The Devon History Society is delighted to announce the winners of our 2025 prizes for new writing about Devon's history. The standard was very high this year, reflecting the variety and quality of research taking place across the county. Ben Towells, Gillian...
DHS were delighted to hear that Dr Julia Neville had been awarded one of two personal achievement awards given this year by the British Association of Local History (BALH). The formal announcement was made at BALH’s AGM held on 22 May. Julia is of course...
The major Festival news over the last weekend has been the opening of the National Trust properties in Devon hosting 1920s related exhibitions. Four properties contribute to our picture of the landed gentry and the wealthy incomers to Devon in the 1920s. * Arlington...
An Exeter historian known for not shying away from sensitive topics has discovered a surprising link between Exeter and the golliwog while researching what is believed to be the first historical examination of the black fictional character which has became a symbol of...
PAIGNTON LOCAL HISTORY BOOK: A COMMUNITY COLLABORATION January 2025 saw the launch of Paignton – Our Home Town. What is distinctive is the collaboration between a local history society and a primary school. Paignton Heritage Society have worked with Oldway...
Jessica ThornExeter University, Staff A research project investigating how people’s attitudes towards material possessions altered in sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England is appealing for public help in analysing thousands of personal wills. The...
Those of you who attended the online talk in January 2023 by Bill Gilbert in Newfoundland may be interested in an update from him. Bill has been directing the excavations at Cupids in Newfoundland (the first English settlement in Canada) since 1995 and conducting...
Devon History Society supports new research to engage audiences with Devon’s rich past. We are looking for a new trustee with an interest in marketing and social media to help promote our annual programme of public events. These include: Four online talks over the...
In celebration of Women's History Month in March 2024, Jo Talbot Bowen gave a fascinating talk to the Devon History Society on the artist and diarist Elizabeth Simcoe (1762-1850). E. Simcoe portrait, Library and Archives Canada / Acc. No. 1972-118-2 / e011213498...
DHS and the South West Maritime History Society are jointly hosting a Devon in the 1920s event in Plymouth on Saturday April 20th exploring a range of topics from leisure sailing to fishing, cargo-carrying, HM Dockyard and the Marine Biological Association. Tickets...
The year has started very well as we can now share the news that the Maritime Heritage Trust, in conjunction with National Historic Ships and Historic England, has recognised Bideford and River Torridge as a heritage harbour....
The origins of a set of Elizabethan wood panelling have been revealed more than 160 years after the demolition of its first home. Read more here.
The DHS is run by a Board of Trustees that determines the general direction of the Society and checks that it runs smoothly and efficiently. Trustees meet four times a year, currently virtually using Zoom on a Saturday morning. The term of office is three years which...
On a beautiful sunny June day in 2023 DHS members enjoyed a trip to Bideford to find out more about the achievements of Way of the Wharves (WOTW). WOTW started life in 2016 as a community volunteer project researching the history of East the Water and its wharves. In...
The August 2023 newsletter has now been published. Please click the image below to view:
Please see below for details of the DHS Autumn 2023 events programme. Further details of the events and booking arrangements can be found by clicking on the 'Events' tab above.
Following on from the talk given by Bill Gilbert on January 26th on some of Devon’s connections with the history of Newfoundland, some additional details have come to light. One of the three personalities on which Bill focussed his presentation was Sir John Berry...
The February 2023 newsletter has now been published please click the image below to view:
Devon’s 1920s’ Houses – the joint Devon History Society/Devon Buildings Group Spring Symposium Bookings are now open for our event featuring council housing, rural cottages, domestic interiors and building for private clients. Click here for full programme and to...
We’ve just opened booking for our first in-person Society Showcase of 2023, sharing the work of the Way of the Wharves project in Bideford. Click to view full size The Society Showcase is a new way of sharing the achievements of some of DHS’s fantastic local groups....
‘The cult of St Urith in pre-Reformation Devon’, by Esther Chant, who works at the Devon Heritage Centre, appeared in The Devon Historian, vol. 91 (2021). Esther’s article has been chosen as one of the three runners-up in the British Association for Local History...
The Plymouth History Festival for 2023 will take place during the first two weeks of October, rather than May, for the first time. Please keep an eye on The Box website for more details. (Although The Box is not officially running the Festival we will be helping...
The Centre for Medieval Studies are running a series of seminars; for further details are shown below.
Richard Newcourt's map of Barnstaple, forgotten in the town since it was created some 350 years ago, returned home yesterday (12 November 2022). It will be on display at the Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon until mid February 2023. A series of lectures and a...
The DHS August newsletter is now available and can be found by clicking the image here:
In the picturesque village of East Budleigh a statue of Sir Walter Raleigh looks down on the winding High Street, reminding us that this was the birthplace of the celebrated explorer and favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. Not so many people know that East...
The DHS February newsletter is now available and can be found by clicking the image here:
Those involved in the Devon in the 1920s project may find some useful background information amongst the material, talks and podcasts that The National Archives are presenting as part of the launch of the 1921 census. Visit The National Archives for more details....
Some 525 cottages in Devon were restored according to the generous provisions of the 1926 Housing (Rural Workers Act) between 1926 and 1930. Although the 1926 act was a national scheme to improve the housing of farm workers, Devon was one of only a handful of counties...
EXETER in the 1640s and 1650s, confrontation, settlement and realignment Dr Todd Gray MBE Delivered via Zoom 11 January to 15 February 2022 10:30 - 11:45 A six week online course looking at the city during the Civil War and in Cromwell’s decade which followed. These...
Online lectures, each starting at 14:00, free to members, £3.00 fee through Eventbrite for non-members. Winter Series, 2022 Four diverse approaches in understanding place and the past. 29 January Dr Todd Gray, 'Understanding Dartmouth, Crediton and Colyton through...
The Council of the DHS are considering simplifying the membership structure. Our existing membership fees have been in place since 2012 and it is felt that now is an appropriate time to update them. They have given their initial support to having just three...
In Black History Month, a new book tells the complex story of Devon residents who once owned slaves. Sharon Goble talks to author Dr Todd Gray in a piece published in the October edition of Devon Life. [pdf-embedder...
On Thursday 30th September, family, friends, professional collaborators and admirers of the great photographer of rural Devon, James Ravilious, gathered in Chulmleigh to witness the unveiling of a Devon History Society blue plaque in his memory. The plaque can be...
A new book (published September 2021) by DHS members Julia Neville, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Paul Auchterlonie, Ann Roberts and Helen Turnbull offers a ground-breaking local study of eight women working individually and in collaboration to create new opportunities for...
Eating out in Devon in the 1920s – Heritage Open Days, 10-19 September 2021 Celebrating this year’s theme of ‘Edible England’ Devon History Society presents ‘Eating out in Devon in the 1920s’, a virtual tour of some of Devon’s best known cafes and...
18 September 2021 A Devon History Society and West of England and South Wales Women’s History Network Joint Event
A new book by Andrew Jones, author of Victorian North Devon: a social history, and formerly priest-in-charge of the Oakmoor parishes published on 17 May 2021. Henry Phillpotts was bishop of Exeter for approaching thirty nine years, 1831 to 1869. In his pomp, he was...
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