throughout the country, was (taking the mean of the 169 stations named
in Dr H. R. Mill's _British Rainfall_) 41·24 inches, falling on 210
days, or about 7-1/2 inches and 7 days above the average for the whole
of England and Wales. In the same year 196.16 inches of rain were
registered at the Llyn Llydaw Copper Mine near Snowdon, and only 16·6
inches at Clacton-on-Sea. The wettest part of the county is Dartmoor,
which catches the moisture-laden clouds coming up from the Atlantic.
In 1907 some 81 inches of rain fell at Princetown, at a spot 1390 feet
above the sea. This amount was, however, much exceeded in 1903, when the
rainfall at the same station was 102·32 inches, and in Cowsic Valley,
a little lower down, it was half an inch more. The driest part of
Devonshire is the south-east coast. In 1907 only 26·27 inches of rain
fell at Exmouth, for example. Heavy as the rainfall is, the slopes of
the land are so steep and the soil in general so porous that the water
soon runs away, with the result that both the earth and the air are
drier than might be expected.
A feature of Dartmoor even more striking and characteristic than its
heavy rainfall is the fog which so frequently covers it, and which is
sometimes so dense as to cause the most experienced moor-men to lose
their way.
Speaking generally, the climate of Devonshire may be described as warm
and moist and remarkably equable. The winters are very mild, and snow
is rare, except on Dartmoor. On the south coast of the county many
plants which in less favoured parts of England need protection in the
winter, such, for instance, as geraniums, hydrangeas, heliotropes, and
camellias, are left out-of-doors all the year. Magnolias reach to the
tops of the houses, myrtles grow to a height of thirty feet or more,
palms and eucalyptus flourish, and oranges, lemons, and citrons do well
in the open air.
Devonshire seems peculiarly liable to seismic disturbances, and many
slight shocks of earthquake have been recorded.
12. People--Race. Dialects. Settlements. Population.
The earliest inhabitants of Devonshire, the people of the Palaeolithic
or Early Stone Age, have left few traces beyond their weapons and
implements of flint. They lived in caves or on the banks of rivers. They
were hunters, and appear to have practised no craft but that of hunting,
while their arts seem to have been almost if not entirely limited to the
use of fire and to the making of rude instruments of stone.
But during the Neolithic Period, as the Later Stone Age is called, the
district, it is believed, was invaded by an Iberian or Ivernian race
from south-western Europe, a race possessing flocks and herds, with
a knowledge of many arts and crafts, such as spinning and weaving,
the making of pottery and of dug-out canoes, but having at first no
acquaintance with the use of metal. They were of the same stock as the
Silures of South Wales, and were probably dark-haired and black-eyed,
round-headed and short of stature. Their descendants may, perhaps, still
be seen in the county, especially on the skirts of Exmoor, and it is
quite possible that their breeds of domestic animals may be represented
upon Devonshire farms to-day.
The Iberians were, it is thought, conquered and driven westward by the
very different Goidels or Gaels, a powerful Celtic race, tall, fair,
long-headed, much further advanced in arts and crafts, and to some
extent users of bronze for tools and ornaments. It is thought by some
authorities that it was they who set up the stone circles, avenues,
and menhirs, and who built the rude stone huts which still remain
on Dartmoor. Many of the people of Scotland and Ireland are their
descendants, and their language is still spoken in the Highlands and
Western Isles of Scotland, in parts of Ireland, and in the Isle of Man.
The Gaels were, it is believed, succeeded and conquered in the fourth
century before Christ by the Brythons, another Celtic race, who gave
their name to our island. They took possession of Wales, and of Scotland
as far as the Highlands, but they do not appear to have crossed into
Ireland. They were, to a great extent, users of bronze, but they also
worked in iron, and were the first of the Iron Age in this country. It
is probable that they built most of the hill-forts of Devonshire, and
that they made many of the roads, some of which were afterwards adapted
and improved by the Romans.
Shortly before the landing of Julius Caesar, Britain was invaded by
still another Celtic race, the Belgae from Gaul, a tall, dark-haired
people, as may be gathered from the appearance of their descendants, the
Walloons of Liège and the Ardennes.
The Roman tenure of Devonshire was of a very limited character, and can
have had little effect upon the inhabitants. The Saxon occupation of the
district was more of the nature of colonisation than of conquest. By
the time they had crossed Somerset the Saxons were, at least nominally,
Christians; and although their treatment of the original occupants was
none too gentle, as, for instance, in the expulsion of the Britons from
Exeter by Athelstan, it seems likely that the two races settled quietly
down together, the Saxons probably becoming the land-owners, and the
Celts the peasantry. It is thought that the main population of the
county is Celtic, of one or other of the three waves of Celtic invasion.
There are in Devonshire many Celtic place-names, especially of hills and
rivers; and some of the latter, with the addition of Saxon endings, such
as _ham_, _ton_, and _stock_, survive also in the names of towns. In
some cases, curious English-looking names can be traced to Celtic words
of quite another meaning. Thus, Bowerman's Nose, the name of a famous
crag on Dartmoor, is probably a corruption of _Veor maen_, "the great
stone."
The dialect of Devonshire, like the very similar speech of west
Somerset, is Saxon, with strong traces of Celtic influence in its
pronunciation. One of many peculiarities is the sound of the diphthongs
_oo_ and _ou_, which are pronounced like the French _u_ or the German
_ü_. Another peculiarity is the great variety of the vowel sounds,
and the indistinctness or modification of some of the consonants.
Again, _th_ and even _v_ are often sounded like _dh_. It is also very
characteristic to put _d_ for _th_ as, for instance, _datch_ for
_thatch_, or _dishle_ for _thistle_.
There are many words in common use in Devonshire which are almost or
entirely unknown elsewhere, and which may be regarded as survivals of
ancient Saxon or, in some cases, British speech. Such, for example,
are:--
_whisht_, weird, uncanny, lonely, "overlooked."
_cloam_, earthenware.
_clam_, a foot-bridge.
_yark_, lively.
_stivery_, disordered.
_clunk_, to swallow.
_giglets_, young men or women seeking new situations.
_havage_, character.
_zamzoaky_, tepid.
_coochey_, clumsy.
_mawn_, a basket.
_frickety_, heavy, sodden.
_pluff_, not well.
_spraggetty_, spotted.
_dimpety_, dusk.
_chicket_, cheerful.
_spilsky_, lean.
_fess_, smart.
_plum_, soft.
_scamlin_, irregular.
_thurdle_, miserable.
_sklum_, to grasp roughly.
_yaw_, to bite.
_shugg_, shy.
_ippet_, a lizard.
It should be remembered that some of the forms of Devonshire dialect
which strike the educated ear as ungrammatical are really survivals of
pure Saxon speech, such as was in use at the courts of Alfred the Great
and Athelstan. English in other parts of England has undergone great
changes. In the West Country it has in some respects kept closer to the
original forms.
The Norman Conquest left its mark in many places. Double names, such
as Berry Pomeroy, Sampford Courtenay, and Wear Gifford, suggest the
addition of a Norman family title to the existing Saxon name of a manor.
It is quite possible that the common Devonshire word _fay_, as in _Yes,
fay_ and _No, fay_, is a survival of the Old French _fay_ (for _foi_),
"faith."
[Illustration: A Cockle Woman, River Exe]
Huguenots and other French refugees have also at various times settled
in the county, as, for instance, at Exeter, where they introduced the
art of weaving tapestry, at Barnstaple, where they taught new and better
methods of making cloth, and at Plymouth, where many took refuge after
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. And it seems likely that Bratton
Fleming and Stoke Fleming were named after Flemish immigrants, many of
whom settled in Devonshire.
[Illustration: A Honiton Lace-Worker]
The population of the Geographical County of Devonshire, according to
the census of 1901, is 661,314, and there are in the county 123,608
inhabited houses. A hundred years ago the population was 340,308; it
has, therefore, not quite doubled during the century. In the busier
county of Kent the population has in the same time increased from
268,097 to 1,348,841. In common with all except five of the counties of
England, there are in Devonshire more women than men; the excess of the
female over the male population being 37,096.
The chief occupation is agriculture, which provides employment
for 42,000 people, or about one-nineteenth of the inhabitants--a
considerably lower proportion than in the adjoining county of Somerset.
Less than 3000 men are engaged in mines and quarries; 2000 are
fishermen, and lace-making occupies 350 men and 1500 women.
In common with many other parts of England the small country parishes
of Devonshire are much less populous than they were. In the last fifty
years there has been a decline of 17,000 in the rural population.
Devonshire is a somewhat thinly-inhabited county. There are in it a
little more than 2-1/2 acres to every man, woman, and child, or 254
persons to the square mile, compared with 558 to the square mile for the
whole of England and Wales. Westmorland, the most sparsely-populated
county, has only 82 people to the square mile, or eight acres to each
inhabitant. Lancashire, on the other hand, contains more than 2300
people to the square mile, or four people to every acre; and in the
county of Middlesex there are 12,669 to the square mile, which gives
about twenty inhabitants to every acre of ground.
13. Agriculture--Main Cultivations. Woodlands. Stock.
The area of all the land in England is, in round numbers, 32-1/2
millions of acres, of which 24-1/2 millions are under cultivation;
10-3/4 million acres being arable, and the greater part of the rest
being devoted to permanent grass. For some years past the area of
cultivation in the British Islands has been gradually growing less;
and in 1908 the decrease in England alone was more than 25,000 acres,
chiefly in the amount of land given up to barley and oats, but extending
to almost all crops except wheat, potatoes, and lucerne, which showed
a slight advance. The cultivation of fruit, especially of small fruit,
continues to increase, but the total space devoted to it is not quite
300,000 acres.
With regard to live stock, the Government returns show that the total
number of horses in England (about a million) was 10,000 less in 1908
than in 1907; but that the number of cattle (about five millions),
of sheep (about sixteen millions), and of pigs (about two and a half
millions) had increased, especially in the case of sheep and pigs.
[Illustration: Old Ford Farm, Bideford]
Devonshire is eminently an agricultural county, having few industrial or
manufacturing centres, and still fewer mining interests, although in
the past it has been famous for weaving, and for tin and copper mining.
There is in the county a great variety of soil, from almost barren
sand to the rich alluvial earth of the many river valleys, such as the
vales of Honiton and Exeter, for example, and that not very clearly
defined tract of country called the South Hams, lying south of Dartmoor,
including the district between the Tamar and the Teign, and containing
some of the most fertile land in England. The climate, as has been
shown, is mild and equable, but the rainfall is heavy; and the farms of
Devonshire, like those in the adjacent counties, are mainly devoted to
pasturage, although fruit-growing is an important industry. Red Devon
cattle are well known and highly valued; and the sturdy little ponies
of Exmoor and Dartmoor have been famous since Saxon times.
[Illustration: Exmoor Ponies]
According to the latest returns of the Ordnance Survey, Devonshire
contains, exclusive of water, more than a million and a half (1,667,154)
acres, of which nearly a million and a quarter (1,211,648) are under
cultivation, including rather more than 500,000 acres of arable land,
and nearly 700,000 acres of permanent grass. The latter, which as will
be seen is more than half the cultivated area, is more than twice that
in Dorset or Cornwall, rather more than that in Somerset, and is only
exceeded in the much larger county of Yorkshire. It may be added that
the arable land was 11,000 acres less and the permanent grass 11,000
acres more in 1908 than in 1907.
[Illustration: Red Devon Cow]
Corn crops--which in the returns are made to include not only wheat,
barley, oats, and rye, but peas and beans--occupy altogether about
200,000 acres, or one-sixth of the cultivated area. In this respect
Devonshire surpasses the three adjoining counties, and is excelled by
only six English shires; Essex and Lincoln, where corn crops occupy
one-third of the area, Norfolk, where they are two-fifths, Cambridge and
Suffolk, where they take up nearly one-half, and Yorkshire, where more
than half the cultivated area is thus occupied. With regard to wheat
alone, the average yield per acre in Devonshire, for the last ten years,
is only 26-1/4 bushels, which is lower than that of any other county in
England except Monmouth.
Green crops other than permanent grass, and roots, occupy altogether
about 300,000 acres, an amount exceeded only in Norfolk and Yorkshire.
Devonshire ranks very high as a fruit-growing county, and the area of
its apple-orchards, about 27,000 acres, was, in 1908, greater than that
of any other county in England. Apples are grown in many districts,
but especially in the Vale of Exeter, in the South Hams, and in the
Valley of the Dart. Much of the fruit is, however, grown only for making
cider, and is of little value for the table. Plympton is said to have
had the first cider-orchard in England. When pears, plums, and cherries
are included in the fruit returns, Devonshire takes third place, being
surpassed by Kent and Hereford. Vines are grown against many cottage
walls, as is the case in other southern counties; but it is remarkable,
considering the mildness of the climate, that no Devonshire vineyard is
mentioned in Domesday Book, although several are included in the survey
for Somerset.
The space devoted to small fruits--strawberries, raspberries, currants,
and gooseberries--although showing a large comparative increase over
1907, amounted in 1908 to no more than 1252 acres. In this respect
Devonshire is fourteenth among the English counties, producing little
more than one-twentieth as much small fruit as Kent, for instance.
Devonshire has no true forests. Dartmoor and Exmoor were so called
in the sense of being unenclosed and uncultivated. But except on the
moors, the county is well-timbered, and its fine trees add greatly to
its beauty. Its woods, plantations, and coppices amount altogether to
nearly 90,000 acres, or about one-eighteenth of its whole area; and it
here ranks fifth among the shires of England. Sussex has the greatest
proportion of woodland, about one-seventh of its total area; and
Cambridgeshire, with only one-ninety-second, has the least. There are
considerable woods in some of the many beautiful parks; but probably the
most famous is the Wistman's Wood, near Two Bridges, the ancestors of
whose stunted and fantastic-looking oak-trees are mentioned in Domesday
Book.
[Illustration: Gathering Cider Apples]
The total number of agricultural holdings in Devonshire, in 1908, was
nearly 15,000, or about one-twentieth of those in all England. This is
greater than that of any other county except Lancashire, Lincoln, and
Yorkshire. Nearly 3000 holdings are of five acres or less, and there are
only six other counties which have more of these small farms.
[Illustration: A Water-mill at Uplyme]
The numbers of the various kinds of live stock in Devonshire are large,
and the county ranks very high under the four main heads. In cattle
(295,000, or 2000 less than in 1907) it stands second in all England,
being surpassed only by Yorkshire; in horses (59,000, or 1500 less than
the previous year) it is fourth; in sheep (900,000, or 29,000 more) it
is fifth; and in pigs (106,000, or 5000 more) it is sixth. The average
price per stone of fat Devon cattle was higher in 1908 than that of any
other breed in England, and the value per head of three-year-old Devon
store cattle was only exceeded by that of Herefords.
There is no cheese made in Devonshire to compare with the famous
"Cheddar" of the neighbouring county; but Devonshire cream, although
closely rivalled by that of both Cornwall and Somerset, is known all
over the kingdom.
14. Industries and Manufactures.
Devonshire, although in former ages famous even on the continent of
Europe for its cloth-weaving, no longer ranks as a manufacturing county.
Apart from agriculture and fishing, its industries are now mainly
confined to the making of lace and cider, to ship-building, and to the
manufacture of earthenware.
The prevalence in the county of the names of Webber and Tucker is some
evidence of the extent and antiquity of the woollen trade, which, from
very early times, flourished all over Devonshire until the closing
years of the eighteenth century, when it was greatly checked by the
introduction of cotton fabrics. One of the most important seats of the
manufacture was Tiverton, where the industry was established in the
fourteenth century, and reached perhaps its greatest height in the
sixteenth. It was his success as a cloth-merchant which enabled Peter
Blundell to found here his famous school. The chief woollen market
of the county was originally at Crediton, but it was removed in the
sixteenth century to Exeter, which long ranked second only to Leeds,
and in its palmy days exported annually more than 300,000 pieces of
cloth. Other important centres of the trade were Barnstaple, where
towards the end of the sixteenth century improved methods of weaving
were introduced by French refugees; Tavistock, whose kerseymeres had a
European reputation; Honiton, Cullompton, and Totnes. Now Ashburton and
Buckfastleigh, where there are some manufactures of blankets and serges,
are the only towns where the industry survives.
Lace-making, which has been a characteristic Devonshire industry for
nearly three hundred years, is said to have been introduced at Honiton
by Flemish refugees at the close of the sixteenth century, and to have
been well established by 1630. The lace was a most costly product,
chiefly because the special thread used in making it had to be imported
from the Low Countries. In old days the price of Devonshire lace is
said to have been reckoned by the number of shillings which would cover
it. But the change of fashion in men's dress lessened the demand for
lace; and the introduction of machinery in 1808 greatly diminished its
cost. The piece of lace which in the eighteenth century would have cost
£15, could be purchased a few years later for 15_s._, and can now be
obtained, machine-made, for 15_d._ There was some revival of the trade
after the making, at Beer, of Queen Victoria's wedding-dress, at a
cost of a thousand pounds. Schools were established for the training
of lace-workers; and by 1870 the industry provided employment for 8000
people. The manufacture has, however, again greatly declined, and
although there is a lace-factory at Tiverton, and although hand-made
or pillow-lace is still worked in many cottages in the south-east,
especially at Beer, Colyton, and Seaton, the total number of
lace-workers in the whole county, at the last census, was less than 2000.
[Illustration: Devonshire Lace]
Carpets in imitation of those of Turkey were first made at Axminster in
1755, but in 1835 the looms were removed to Wilton, near Salisbury.
There are valuable deposits of various kinds of potter's clay in
Devonshire, and although much of this is exported, a good deal is used
in the county. There were formerly many small, scattered potteries in
North Devon, but the chief seats of the industry now are at Bideford,
where a good deal of rough pottery is made; at Annery, noted for its
glazed bricks and tiles; and at Barnstaple, where are extensive and
long-established potteries of what is called Barum ware, which has been
compared to the Italian _sgraffito_. The potteries of Bovey Tracy,
which use both local and imported clay, employ from 250 to 350 hands.
The fine red clay of Watcombe is used to make terra-cotta; and at Lee
Moor, near Plympton, whence much kaolin or fine china clay is exported,
the silicious refuse is made up into bricks of high quality for use
in metallurgical furnaces. The kaolin deposits of Devonshire were
discovered by Cookworthy, who made porcelain at Plymouth from 1772 to
1774, after which date the works were removed to Bristol.
[Illustration: Devonshire Pottery from the Watcombe Works]
Devonshire is one of the chief cider-producing counties, and its
apple-orchards are the most extensive in our island. Some of the best
varieties of apples for cider-making--an industry which is carried
on throughout a very large part of the county though Totnes, Whimple,
Crediton, Exeter and Tiverton are perhaps the best known centres--are
Kingston Black, both the sweet and the sour Woodbines (known locally as
Slack-me-girdles), Sweet Alford and Fair Maid of Devon.
[Illustration: Cider-making in the 17th Century (_From an old print_)]
[Illustration: A Modern Cider Press]
It is interesting to note that printing was early introduced into
Devonshire. In 1525 the fifth printing-press in England was set up
in Tavistock. There are paper-mills at Cullompton, iron-works near
Kingsbridge, glove-factories at Torrington, umber-works at Ashburton,
tanneries and shoe-factories at Crediton, and agricultural implement
works at Exeter.
[Illustration: Ship-building Yard, Brixham]
In addition to the very important Government works at Devonport
and Keyham dockyards, there is a considerable amount of ship and
boat-building, especially on the Dart and at Brixham, and the industry
employs altogether about 3500 men.
15. Mines and Minerals.
There was a time when mining, especially tin-mining, was the most
important industry of Devonshire. Traces left all over Dartmoor show
that at a very early period tin was obtained there by the process called
"streaming," that is to say by the washing of grains of the metal out
of the disintegrated and crumbling granite. Vast numbers of abandoned
shafts sunk in search of tin, copper, iron, manganese, and even silver,
remain, together with their too often ugly buildings, as evidence of
the former magnitude of the industry. At the present day, however, only
twenty-four mines are in active operation, providing employment for no
more than 700 men, who, in 1907, raised less than 1700 tons of metal of
all descriptions.
The tin-miners of Devon and Cornwall were early formed into a corporate
body whose affairs were managed by a Stannary parliament that met on
Hingston Down. At a later period, probably at the beginning of the
fourteenth century, the Devonshire men held their own parliament,
which assembled on Crockern Tor. They were governed by a Warden--Sir
Walter Ralegh held the office for some years--appointed by the Duchy
of Cornwall, who collected the Duchy dues or royalties, and having
ascertained the purity of each block of tin by "coinage," that is, by
cutting off for analysis a "coin" or corner, stamped it with the Duchy
arms. A miner convicted of selling impure tin was punished by having
some of the melted metal poured down his throat. Lydford, Tavistock,
Chagford, and Ashburton were called Stannary Towns, since at each of
those places blocks of tin might be tested; and the arbitrary nature of
the Stannary Court is hinted at in the proverbial expression: "Lydford
Law; hang first and try afterwards."
The chief mining district of Devonshire begins at the Tamar and extends
across Dartmoor and along its borders. The most important centre was
Tavistock, but there were rich mines at North Molton, where several
kinds of metal were worked, near Ashburton, and elsewhere.