ton and Plymouth (Cann quarry), but none of them are so extensive or important as those at Delabole in Cornwall. Potters' clay is worked at King's Teignton, whence it is largely exported, at Bovey Tracy, and at Watcombe near Torquay. The Watcombe clay is of the finest quality, and is capable of retaining the most delicate form. China clay or kaolin, is found on the S. side of Dartmoor, at Lee Moor, and near Trowlesworthy. There is a very large deposit of umber, as yet little known, close to Ashburton.
Climate.—The climate varies greatly in different parts of the county but everywhere it is more humid than that of the eastern or south-eastern parts of England. Both Devon and Cornwall have a mean annual temperature about 1°·5 above that of the midland counties ; but in the summer they are cooler than the whole range of country from the south coast to the 53° of lat. The air of the Dartmoor highlands is sharp and bracing. Mists are frequent, and snow often lies long. On the south coast frost is little known, and many half hardy plants, such as hydrangeas, myrtles, geraniums, and heliotropes, live through the winter without protection. The climate of Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Torquay, and other watering places on this coast, is very equable, and the mean temperature of the winter months is about 47°. The N. coast, exposed to the storms and swell of the Atlantic, is far more bracing ; although there also, in the more sheltered nooks (as at Combe Martin), myrtles of great size and age flower freely, and produce their annual crop of berries.
Agriculture.—While the eastern division of England, ranging from Yorkshire to Hampshire and Sussex, is essentially a corn-growing country, the south-western is as specially the grazing or pasture-land division. The total amount of land in Devonshire under corn crops in 1876 was 283,332 acres, of which 112,652 were under wheat, 152,370 under green crops, 189,761 under clover, sanfoin, and grasses under rotation; and the permanent unbroken pasture (exclusive of the moors) extended to 442,406 acres. Of horses used solely for agricultural purposes, the number returned in 1876 was 51,753 ; of cattle, 217,111 ; of sheep, 943,542 , of pigs, 90,773. These numbers, as compared with those of former years, show a steady progress, and an annual increase in the extent of permanent pasture. In the small farms on Dartmoor and along its borders grain crops are very uncertain, and on Dartmoor itself even oats do not ripen in unfavourable seasons. The root and other crops obtained on the land attached to the convict prison are due to the amount of manual labour expended on them, which in ordinary cases would be altogether without profit. Devonshire is one of the cider-producing counties of England, soil and climate being favourable to the growth and bearing of the apple. The acreage of Devonshire orchards in 1876 was 24,097. The two other principal cider counties had respectively—Hereford, 24,616 acres planted with fruit trees (apples and pears), and Somerset, 21,029.
As respects the ownership of the land, according to the Owners of Land Return for 1873, the county was divided among 31,809 proprietors, whose aggregate estimated rental amounted to £2,881,665. Of that number 21,647 or 68 per cent. owned less than 1 acre—the proportion of small proprietors in all England being 71 percent. ; and the rental per acre averaged £1, 18s. 0d, as against £3, 0s. 2d. in all England. Nearly one fifth of the land was owned by 15 proprietors:—To the Duchy of Cornwall belonged 48,457 acres ; Hon. Mark Rolle, Stevenstone, Torrington, 45,088 ; Duke of Bedford, 22,607 ; Earl of Devon, Powderham Castle, 20,588 ; Earl Fortescue, Castle Hill, 20,171 ; Lord Poltimore, Court Hall, 17,047 ; F. W. Knight, Exmoor, 16,903 ; Earl of Portsmouth, Eggesford House, 16,414 ; Sir George Stucley, Bart., Hartland Abbey, 15,144 ; Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., Killerton, 15,018 ; Lord Clinton, Heanton Satchville, 14,431 ; Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., Maristow, 11,977 ; M. Preston, Chulmleigh, 11,280 ; Sir W. P. Carew, Bart., Newton Abbot, 10,889 ; and Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart., Haldon House, 10,109.
Industries.—Devonshire has few manufactures, and no very important industrial works. There is a considerable pottery at Bovey Tracy, manufacturing white, printed, and painted ware ; and another at Watcombe, where the productions are finer and more artistic. Blankets and serges are made at Buckfastleigh and at Ashburton, and the factories employ many hands. At Tiverton there is an extensive lace-making factory. The manufacture of Honiton lace, made by hand on the pillow, is now confined to Beer and some other villages on the S.E. coast. Shoes and boots, chiefly for export, are made at Crediton. The greatest industrial works in the county however, are the vast Government establishments at Plymouth and Devonport—the victualling yard, and the dockyard. The convict prisons in Dartmoor may also be regarded as an industrial establishment. They were built for French prisoners in 1809, and in 1850 were adapted for receiving convicts. Since that year more than 100 acres round the prisons have been brought into cultivation under convict labour ; and 1000 acres more were added to the prison lands in 1871. In addition to the old buildings, a large prison, arranged on the latest principles, was erected in 1872.
The fisheries of Devonshire are in no way so important as those of Cornwall. About 200 trawlers belong to the port of Brixham, the head quarters of the fisheries of Tor Bay. Herrings and mackerel visit the coasts in their seasons, but not in the vast shoals known farther west. It may be said that trawling is the main feature of the Devonshire fishery whilst seining and driving characterize that of Cornwall.
History.—The British tribes inhabiting this western portion of the island are called Dumnonii by Ptolemy ; and Dumnonia, or Dammonia, the Latinized name of a kingdom which long remained independent after the arrival and early conquests of the West Saxons, seems to be identical with the Cymric Dyfnaint, which survives in the present Devon. The Saxon settlers, as they advanced into the country, called themselves Defenas, i.e., men of Devon or Dyfnaint, thus adopting the British name, and indicating the broad difference between their settlements in such a district as Devon, where British influence so long survived, and where they came as Christians, and those in southern or eastern England, where the Britons were either expelled or exterminated. In Devonshire the Christian Britons became subjects of the Christian Saxons. “ The Celtic element can be traced from the Somersetshire Axe, the last heathen frontier, to the extremities of Cornwall, of course increasing in amount as we reach the lands which were more recently conquered, and therefore less perfectly Teutonized. Devonshire is less Celtic than Cornwall, and Somersetshire is less Celtic than Devonshire ; but not one of the three counties can be called a pure Teutonicland, like Kent or Norfolk” (E. A. Freeman). Celtic names are accordingly found in various parts of Devonshire, and especially on Dartmoor, side by side with those which are truly Saxon.
For some time after the landing of William I. and the battle of Hastings, the western counties remained undisturbed. In the spring of 1068 Exeter was besieged and taken by the Conqueror, who built a castle there, which was besieged in 1137 by Stephen for three months. In 1469 Exeter, which was Lancastrian, was besieged for twelve days by the Yorkists, but held out successfully ; and in 1497 the city was again besieged by Perkin Warbeck. A more
