Devon

This was a gift. Arrived in time. Well packaged and great quality.

Book never arrived but I know it's a great resource

A superb book by a respected Authority. Very good service from the supplier

Hoskins is the Devon bible to all researching or interested in Devon and its history! I keep it beside my computer.

Essential Guide

A great update.

Though over sixty years old, Hoskins’s book remains generally regarded as the definitive history of Devon. The first half of the book is a thematic run through aspects of Devon’s past. Archaeological and other evidence is used to outline the county’s history from the Palaeolithic to the Roman era, and then comes an interesting discussion of the Saxon “invasion” (Hoskins argues for a gradual process of Saxon settlement). Later history – from the Norman conquest through to the early twentieth century – is then told in chapters on the economy, the landscape, towns, industry (principally cloth and mining), communications, population change, political and military history, the maritime economy, church and social history, buildings and building materials, and local notables in literature and the arts. Hoskins closes this 300 page account with a view from the mid-twentieth century of rural depopulation, the demise of the squirearchy and the growth of tourism (Hoskins is no fan of the latter). The second half of the book is an alphabetical gazetteer of Devon’s towns and villages, focusing on those aspects Hoskins deems worthy of note, especially architecture. Here Hoskins is at times humorously scathing, dismissing places such as my home town for being “dull”, and railing against the barbarism of the Victorian “restoration” of parish churches.As the book has not been substantively updated since it was first published (in 1954), there are some areas where it is necessarily dated (e.g. regarding archaeological evidence). As the author of the superb “The Making of the English Landscape”, Hoskins is also surprisingly silent on certain issues that seem to me worthy of discussion, such as place names and why it is that in north Devon the majority of parish churches and their surrounding settlements are located on or near the crests of ridges and hills. I would also add that to my mind the book is somewhat dry and scholastic in places, and lacks the verve and accessibility of “The Making of the English Landscape”. The lack of a glossary of key terms used in the discussion of pre-modern history may also hinder some.So, while it is a good history of Devon, I wouldn’t say it is either definitive or comprehensive, and those interested would be advised to read more widely. Hoskins’s own “Old Devon” (1966), a collection of essays, is very worthwhile, and there is also something to be said for St Leger-Gordon’s “Portrait of Devon” (1963, re-published simply as “Devon” in 1977) and Goodall’s more recent “Lost Devon” (2007).

I was pleased to be able to find the book so quickly. it was in good condition and a very good price. It came through very quickly.