County town: Exeter
Devon was settled by the West Saxons in the 7th century, who pushed west into what had been the territory of the Dumnonii tribe. It was established as a shire by the 9th century with Exeter as its principal town.
Devon is one of England's largest counties, with a long coastline on both the Bristol and English Channels and two national parks — Dartmoor and Exmoor — in its interior. Its hundreds of small parishes reflect an ancient pattern of dispersed settlement quite different from the nucleated village landscape of the Midlands. The county produced great Elizabethan seafarers: Drake, Raleigh, Grenville, Hawkins — men whose ventures shaped the early English Empire. Exeter, the county town, preserves one of England's finest medieval cathedrals and the remains of its Roman legionary baths. Devon's red sandstone cliffs, wooded estuaries, and cream-tea culture have made it one of England's most visited counties.
Devon was surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086, William the Conqueror's great census of England. The survey recorded 959 settlements in the county, with details of their lords, landholders, population, and resources.
Browse 959 Domesday settlements in DevonEngland's 39 historic counties, established between the 9th and 12th centuries, are the framework through which English local history, legal records, and landscape have been organised for a thousand years. Most survive today as ceremonial counties, their boundaries deeply embedded in place identity.
An Aubrey report for a specific location in Devon draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.
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