sources provide the core information from which our articles should be written.

  • "Local Studies Catalogue". South West Heritage Trust.
Catalogue of items in the Devon and Somerset Local Studies collection
An archive of the former list of all parishes in the county of Devon
Entry page to a huge quantity of information about Devon. Much of it is provided by volunteers (see FAQ No 1) so can be of doubtful reliability for our purposes, but it does include many links to reliable sources. Includes a page on each civil parish.

147 annual volumes, and counting, all devoted to the county. Most of the volumes up to 1920 are available online: a linked list is on the Association's website here. Abstracts for the volumes published since 2004 are on the same page, and the website also hosts a downloadable list of the titles of all the papers and a search engine (which only searches the titles despite sounding as if it searches all the content).
Usually referred to as Hoskins' Devon, this has been reprinted several times. The book consists of two roughly equal parts: a general survey of the county preceding a gazetteer.
  • Harris, Helen (2004). A Handbook of Devon Parishes. Tiverton: Halsgrove. ISBN 1-84114-314-6.
Basic details of each of Devon's 422 parishes.
Includes maps of parishes by district and of all parishes. Useful for seeing what's where and what's nearby.

History

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  • Thorn, Caroline and Frank (1985). Domesday Book: 9 – Devon. Parts 1 & 2. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 0-85033-492-6.
    Part 1 contains the original Latin DB entries and a translation. Part 2 is an extensive commentary. The page numbering in these volumes is unusual, being related to the section of the DB in which the entry appears.
    The translation of the text for 33 counties is available on the University of Hull website here, and a slightly updated version of the Part 2 commentary is here (rtf file).
  • Kain, Roger; Ravenhill, William, eds. (1999). Historical Atlas of South-West England. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. ISBN 0-85989-434-7.
  • Andriette, Eugene A (1971). Devon and Exeter in the Civil War. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5256-3.
  • Duffy, Michael; et al., eds. (1992). The New Maritime History of Devon Volume 1. From early times to the late eighteenth century. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-611-6.
  • Duffy, Michael; et al., eds. (1994). The New Maritime History of Devon Volume 2. From the late eighteenth century to the present day. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-633-7.
  • Higham, Robert (2008). Making Anglo-Saxon Devon. Exeter: The Mint Press. ISBN 978-1-903356-57-9.
  • Higham, Robert (1987). Security and Defence in South-west England before 1800. Exeter Studies in History. University of Exeter. ISBN 0-85989-209-3.
  • Sellman, R. R. (1985). Aspects of Devon History. Exeter: Devon Books. ISBN 0-86114-756-1.
  • Stanes, Robin (2000). A History of Devon (2nd ed.). Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 1-86077-092-4.
  • Todd, Malcolm (1987). The South West to AD 1000. A Regional History of England. Longman. ISBN 0-582-49274-2.
  • Worth, R. N. (1895). A History of Devonshire. London: Elliot Stock.
    Rather old now, but may contain that elusive snippet!
  • Volumes of The Devon Historian, the journal of the Devon History Society.
    As of 2020, many (all?) of these up to vol. 87 (2018) are available online at this page (via the JOURNAL tab). An index to vols. 1 to 76 is here, and a less comprehensive index, but including links to abstracts, for vol. 77 on is here.

Architecture

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Geography and geology

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  • Roger Kain, ed. (2006). England's Landscape. The South West. London: Collins. ISBN 9-78-0-00-715572-9.
  • Hawkins, Michael (1988). Devon Roads - an illustrated survey of the development and management of Devon's highway network. Exeter: Devon Books. ISBN 0-86114-817-7.
  • Durrance, E. M.; Laming, D. J. (1982). The Geology of Devon. University of Exeter. ISBN 0-85989-247-6.
  • Burt, Roger; Waite, Peter; Burnley, Ray (1984). Devon and Somerset Mines: Metalliferous and Associated Minerals 1845-1913. University of Exeter. ISBN 0-85989-201-8.

Place-names

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  • Gover, J.E.B.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F.M (1931). "The Place-Names of Devon". English Place-Name Society. Vol Viii. Parts I and II. Cambridge University Press.
Although not specific to Devon, this is the latest research to be published. It should ideally be consulted in case it updates the ageing Gover, Mawer and Stenton, though it is obviously not as comprehensive.

Biography, genealogy etc.

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26 chapters on ancient families that are still extant.
  • Vivian, J. L., ed. (1895). The Visitations of the County of Devon, Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620. With additions by Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Vivian. Exeter: Henry S. Eland.
Available online at Google books (in USA only due to Google's restrictive copyright policy). Rather poor copies of a microfilmed copy of the book are available from Brigham Young University, split into two volumes: vol 1 (A–G), vol 2 (H–Z).
Also available via HathiTrust, here, both with an online viewer and, through a link in the LH column, as a (700Mb!) OCR'ed pdf download. Thanks to User:Noswall59 for finding this!

Miscellaneous

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Photographs and details of church monuments throughout the county. Work in progress. This appears to be a reliable source, though you wouldn't think it from the design of these pages!
  • Minchington, Walter (1974). Devon at Work: Past and Present. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-6389-1.
  • Somers Cocks, J. V. (1977). Devon Topographical Prints 1660-1870. A Catalogue and Guide. Exeter: Devon Library Services. ISBN 0-86114-001-X.
  • For those with a Devon library card, the library service provides some general reference material online here. Includes the latest ODNB which can be accessed from any computer. There are also some other sources such as Ancestry Library Edition and Access to Research which can only be accessed from a library computer. Most other county library services in England provide similar facilities.

Antiquarian sources

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These are around 200 years old or more, so while they can provide information that has not been published more recently, it is recommended to use them with discretion and always attribute any statements taken from them (e.g. "Risdon says ...<ref></ref>").

This work was completed in around 1632 but not fully published until 1811: this edition contains considerable additions by the (unnamed) editors. Available online at Google books. A facsimile reprint was published by Porcupines of Barnstaple in 1970.
A transcription is online at "Magna Britannia: volume 6 – Devonshire". British History Online.
As of 2020 this work is still not available online – I suspect the books are too large for any automated scanners! A facsimile reprint was published in 1977 by Kohler and Coombes of Dorking.
Polwhele projected an earlier series of five volumes of Historical Views of Devonshire, but only the first volume (1793) was published, dealing with "The British Period from the first settlements in Danmonium to the arrival of Julius Caesar". This is available online at Google Books.
  • Thomas Moore (1829–36). History of Devonshire (3 vols). Volume 1, Volume 2. Volume 3 does not seem to be available online.
  • Sir William Pole (1791). Collections towards a description of the county of Devon.
Based on Pole's collection of manuscripts (he died in 1635) and published by a descendant.
Written about 1630 but not published until much later.
First published in 1701 it consists of biographies of the 191 people that Prince considered the most "illustrious" in the history of Devon. Available online at archive.org

Primary sources

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Primary source material should be used with care in articles, and should never form the majority of cited references - secondary sources should be used in preference wherever possible.

Choose Devon from the dropdown or click on the map. At the time of writing there are page scans of 35 directories here. Although the directory information is primary source material, they often contain summaries of the towns and villages into which the entries are divided.
Transcripts of some 18th century documents such as episcopal visitation returns, and indexes to 19th century tithe apportionments, etc.
Lots of material here though much of it isn't relevant to Devon and some of it requires payment.

Sources for the list

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  • Maxted, Ian: In Pursuit of Devon's History (1997)
  • bibliographies
  • web searches
  • etc.

The list was developed from an idea discussed on User:Lobsterthermidor's talk page in July 2013.

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