The countryside of Devon and Cornwall preserves an unusually rich legacy from its medieval past. This book explores the different elements which go to make up this historic landscape - the chapels, crosses, castles and mines; the tinworks and strip fields; and above all, the intricately worked counterpane of hedgebanks and winding lanes. Between AD 500 and 1700, a series of revolutions transformed the structure of the South West Peninsula's rural landscape. The book tells the story of these changes, and also explores how people experienced the landscape in which they lived: how they came to imbue places with symbolic and cultural meaning. Contributors include: Ralph Fyfe on the pollen evidence of landscape change; Sam Turner on the Christian landscape; Peter Herring on both strip fields and Brown Willy, Bodmin Moor; O. H. Creighton and J. P. Freeman on castles; Phil Newman on tin working; and Lucy Franklin on folklore and imagined landscapes.

People assume that parish church dedications are ancient, but many of those in use today are inventions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the original dedications were entirely different. This startling discovery reveals fresh information about the history of English parish churches and throws light on religion in England in all periods of history. Part One of English Church Dedications is a general history of Church dedications in England from Roman times to the present day. Part Two provides a gazetteer of dedications in Cornwall and Devon, with dates and references, showing how far each one can be traced back and what changes and misunderstandings have occurred. It offers totally new evidence about the Cornish saints and provides a guide and model for similar research in other counties.

Pilgrimage was popular throughout medieval England until it was suppressed at the Reformation. This book explains how it originated, what it involved, and what it meant to those who practised it. Normally it is imagined in terms of long journeys to famous places in England or Christendom. In fact most pilgrimages were short ones, made to hundreds of nearby shrines and images. This study breaks new ground by exploring the subject through these local journeys and reveals the places that most people visited for most of the time. It shows who went, where and why they went, and what they experienced when they got there. The general study is followed by a detailed survey of the whole of the West of England: from Bristol to the Scillies and back to east Dorset. It lists over 80 sites, ranging from great churches like the cathedrals at Bristol, Exeter, and Wells down to small rural chapels and holy wells. Many of these sites still exist, allowing the book to be used as a guide to places to visit, where one can get a sense of what it was like to be a medieval pilgrim.

Sam Turner's important new interpretation of early medieval patterns of landscape development traces landscape change in the South West from the introduction of Christianity to the Norman Conquest (AD c. 450-1070). It stresses the significance of political and religious ideology in both the 'Celtic' west (especially Cornwall) and the 'Anglo-Saxon' east (especially the Wessex counties of Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset). Using innovative new research methods, and making use of archaeology, place-name evidence, historical sources and land-use patterns, it challenges previous work on the subject by suggesting that the two regions have much in common. Using modern mapping techniques to explore land-use trends, Turner advances a new model for the evolution of ecclesiastical institutions in south-west England. He shows that the early development of Christianity had an impact on the countryside that remains visible in the landscape we see today. Accessibly written with a glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography, the book will appeal to both veterans and newcomers to landscape archaeology.

This is the third volume of Anthony Emery's magisterial survey, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500, first published in 2006. Across the three volumes Emery has examined afresh and re-assessed over 750 houses, the first comprehensive review of the subject for 150 years. Covered are the full range of leading homes, from royal and episcopal palaces to manor houses, as well as community buildings such as academic colleges, monastic granges and secular colleges of canons. This volume surveys Southern England and is divided into three regions, each of which includes a separate historical and architectural introduction as well as thematic essays prompted by key buildings. The text is complemented throughout by a wide range of plans and diagrams and a wealth of photographs showing the present condition of almost every house discussed. This is an essential source for anyone interested in the history, architecture and culture of medieval England and Wales.

The 19th century historic landscape of Devon developed from earlier patterns of landholdings and settlement that are, today, not always easily discernible on the ground. The study of Tithe Survey landholdings, field-names, and associated documentary evidence, together with the physical evidence of change and development through field and settlement pattern can be used to elucidate the relationship between field and settlement morphologies and patterns of 19th-century landholding. The combined evidence for three case-study areas – the Blackdown Hills, Hartland Moors, and the South Hams – is examined in detail though the creation, manipulation, and querying of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) database. Key issues addressed include: how far back patterns of 19th century landholding can be traced, or projected, back into the medieval period; the occurrence and extent of open field farming in Devon; and the spread of nucleated and dispersed settlements. Looking beyond the physical aspects of landscapes, the idea of landscape pays and the identification of regional differences in the study of the historic landscape are investigating revealing how closely entwined are the physical and social landscapes of this historic county.

This first volume, presenting research carried out through the Exeter: A Place in Time project, provides a synthesis of the development of Exeter within its local, regional, national and international hinterlands. Exeter began life in c. AD 55 as one of the most important legionary bases within early Roman Britain, and for two brief periods in the early and late 60s AD, Exeter was a critical centre of Roman power within the new province. When the legion moved to Wales the fortress was converted into the civitas capital for the Dumnonii. Its development as a town was, however, relatively slow, reflecting the gradual pace at which the region as a whole adapted to being part of the Roman world. The only evidence we have for occupation within Exeter between the 5th and 8th centuries is for a church in what was later to become the Cathedral Close. In the late 9th century, however, Exeter became a defended burh, and this was followed by the revival of urban life. Exeter’s wealth was in part derived from its central role in the south-west’s tin industry, and by the late 10th century Exeter was the fifth most productive mint in England. Exeter’s importance continued to grow as it became an episcopal and royal centre, and excavations within Exeter have revealed important material culture assemblages that reflect its role as an international port.