Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago. Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under military occupation for around 350 years. Later, the area began to experience Saxon incursions from the east around 600 AD, firstly as small bands of settlers along the coasts of Lyme Bay and southern estuaries and later as more organised bands pushing in from the east. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century.
Human occupation
Devon
Devon | Human occupation
30–40,000 years ago,  Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC 30–40,000 years ago It is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. 30–40,000 years ago.
what year did the mayflower land on plymouth bay
user
December 16, 1620
assistant
where was this colony located?
user
Plymouth, Massachusetts
assistant
which is the ship they traveled to this place in?
user
"Mayflower"
assistant
is there a society bearing the same name as the ship?
user
Yes, The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, or The Mayflower Society
assistant
what was the language spoken by the people who came on the ship?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
was the place mentioned earlier associated with any war?
user
Yes, Revolutionary War
assistant
what sort of public transportation is found here?
user
Several transportation facilities available such as buses, railways, airports, ferry, etc
assistant
are there other cities closely similar to this one?
user
Yes, it  has shared a twin-city status with Devon in United Kingdom and Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture in Japan
assistant
has the last mentioned prefecture experienced any natural disaster?
user
Yes, earthquake and tsunami
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when did these occur?
user
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a subsequent major tsunami, on  April 7, 2011, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake
assistant
how many people live in this city?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what are some tourist attractions in this place?
user
Sendai Castle, Matsushima, the pine-clad islands, etc.
assistant
where is the first mentioned twin-city located?
user
England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south
assistant
are there any famous people from there?
user
Yes, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, John Oxenham, and many more
assistant
when did humans first start occupying this area?
user
Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago. Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under military occupation for around 350 years. Later, the area began to experience Saxon incursions from the east around 600 AD, firstly as small bands of settlers along the coasts of Lyme Bay and southern estuaries and later as more organised bands pushing in from the east. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was largely absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century.
Devon | Human occupation
Devon was one of the first areas of Great Britain settled following the end of the last ice age. Kents Cavern in Torbay is one of the earliest places in England known to have been occupied by modern man. Dartmoor is thought to have been settled by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC, and they later cleared much of the oak forest, which regenerated as moor. In the Neolithic era, from about 3500 BC, there is evidence of farming on the moor, and also building and the erection of monuments, using the large granite boulders that are ready to hand there; Dartmoor contains the remains of the oldest known buildings in England.
History of Devon | Prehistory
Devon is known for its mariners, such as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Chichester. Henry Every, described as the most notorious pirate of the late 17th century, was probably born in the village of Newton Ferrers. John Oxenham (1536–1580) was a lieutenant of Drake but considered a pirate by the Spanish. Thomas Morton (1576–1647) was an avid Elizabethan outdoorsman probably born in Devon who became an attorney for The Council For New England, and built the New England fur-trading-plantation called Ma-Re Mount or Merrymount around a West Country-style Maypole, much to the displeasure of Pilgrim and Puritan colonists.
Devon | Notable people
A genetic study carried out by the University of Oxford & University College London discovered separate genetic groups in Cornwall and Devon, not only were there differences on either side of the Tamar, with a division almost exactly along the modern county boundary dating back to the 6th Century but also between Devon and the rest of Southern England, and similarities with the modern northern France, including Brittany. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a mass movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD.
Devon | Human occupation
Its human occupation goes back thousands of years. In 1968 two hut sites were discovered with low turf walls, which were part of a Mesolithic settlement around 5,000 to 3,000 years BC. Neolithic flint tools show that settlement continued into the later Stone Age. There is also a Bronze Age round barrow, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a plaque marking the site. In the medieval period Croham was one of the four manors in the parish of Sanderstead. In the late sixteenth century its then owner, Sir Olliphe Leigh of Addington, sold it to John Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Croham Hurst | History
Human reoccupation of Britain (in the south) started around 12700 BC (14700 cal BP), at the start of the Late Upper Palaeolithic Period. Although there is evidence of human occupation in England (during the so-called Creswellian culture, c.12670 - 12090 BC), there is no evidence that this reached Cumbria. Finds are mostly from caves in the southwest and midland regions of England, and indicate humans feeding on wild horse, reindeer, Arctic hare and red deer, as well as on wild fruits, berries, etc., evidence for which has not survived. Hunter-gathering was the mode of survival.
Prehistoric Cumbria | Earliest human inhabitants: the Late Upper Palaeolithic, c.12670–9600 BC
There is evidence of humans in North Devon from Mesolithic times onward. Worked pieces of flint or stone, known as flint scatters, that date to this era have been found around Baggy Point in an area where flint does not occur naturally. In the clays beneath the sand of Westward Ho! beach there is a Mesolithic midden, a prehistoric dump for domestic waste, composed of mussels, cockles, peppery furrow shells ("Scrobicularia plana"), and carpet shells ("Venerupis" spp.). On Exmoor the remains of small flint tools called microliths, used by hunter-gatherers to hunt and prepare animals, have been found and date to the late Mesolithic.
North Devon's Biosphere Reserve | History
The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of "Homo antecessor", dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago. Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years. After the last ice age only large mammals such as mammoths, bison and woolly rhinoceros remained. Roughly 11,000 years ago, when the ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated the area; genetic research suggests they came from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
England | Prehistory and antiquity
Danish raids also occurred sporadically along many coastal parts of Devon between around 800AD and just before the time of the Norman conquest, including the silver mint at "Hlidaforda" Lydford in 997 and Taintona (a settlement on the Teign estuary) in 1001. Devon was the home of a number of anticlerical movements in the Later Middle Ages. For example, the Order of Brothelyngham—a fake monastic order of 1348—regularly rode through Exeter, kidnapping both religious and laymen, and extorting money from them as ransom.
Devon | Human occupation
Compton Castle's most famous inhabitant was Sir Humphrey Gilbert.(1539–1583), coloniser of Newfoundland and half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh; legend has it that Raleigh smoked the first pipe of tobacco in Britain while visiting Sir Humphrey. The castle was home to the Gilbert family until the estate was sold in 1785 whereupon it gradually declined until a descendant bought it back in 1931; he gave it to the National Trust in 1951 on the condition that members of the family should continue to occupy the castle. They still do, and administer it for the Trust.
Compton Castle | History
Neolithic farmers settled in the area approximately 5000 - 3500 BC, establishing continuous human settlement which lasts until present time.
Devín Gate | History
The actor Matthew Goode was raised in Devon, and Bradley James, also an actor, was born there. The singer Joss Stone was brought up in Devon and frontman Chris Martin from the British rock group Coldplay was born there. Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme from the English group Muse all grew up in Devon and formed the band there. Dave Hill of rock band Slade was born in Flete House which is in the South Hams district of Devon. Singer-songwriter Ben Howard grew up in Totnes, a small town in Devon. Another famous Devonian is the model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who was born in Plymouth and raised in Tavistock.
Devon | Notable people
Morton wrote a 1637 book "New English Canaan" about his experiences, partly in verse, and may have thereby become America's first poet to write in English. Another famous mariner and Devonian was Robert Falcon Scott, the leader of the unfortunate Terra Nova Expedition to reach the geographical South Pole. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the crime writer Agatha Christie, the Irish writer William Trevor, and the poet Ted Hughes lived in Devon. The painter and founder of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, was born in Devon. Chris Dawson, the billionaire owner of retailer The Range was born in Devon, where his business retains its head office in Plymouth.
Devon | Notable people
Plymouth Hoe is famous as the location where Drake continued to play bowls after hearing that the Spanish Armada had been sighted. Plymouth was also the final departure point for the Mayflower in 1620, although the settlers themselves were mainly drawn from England.
History of Devon | Tudor and Stuart period
During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for a number of successful maritime traders, among them William Hawkins, who made the first English expeditions to West Africa in the 1530s; and his son Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the slave trade. The diary of his own son Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins inspired the Victorian novel Westward Ho! which romantically mythologises the historical exploits of the 'Men of Devon' of this era. However Sir Francis Drake, navigator, privateer and vice admiral of the British Royal Navy remains the city's most famous resident; though born in Tavistock, he was mayor of Plymouth from 1581 and is credited with bringing fresh water from Dartmoor to the flourishing town by means of an aqueduct now known as Drake's Leat and developing the Tudor fortifications around Sutton Harbour.
History of Plymouth | Renaissance age
Archaeological evidence suggest the first human occupation was around 200,000 years ago. A hoard of 196 handaxes from the Acheulian era was excavated in 1962. This is now displayed in the British Museum. The name is believed to have developed from "Cucula's stone". Remains of a Roman villa was found under the church yard. The Saxons occupied the town and it became known as Cuckelstane. The church and parish was given by Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons to the Cathedral church of St. Andrew, Rochester. The church contains much Norman architecture, and is unusual as it lies on a southeast–northwest axis.
Cuxton | History
The first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, a monument for ritual or ceremonial purposes. From 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorset's woodlands for agricultural use and Dorset's high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of hill forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD 43.
Dorset | History
Homo sapiens first arrived in Great Britain around 12,000 years ago as the earth was warming before the beginning of the Holocene era. It is not known when Man first arrived in the area, however there is evidence that the Humberhead Levels have been settled for several thousand years, and that the drier northern area where Riccall is situated was settled before the Roman era.
Riccall | History
The first recorded evidence for occupation of this land is a grant of 110 acres to Daniel Bryan in 1821 by Governor Macquarie. However, it is known that Bryan was farming in the area much earlier than this, although exactly where he was farming in the Seven Hills district cannot be ascertained with any certainty. It was common practice in the early days of settlement for land grants to be a legitimisation of occupancy - squatters got to keep what they had taken. Although the grant was for 110 acres, Daniel Brien's will states that the land was known locally as the "Eighty Acres".
Exeter Farm | Occupation by Daniel Bryan (Brien)
The landscape at this time was tundra. Britain's oldest complete skeleton, Cheddar Man, lived at Cheddar Gorge around 7150 BC (in the Upper Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age), shortly after the end of the ice age; however, it is unclear whether the region was continuously inhabited during the previous 4000 years, or if humans returned to the gorge after a final cold spell. A Palaeolithic flint tool found in West Sedgemoor is the earliest indication of human presence on the Somerset Levels. During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys, so the Mesolithic people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints.
South West England | Pre-Roman
Cavendish." John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales" (1870–72) states the population at the time to have been 409 people living in 76 houses and covering 2,480 acres, and that the manor belonged to the Duke of Devonshire.
Staveley-in-Cartmel | History
The lord of Bicton held responsibility for managing the gaol, but it was removed from Bicton House to Exeter. It was purchased in the 16th century of the Coplestones by Sir Robert Denys (1525–1592) of nearby Holcombe Burnel, who built a new manor house and created one of the county's first enclosed deer parks. Sir Robert Denys's son, Sir Thomas Denys died and his daughter Anne Denys received the manor. She had married Sir Henry Rolle (d.1616) of Stevenstone, Devon and the estate was conveyed to her husband. Henry was the son of John Rolle, and great grandson to the founder of the Rolle family of Stevenstone, George Rolle (died 1552).
Bicton House, Devon | 16th to 18th centuries
The area that is now Derbyshire was first visited, probably briefly, by humans 200,000 years ago during the Aveley interglacial as evidenced by a Middle Paleolithic Acheulean hand axe found near Hopton. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra. Evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the caves date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county. These chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region.
Derbyshire | History
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) of Compton in the parish of Marldon and of Greenway in the parish of Churston Ferrers, both in Devon, England, was an adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland. He was a maternal half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh and a cousin of Sir Richard Grenville.
Humphrey Gilbert | Introduction
Norfolk has a long history of human occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic, and has produced many significant archaeological finds. Both modern and Neanderthal people were present in the area between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, before the last glaciation, and humans returned as the ice retreated northwards. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly because of the very cold conditions that existed then, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic (10,000–5,000 BCE), the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea.
Blakeney Point | To 1912
This is a list of settlements and places of interest in Devon, England.
List of places in Devon | Introduction
In 2002 a mission to recover his body and bring it to Plymouth was allowed by the Ministry of Defence. His cousin and contemporary John Hawkins was a Plymouth man. Painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder and first president of the Royal Academy was born and educated in nearby Plympton, now part of Plymouth. William Cookworthy born in Kingsbridge set up his successful porcelain business in the city and was a close friend of John Smeaton designer of the Eddystone Lighthouse. On 26 January 1786, Benjamin Robert Haydon, an English painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, was born here. The naturalist Dr William Elford Leach FRS, who did much to pave the way in Britain for Charles Darwin, was born at Hoe Gate in 1791.
Plymouth | Notable people
In 1861 the occupations included a map engraver, a retired customs officer, a coach trimmer, a clerk to a navy agent, a servant, a musician and a carpenter. The 27 occupants in 1871 included a printer and his apprentice son, a retired ship's captain, an optician, a solicitor's clerk, a porter, a medical practitioner called Francis Berrington, who lived at this address for more than 30 years, an unemployed milliner and a woolen draper, also unemployed. In 1881 the occupations mentioned included a gun engraver called Richard Pope, a picture restorer, an unemployed printer compositor, a journeyman plasterer, a teacher, a bookbinder and a 15 year old embroideress.
Old Devonshire House | Occupancy from census returns, 1841–1911
Pakefield is the site of one of the earliest known areas of human habitation in the United Kingdom. In 2005 flint tools and teeth from the water vole "Mimomys savini", a key dating species, were found in the cliffs. This suggests that hominins can be dated in England to 700,000 years ago, potentially a cross between "Homo antecessor" and "Homo heidelbergensis". Bloodmoor Hill, between Pakefield and Carlton Colville, was the site of settlement in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and the 7th and 8th centuries. The Saxon period consisted of a relatively dense settlement as well as a cemetery which included at least one rich barrow burial.
Pakefield | History
Through the ages several residents of Buckfastleigh families have earned a place in history, scholarship or commerce. One such person is Professor William Hosking, who became, in 1840, the first Professor of Architecture at King's College in London. The curly-coated Devon Rex cat breed was first discovered in Buckfastleigh in the 1960s and is named after the county in which the town is situated.
Buckfastleigh | From Buckfastleigh
Norfolk has a long history of human occupation. Both modern and Neanderthal people were present in the area between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, before the last glaciation, and humans returned as the ice retreated northwards. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly because of the then prevailing very cold conditions, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic (10,000–5,000 BCE), the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea. This brought the Norfolk coastline much closer to its present line, so that many ancient sites are now under the sea in an area now known as Doggerland.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | History
The singer and songwriter Rebecca Newman was born and raised in Exmouth. Roger Deakins, called "the pre-eminent cinematographer of our time", was born and lives in Devon. Trevor Francis, former Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City professional footballer, and the first English footballer to cost £1 million, was born and brought up in Plymouth. Swimmer Sharron Davies and diver Tom Daley were born in Plymouth. The Olympic runner Jo Pavey was born in Honiton. Peter Cook the satirist, writer and comedian was born in Torquay, Devon. Leicester Tigers and British and Irish Lions Rugby player Julian White was born and raised in Devon and now farms a herd of pedigree South Devon beef cattle.
Devon | Notable people
Cold winters were a feature of the 17th century, that of 1676 being particularly hard. Smallpox epidemics occurred in the 1640s, 1710s and 1760s, resulting in many deaths. In October 1690 there was an earthquake in Barnstaple. Daniel Defoe published an account of a tour through Devon in 1724 and 1727. South Devon impressed him but be thought that north Devon was wild, barren and poor. During the Napoleonic War a prison was built at Princetown on Dartmoor to hold French and American prisoners of war. This prison is still in use.
History of Devon | Modern period
Titchwell has a long history of human occupation. Populations of both Modern and Neanderthal people were present in Norfolk before the last glaciation between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, and returned as the ice retreated north. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly due to the prevailing conditions, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present, so that many sites are now under the sea. Early Mesolithic flint tools with characteristic blades up to long found on the present-day coast at Titchwell date from a time when it was from the sea.
Titchwell Marsh | Before 1972
Red deer, roe deer, elk, auroc, as well as the smaller mammals, cattle, and fish were available as food for humans. It is thought that settlers made their way across Morecambe Bay and along the fertile coast. At that time the upland central region of the county was heavily forested, so humans probably kept to the coastal areas, and around estuaries in particular: "sheltered locations around estuaries, lagoons or marine inlets" "The reason is probably due to the variety and abundance of food resources combined with fresh water and shelter that make estuaries more favoured locations than purely coastal sites".
Prehistoric Cumbria | Mesolithic, c. 9600–4000 BC
There have been humans in the area, probably, from the Iron Age. A palaeolithic hand axe has been discovered near the head of the River Ecclesbourne at Hopton. In the Duffield area itself, settlement by the Celts occurred in 400BCE. Although it has been suggested that, once farming began, they would have inhabited the plains of the Derwent and Ecclesbourne, they would most likely have retreated to higher ground during the winter floods. The Romans arrived in the area in 43CE. It has been suggested that they built a fort to protect the ford across which the caravans of lead from Wirksworth joined Rykneld Street at Derby, en route for the North Sea ports, though this is disputed.
Duffield, Derbyshire | Early history
There is evidence from flint artefacts in a quarry at Westbury-sub-Mendip that an ancestor of modern man, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, was present in the future Somerset from around 500,000 years ago. There is some evidence of human occupation of southern England before the last ice age, such as at Kents Cavern in Devon, but largely in the south east. The British mainland was connected to the continent during the ice age and humans may have repeatedly migrated into and out of the region as the climate fluctuated. There is evidence of human habitation in the caves at Cheddar Gorge 11,000–10,000 years BC, during a partial thaw in the ice age.
South West England | Pre-Roman
People from Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners. Its meaning is described as a person from Devon, deriving from Cousin Jan (the Devon form of John), but more particularly in naval circles anyone from the Plymouth area. The Elizabethan navigator, Sir Francis Drake was born in the nearby town of Tavistock and was the mayor of Plymouth. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world and was known by the Spanish as "El Draco" meaning "The Dragon" after he raided many of their ships. He died of dysentery in 1596 off the coast of Portobelo, Panama.
Plymouth | Notable people
Some period plaster reliefs also survive, one showing a nun caring for some children and another of a long-haired maiden, both standing on the head of an obese friar. A surviving fireplace with heraldic arms is inscribed with the date "1657".
Cowick, Devon | Russell, Earls of Bedford
Several species of humans have intermittently occupied Britain for almost a million years. The Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD is regarded as the start of recorded history although some historical information is available from before then. The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints probably made by "Homo antecessor". The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, are of "Homo heidelbergensis" at Boxgrove in Sussex. Until this time Britain had been permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between south-east England and northern France called the Weald-Artois Anticline, but during the Anglian Glaciation around 425,000 years ago a megaflood broke through the ridge, creating the English Channel, and after that Britain became an island when sea levels rose during interglacials.
Prehistoric Britain | Introduction
The census returns of 1841-1911 indicate the number and occupation of the tenants at 10 year intervals. The numbers of occupants increased from 5 in 1841 and 6 in 1851 to 25 in 1861, 28 in 1871,19 in 1881, 31 in 1891, 10 in 1901 and 12 in 1911. During this period, the majority of the tenants worked as craftsmen or tradesmen some using their rooms as workshops. An upholsterer and cabinet maker with a sideline as an auctioneer, an engineer and a linen draper lived there in 1841 are followed in 1851 by a lathe and toolmaker, a barrister's clerk and a house servant.
Old Devonshire House | Occupancy from census returns, 1841–1911
In prehistoric times, the first people appeared in the Dartford area around 250,000 years ago: a tribe of prehistoric hunter-gatherers whose exemplar is called Swanscombe Man. Many other archaeological investigations have revealed a good picture of occupation of the district with important finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. When the Romans engineered the Dover to London road (afterwards named Watling Street), it was necessary to cross the River Darent by ford, giving the settlement its name. Roman villas were built along the Darent Valley, and at Noviomagus (Crayford), close by. The Saxons may have established the first settlement where Dartford now stands.
Dartford | History
Evidence for human (homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthal) occupation of Britain goes back to c.700,000 years ago. The presence in Britain of homo sapiens can be detected at around 27,000-26,000BC (at Paviland Cave, South Wales). During the last glacial maximum, between about 26,000 and 19,000 years ago (24,000-17,000BC), Cumbria would have been uninhabitable because it was completely covered by ice sheets. However, the climate warmed during the Late Glacial Interstadial period (Bølling Oscillation-Allerød oscillation periods, c.12670 -10890 BC), giving the opportunity for humans to recolonise Britain. In Britain this period is called the "Windermere interstadial" because continuous deposits around the (Lake) Windermere region show the changing environment at this time from an alpine, herbaceous, covering to one which included woody plants such as tree birch and juniper.
Prehistoric Cumbria | Earliest human inhabitants: the Late Upper Palaeolithic, c.12670–9600 BC
Henry de Bracton, a 13th-century English cleric and jurist lived in the town. Sir John Arundell was born in the town in 1421 – his father John Arundell, knight of the shire for Devon and Cornwall, lived in the town for some time. Sir Richard Grenville was born in Bideford in 1542. His servant Raleigh was one of the first Native Americans to be brought to England. He died in 1589 and is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's church in the town. Richard Vines a colonist was born in the town in 1585. Francis Small, a landowner and trader who immigrated to New England was born in the town.
Bideford | Notable residents
William Beckford, millionaire landowner, politician and author of the Gothic novel "Vathek", lived for a time at No. 4. Matthew Lewis, author of another Gothic novel, "The Monk", lived at No. 9 and William Rothenstein lived at No. 10. Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet, banker and politician, lived at No. 21 in 1846, The Royal Philatelic Society London is located on the corner of Devonshire Street and Devonshire Place at the south end of the street. At the north of the street is The London Clinic, one of England's largest private hospitals.
Devonshire Place | Buildings and inhabitants
Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott who was born in Plymouth and Frank Bickerton both lived in the city. Artists include Beryl Cook whose paintings depict the culture of Plymouth and Robert Lenkiewicz, whose paintings investigated themes of vagrancy, sexual behaviour and suicide, lived in the city from the 1960s until his death in 2002. Illustrator and creator of children's series Mr Benn and King Rollo, David McKee, was born and brought up in South Devon and trained at Plymouth College of Art. Jazz musician John Surman, born in nearby Tavistock, has close connections to the area, evidenced by his 2012 album Saltash Bells.
Plymouth | Notable people
Settlement began in the area that was to become Milton Keynes around 2000 BCE, mainly in the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel and their tributaries (Bradwell Brook, Shenley Brook). Archaeological excavations discovered several burial sites dating from 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE. Evidence for the earliest habitation was found at Blue Bridge — production of flint tools from the Middle Stone Age. In the same area, an unusually large (18 metre diameter) round house was excavated and dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, about 700BCE. Other excavations in this Blue Bridge/Bancroft hill-side uncovered a further seven substantial settlement sites, dating from then until 100 BCE.
History of Buckinghamshire | Human settlement in pre-history
"Homo sapiens sapiens", or modern man, came to Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. There is evidence of occupation of four Mendip caves 35,000 to 30,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, it is probable that Somerset was deserted as the area experienced tundra conditions. Evidence was found in Gough's Cave of deposits of human bone dating from around 12,500 years ago. The bones were defleshed and probably ritually buried though perhaps related to cannibalism being practised in the area at the time or making skull cups or storage containers. Somerset was one of the first areas of future England settled following the end of Younger Dryas phase of the last Ice Age c.
History of Somerset | Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
A new manor was built beside the ruins of the original Northcote manor, which still exists today in North Devonshire, and the first officially recorded resident of the "north cottage" in Devonshire was one Nicholas de Northicote in the year 1199.
Northcutt (surname) | Northcote Manor
The British Isles became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk has revealed. The earliest evidence for early modern humans in North West Europe, a jawbone discovered in Devon at Kents Cavern in 1927, was re-dated in 2011 to between 41,000 and 44,000 years old. Continuous human habitation in England dates to around 13,000 years ago (see Creswellian), at the end of the Last Glacial Period. The region has numerous remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age, such as Stonehenge and Avebury. In the Iron Age, all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was inhabited by the Celtic people known as the Britons, including some Belgic tribes (e.g.
History of England | Introduction
There are over 500 known Neolithic sites on the moor, in the form of burial mounds, stone rows, stone circles and ancient settlements such as the one at Grimspound. Stone rows are a particularly striking feature, ranging in length from a few metres to over 3 km. Their ends are often marked by a cairn, a stone circle, or a standing stone (see menhir). Because most of Dartmoor was not ploughed during the historic period, the archaeological record is relatively easy to trace. The name "Devon" derives from the tribe of Celtic people who inhabited the south-western peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman invasion in 43 AD, the Dumnonii - possibly meaning 'Deep Valley Dwellers' (Cornish: "Dewnans", Welsh: "Dyfnaint", Breton: "Devnent") or 'Worshippers of the god Dumnonos'.
History of Devon | Prehistory
The first person to live there was Admiral Sir John Balchen (then a captain), who lived there until his death at sea in 1744, aside from two periods in 1724 and 1725–28, when it was rented out to Captain Reginald RN and then to Captain Leonard Wynn RN. On Balchen's death the house passed to his son-in-law Commodore Temple West (later vice-admiral), who had married Balchen's daughter Frances. The Temple-Wests lived there until 1755, two years before West's death in 1757. In 1861, Henry Thomas Ryall was living there with his wife Georgina, niece and two servants.
15 Cheyne Walk | Notable residents
The property was established as a 6,955-acre land grant by John Davis, a surveyor from North Carolina, in the 1790s. Davis built a red brick farmhouse. It was subsequently inherited by his daughter Fannie and his son-in-law, Morris Harding, in 1816. The couple lived on the farm for the next five decades, including during the course of the American Civil War. By 1865, the farm was inherited by Fannie Davis Harding's nephew, Edward Dickson Hicks II. Hicks imported Devon cattle from England, and he renamed the farm Devon Farm. It was later inherited by Edward Dickson Hicks III, who lived there with his wife Harriet Cockrill, the granddaughter of Mark R.
Devon Farm | History
The earliest evidence of habitation in the area is the nearby Ogof y Pebyll ("Tents Cave") or Ogof Coed-y-Mwstwr ("Hubbub Wood Cave")),(, Grid Ref: SS951807) which is a scheduled monument and appears to have been inhabited during Neolithic or Bronze Age periods. Worked flint flakes have been found, along with the teeth of numerous mammals of many different species.
Pencoed | Early habitation
Early in Henry VII's reign, the royal pretender, Perkin Warbeck, besieged Exeter in 1497. The King himself came down to judge the prisoners and to thank the citizens for their loyal resistance. Great disturbances throughout the county followed the introduction of Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer. The day after Whit Sunday 1549, a priest at Sampford Courtenay was persuaded to read the old mass. This insubordination spread swiftly into serious revolt. The Cornish quickly joined the men of Devon in the Prayer Book Rebellion and Exeter suffered a distressing siege until relieved by Lord Russell. Devon is particularly known for its Elizabethan mariners, such as Sir Francis Drake, Mayor of Plymouth, Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Walter Raleigh.
History of Devon | Tudor and Stuart period
It was also in the 14th century that the Dukedom of Exeter was bestowed on the Holland family, but they became extinct in the reign of Edward IV. The ancestors of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was born at East Budleigh, held considerable estates in the county from a similar period. Devon was given an independent sheriff. Originally an hereditary appointment, this was later held for a year only. In 1320, the locals complained that all the hundreds of Devon were under the control of the great lords who did not appoint sufficient bailiffs for their proper government. During the civil war of King Stephen’s reign, the castles of Plympton and Exeter were held against the king by Baldwin de Redvers in 1140.
History of Devon | Norman and medieval period
3 A plan for the Surveyor General's Department in 1833 showing Brien's land also marks the area s 80 acres. 4 . He later added three farms to the north of his own grant from the original grantees William Randall (100 acres), Edward Pembry (60 acres) and Samuel Becket (60 acres). Exeter Farm Cottages shown as EFC in Figures 24 is likely to have been his first house. By 1832 he was living on Randall's land immediately to the north of his grant shown above marked R in Figure 24. This type of amalgamation of a number of grants of fellow settlers is a significant postscript to the pre-1840 Government policy of settling large numbers of people on modest grants of land as a means of creating a "colonial yeomanry".
Exeter Farm | Occupation by Daniel Bryan (Brien)
In 1591, Drake's Leat first supplied water to Plymouth. Its route came through what is now Drake ward, but was at the time outside the town walls. When Sir Francis Drake constructed the leat he ensured that he held the rights to build mills on it. At least two of those mills were within this ward; the site of the higher one was converted to a reservoir in the late 19th century and is now known as Drake's Place Reservoirs. In common with much of the city, many buildings in this ward were destroyed or damaged during the Plymouth Blitz of World War II.
Drake (ward) | History
Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, David Rossdale, Francesco Sleter, Walter Mildmay, Antonio Bonvisi, John Rogers (c. 1570–1636), Giacomo Leoni, Hilda Grieve and Alice Barnham.
Moulsham | Notable Inhabitants and people connected to the area
In the Neolithic period, people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms, and started to cut down the woodlands of Exmoor, rather than act purely as hunters and gatherers. These Neolithic people created stone monuments and by the Bronze Age were creating barrows (burial mounds) and roundhouses. Evidence shows that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make metal tools, weapons, containers and ornaments had started by the Iron Age. Bronze Age barrows have also been found on elevated parts of Bursdon Moor, near Hartland and on Berry Down, near Berrynarbor. Iron Age hill forts were built on prominent parts of the coastline and hinterland.
North Devon's Biosphere Reserve | History
Edward Coke (pronounced Cook) was born at Mileham Hall (now demolished), on 1 February 1552. He became Speaker of The House of Commons in 1593 and Attorney General in 1596. He died on 3 September 1634. Sir Harold Button of Umphington (Shropshire) is a current resident (2020). He invented the Well Drain. He is also an ornithologist capable of identifying over 400 birds based on their calls alone.
Mileham | Notable residents
There are signs of human occupation in the area as early as the paleolithic era.
Provins | History
Norfolk has a long history of human occupation. Both Modern and Neanderthal people were present in the area before the last glaciation between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, and humans returned as the ice retreated northwards. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly because of the prevailing conditions, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic, the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea. This brought the Norfolk coastline much closer to its present line, so that many ancient sites are now under the sea.
Cley Marshes | Prehistory to 1926
Long before England existed, this area was at the bottom of a primeval sea. The most notable of the fossils uncovered is that of an ichthyosaur from Caldecotte, now on display in the central library. Human settlement began in this area around 2000 BCE, mainly in the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel, and their tributaries (Bradwell Brook, Shenley Brook). Archaeological excavations revealed several burial sites dating from 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE. Evidence for the earliest habitation was found at Blue Bridge⁠ production of flint tools from the Middle Stone Age. In the same area, an unusually large ( diameter) round house was excavated and dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, about 700 BCE.
History of Milton Keynes | Pre-history and early human settlement
This is a list of people from Devon, a county in South West England. The demonym of Devon is Devonian. This list is arranged alphabetically by surname. A more complete listing is at .
List of people from Devon | Introduction
Well-known residents of Harcourt Hill have included Professor Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Muirhead Bone and Martin Gilbert.
Harcourt Hill | Notable people
Devon is a county in south west England, bordering Cornwall to the west with Dorset and Somerset to the east. There is evidence of occupation in the county from Stone Age times onward. Its recorded history starts in the Roman period when it was a civitas. It was then a separate kingdom for a number of centuries until it was incorporated into early England. It has remained a largely agriculture based region ever since though tourism is now very important.
History of Devon | Introduction
The earliest evidence of human presence in the area is from the Mesolithic period, although this is fairly limited. More significant evidence of settlement and occupation in the area is available for the Neolithic period, most notably due to the extensive ritual complex at Avebury and scattered finds in the locality. The earliest archaeological evidence from within Wroughton dates from the Roman period (AD 43–410), showing a period of intensive settlement and farming in the area. Occupation of the area continued into the early Middle Ages (AD 410–1066) when two battles are understood to have taken place in the area: Breahburh (AD 567), thought to have been fought by Ceawlin of Wessex on the slopes of Barbury Hill, and Ellandun (AD 825) at Elcombe Hall by Egbert of Wessex.
Wroughton | History
The earliest dwellings mentioned are Pin Hole in Derbyshire and Kent's Cavern near Torquay — these and other cave-dwellings are described as "the very earliest human homes in this country that we know anything about." Other chapters describe homes of different periods, including Iron Age roundhouses, mediaeval manors, Tudor mansions, later country houses and terraced houses, and, bringing it up to date, the blocks of flats and suburban homes of the post-war period.
The Story of Your Home | Contents
Robert Bylot and William Baffin were the first Europeans to sight the island in 1616. William Edward Parry charted its south coast in 1819–20, and named it North Devon, after Devon in England, a name which was changed to Devon Island by the end of the 1800s. In 1850, Edwin De Haven sailed up Wellington Channel and sighted the Grinnell Peninsula. An outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudson's Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices led to the dispersal of 53 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934.
Devon Island | History and settlement
A Palaeolithic flint tool found in Westbury is the earliest indication of human presence in the area, dating from approximately 500,000 years ago. Later during the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys, forcing the Mesolithic people to occupy seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints. Subsequent winter flooding probably led to prehistoric man's using the Levels only in the summer, hence the county of Somerset may derive its name from "Sumorsaete", meaning "land of the summer people". An alternative suggestion is that the name derives from "Seo-mere-saetan" meaning "settlers by the sea lakes".
Somerset Levels | Human habitation
The avant garde prepared guitarist Keith Rowe was born in the city before establishing the jazz free improvisation band AMM in London in 1965 and MIMEO in 1997. The musician and film director Cosmo Jarvis has lived in several towns in South Devon and has filmed videos in and around Plymouth. In addition, actors Sir Donald Sinden and Judi Trott were born in Plymouth. George Passmore of Turner Prize winning duo Gilbert and George was also born in the city, as was Labour politician Michael Foot whose family reside at nearby Trematon Castle.
Plymouth | Notable people
The first evidence found for human occupation in Cumbria is that at Kirkhead Cave, in Lower Allithwaite, during the Federmesser culture period (c. 11400–10800 BCE). Discussing the Kirkhead Cave finds, Barrowclough quotes an earlier source who says: "Although limited, the Late Upper Paleolithic material from Cumbria is the earliest evidence of settlement in Britain this far north-west and as such is of national importance." (Perhaps this should now read "settlement in England", rather than Britain, as a cave site in Scotland has since been found). Talking of the archaeological finds, he also says: "Lithic material from Kirkhead Cave near Grange ...
History of Cumbria | Late Upper Palaeolithic, c. 12670–9600 BCE: the earliest human inhabitants
Human habitation in Sturry is thought to have started around 430,000 years ago, as dated flint implements - namely knives and arrow-tips - show. Other signs of early human activities include a collection of axes and pottery shards from the Bronze Age and more pottery from the Sturry Hill gravel-pits, and a burial-ground near Stonerocks Farm showed that there was an Iron Age settlement of Belgic Celts (who gave Canterbury its pre-Roman name of Durovernum) from the end of the 2nd century BC. All this evidence indicates that human habitation of some kind existed on the north bank of the River Stour, on Sturry's site, for hundreds and thousands of years.
Sturry | History
400 million years ago, when life on earth was only 150–200 million years old, life was only under water. Caynham was situated in warm coral waters and was likely to have been bristling with sea-life, shells can still be found today in the stones around the foot hills of Shropshire. Dead sea life fossilises over time to create limestone. This limestone was extensively quarried from the 18th century onwards. First evidence of human settlement in the area is the massive earthwork of "Caynham Camp". It can be dated back to 900 BC, late in the Bronze Age. It was later developed and expanded until the Roman invasion of 44 AD.
Caynham | Early history of Caynham
The earliest evidence of human occupation in Hertfordshire come from a gravel pit in Rickmansworth. The finds (of flint tools) date back 350,000 years, long before Britain became an island. People have probably lived in the land now called Hertfordshire for about 12,000 years, since the Mesolithic period in Ware (making Ware one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe). Settlement continued through the Neolithic period, with evidence of occupation sites, enclosures, long barrows and even an unusual dog cemetery in the region. Although occupied, the area had a relatively low population in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, perhaps because of its heavy, relatively poorly drained soil.
History of Hertfordshire | Early history
The higher status locals there often lived in banked homesteads known as 'Rounds', while East Devon had a number of luxurious villas, such as that discovered at Holcombe, as well as Roman roads of the sophisticated cobbled type.
History of Devon | Roman period
In addition, George Passmore of Turner Prize winning duo Gilbert & George was born in the city. Famous politicians Michael Foot and David Owen are from Plymouth and notable athletes include swimmer Sharron Davies, diver Tom Daley, dancer Wayne Sleep, and footballer Trevor Francis. Other past residents include composer Ron Goodwin, and journalist Angela Rippon. Vanessa George AKA "Britain's notorious child molester" , who abused children in Little Ted's nursery was born in this city.
List of people from Plymouth | Introduction
An early Bronze Age occupation site has been discovered here, and a Roman villa and bath house dating from the 1st century AD. Druids, Saxons, Romans and Normans have been known to have inhabited the area in and around Sapcote. From the 12th-14th century the village was the home of the powerful Basset family. Ralph de Basset was High Sheriff of England and, possibly, the first Member of Parliament, being the first Lord to be called to the Barons Parliament by Simon de Montfort.
Sapcote | History
Humans have lived in the Ashley area for thousands of years. Two Palaeolithic hand axes were found in gravel excavated from the gravel pits at Ashley, and are now in the Red House Museum in Christchurch, Dorset. A third axe was found in 1962.
Ashley, New Forest | Prehistory
The central region of Devon was occupied by the Saxons soon after 682 AD. It was divided into vast estates, and one of these divisions included all land within the boundaries of the rivers Teign and Bovey, with Moreton as its major settlement. The present parish of over 6,000 acres (24 km) is the residue of that ancient royal estate. It remained a royal estate immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066, as is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as the 45th of the 72 Devonshire holdings of King William the Conqueror. The manor was held by grand serjeanty from the king by Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (1259–1326) during the reign of King Edward I (1272–1307), for the annual yielding of one sparrow hawk.
Moretonhampstead | History
In 1891 the occupations mentioned included a cabinet finishing father and son, a cab driver's groom, a tailor and a paper embosser; the doctor and gun engraver were still present. In 1901 a stationer, two actors, a soap traveller and the gun engraver are mentioned. In 1911 three families included the gun engraver, his wife and daughter who was a perfumer's shop assistant, a family of four tailors, an apprentice architect and an apprentice tailoress and a blacksmith, William Prince and his son an assistant and daughter.
Old Devonshire House | Occupancy from census returns, 1841–1911
Devon was not as Romanised as Somerset and Dorset, with evidence of occupation limited mainly to the area around Exeter where the Roman walls can still be seen. It is likely a settlement at Exeter of some sort pre-existed the Romans and that the local Brythonic tribe inhabiting the area, the Dumnonii, maintained a tradition of independence. It appears that initially the Dumnonii tribe of Britons were a client kingdom of Rome, but from about AD 55 the Romans held at least part of the area under military occupation, maintaining a naval port at Topsham and a garrison of the 2nd Augustan Legion at Exeter, which they called 'Isca'.
History of Devon | Roman period
This village has had a long history of successful human habitation. The first traces of human habitation in the area were recorded by renowned archaeologist Sir John Evans (1823–1908). The village sits on a saucer of clay covered by a layer of gravel, and as a result water supply has never been a problem; records show that in earlier times water could be drawn from a well just deep. In 1045 the Saxon thegn Ethelwine 'the Black' granted the upper part of Langlai to St Albans Abbey as Langlai Abbatis (Latin for Langlai of the Abbot, hence 'Abbot's Langley') the remainder being the king's Langlai.
Abbots Langley | History
The earliest known evidence of human activity in what is now Salford is provided by the Neolithic flint arrow-heads and workings discovered on Kersal Moor and the River Irwell, suggesting that the area was inhabited 7–10,000 years ago. The raw material for such tools was scarce and unsuitable for working, and as a result they are not of the quality found elsewhere. Other finds include a neolithic axe-hammer found near Mode Wheel, during the excavation of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1890, and a Bronze Age cremation urn during the construction of a road on the Broughton Hall estate in 1873.
Salford | Early history
Prince Louis Phillipe, the future King of France took refuge there during the Napoleonic Wars. Robert Southey, writer, poet and Poet Laureate; lived in Burton between 1797 and 1799. Many other writers and poets of the day visited him there including his brother in law, poet Samuel Coleridge, and the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott. John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister 1762–63, amateur botanist and one of the founders of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; built a mansion, High Cliff House, on his Christchurch estate close to the cliff top in 1773. The area is now known as Highcliffe.
Christchurch, Dorset | Notable residents
There are very few traces of the mansion of Heanton Satchville surviving today, but it was at one time "one of the most imposing houses ever to exist in Devon". In 1674, it was the second largest house in Devon. The manor was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and was then owned by the Sachvilles and Kelligrews, before it passed into the hands of the Yeo family. By 1359 it was owned by William Yeo when he was Sheriff of Devon. Margaret Yeo, the sole heiress of Robert Yeo, married Henry Rolle, (died about 1620), and thus the manor passed to the Rolles, now represented by the Barons Clinton.
Petrockstowe | Heanton Satchville
He also introduced the Cheviot sheep to the area which are now common throughout Exmoor. Knight and his son Col. Sir Frederick Winn Knight (1812–1897), KCB, MP, who assumed management in 1841, built most of the large farms in the central section of the moor and laid down of metalled access roads to Simonsbath. He built a stone wall around his estate, parts of which still survive. However, progress was slow, and Richard Nicholls Worth stated in 1879 in his "Tourist's Guide to North Devon and the Exmoor district": "The mansion was never finished; cultivation has not spread far from the farmstead centres; the walls bother the sportsman more than the deer; and the bogs are as deep, the inner recesses of the moors as wild and solitary, and the coarse grass, and the bracken, and the heathers supreme in their occupancy mile after mile, as if no effort had ever been made to redeem its mingled wildness and sterility."
Simonsbath | Purchase by John Knight
The roof-space was subsequently ceiled to form a 65-foot long gallery above, said by Pevsner to be the best example from the 16th century in Devon. On its plaster ceiling survive the initials of the builder Sir Roger Bluett (died 1566), which makes it the earliest datable plaster ceiling in Devon. The north and west ranges were added or rebuilt in the Victorian age, c. 1859–68 by Rev. W. Rayer to the design of John Hayward. A prominent feature of the south aspect of the house is the large circular dovecote on the east (right) side, further east of which is the stable court yard The Devon topographer Rev.
Manor of Holcombe Rogus | Holcombe Court
There is evidence of human presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period – around 10,000 BC. The village occupies the site of an ancient British town and there is known to have been occupation during the Roman period, although Benson's written history dates back only as far as AD 571. Recent excavations at the site of a new housing site at the junction of St Helen's Avenue and Church Road revealed evidence of early Neolithic (3500 BC) and later Bronze Age or early Iron Age (11th–8th centuries BC) pits and post holes, as well as a possible later Bronze Age roundhouse and three early or middle Saxon (5th–6th centuries AD) sunken-floored buildings.
Benson, Oxfordshire | Archaeology
Human habitation of the region that is now Pembrokeshire extends back to between 125,000 and 70,000 years and there are numerous prehistoric (such as Pentre Ifan) sites and much earlier neolithic remains, more of which were revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave; in the same year, a 1st-century Celtic chariot burial was discovered, the first such find in Wales.
Pembrokeshire | History
John Gilbert Cooper, poet, was born here in 1722.
Lockington, Leicestershire | Notable people
Willow and teazel are grown commercially and peat is extracted. A Palaeolithic flint tool found in West Sedgemoor is the earliest indication of human presence in the area. The Neolithic people exploited the reed swamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways, including the world's oldest known timber trackway, the Post Track, dating from about 3800 BC. The Levels were the location of the Glastonbury Lake Village as well as two Lake villages at Meare Lake. Several settlements and hill forts were built on the natural "islands" of slightly raised land, including Brent Knoll and Glastonbury. In the Roman period sea salt was extracted and a string of settlements were set up along the Polden Hills.
Somerset Levels | Introduction
has been dated to ... c. 11000–9500 BCE" (See: Lithic flake). Other lithic blades were found at Lindale Low Cave at the mouth of the River Kent, in caves at Blenkett Wood, Allithwaite, and at Bart's Shelter, Furness (including reindeer and elk bones). During the following Younger Dryas stadial (colder period), c. 10890–9650 BCE, Federmesser sites were abandoned, and Cumbria (along with the rest of Britain) was not permanently occupied until the end of the Younger Dryas period, 11,600 years ago (that is, during the Mesolithic era).
History of Cumbria | Late Upper Palaeolithic, c. 12670–9600 BCE: the earliest human inhabitants
The first known settlement of Dorset was by Mesolithic hunters, who returned to Britain at a time when it was still attached to Europe by a land-bridge, around 12,500 BC. The population was very small, maybe only a few thousand across the whole of Britain, and concentrated along the coast: in Dorset, such places as the Isle of Purbeck, Weymouth, Chesil Beach and Hengistbury Head, and along the Stour valley. These populations used stone tools and fire to clear some of the native oak forest for herding prey. Genetic experiments carried out on a Mesolithic skeleton from Cheddar Gorge (in the neighbouring county of Somerset) have shown that a significant part of the contemporary population of Dorset is descended from these original inhabitants of the British Isles.
History of Dorset | Pre-Roman
Sir Thomas Denys (c.1477–1561) of Holcombe Burnell, near Exeter, Devon, was a prominent lawyer who served as Sheriff of Devon nine times between 1507/8 to 1553/4 and as MP for Devon. He acquired large estates in Devon at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Thomas Denys | Introduction
The mansion was at one time "one of the most imposing houses ever to exist in Devon". The Hearth Tax return of 1674 recorded 26 hearths for the house, making it the second largest house in Devon after Werrington. It was described by Rev. John Swete in 1789. Referring to it as a "vast pile built at different times", he noted a carved date of 1639 which he concluded was not the earliest date of the building but only served to date the portal above which it was located. The parapet walls, the mullions of the windows and the pavement were all made of moorstone.
Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe | Description of mansion
Archaeological evidence of humans living in the area dating back to the Iron Age or British Roman age has been found in the area between and around Cliffe and Cliffe Common; the evidence suggested rectangular enclosures thought to be part of a field system, as well as ditched enclosures, and roundhouses. Evidence of permanent human habitation in the medieval period has also been found, suggesting ridge and furrow farming.
Cliffe, Selby | History
"Tulerpeton" lived approximately 365 million years ago, in the Late Devonian period when the climate was fairly warm and there were no glaciers. Land had already been colonized by plants. During the Devonian period, the first truly terrestrial tetrapods – the ancestors of present-day reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals – first began to appear.
Tulerpeton | Era
First mention of Gulliford Farm comes as a small dwelling in one of many small hamlets which sprung up in the area around 1300., its name deriving from "Geldforde" or "Geldfeld", a reference to the harvests from the lands surrounding the waterways of East Devon. The buildings which then existed were part of the Nutwell Estate, owned by the Dynham (1311-1501) and Prideaux (1520-1649) families, respectively. Through them the farm was rented and used by tenant farmers, with the largest farm remaining as Nutwell Castle itself. In 1575, after centuries on inadequate maintenance, the 14th Century buildings were torn down, and a new, large home farm and hunting lodge was built by Sir Francis Drake, 2nd Bart.
Gulliford Farm | History