to the Okehampton-Information Web-Site http://www.okehampton-devon.co.uk for Okehampton   in West Devon, Historic "Gateway-to-Cornwall" Town on the edge of Dartmoor. Web-Site in operation since 2000 at no cost to public funds. Author and WebMaster: Derek W Palmer EMail

on

UK and EU FOOD REGULATIONS : Food Supply Food Labelling FOOD SOLUTIONS WebSite Information on Period Dramas TV and DVD Cinema

OVERVIEW OF OKEHAMPTON Nature and Location Okehampton is a bustling market town, of population about 7000, in central Devonshire at the north edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is quickly assessible from the main, A30, dual-carriageway highway that goes through Devon and Cornwall. The City of Exeter in Devon is about 25 miles (approx. 40 km) to the east along the A30 and the Cornish town of Launceston is about 17 miles (approx. 27 km) to the south-west along the same highway. History The area now occupied by Okehampton has a long history. It is known that Iron Age people lived here before and around AD 0, that before AD 70, following the invasion of Britain by the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Romans built a fort (found by aerial photography in 1975) close to what is now Okehampton and also at nearby North Tawton, and that the Saxons had a settlement and a church (now part of a much later building) in the area. However, it was Baron Baldwin de Brionne , one of the knights of William the Conqueror, who, by building a castle, established the basis for the present town of Okehampton as an important trading and market centre throughout the centuries in this part of Devonshire. Baron de Brionne was William's Royal Sheriff of Devonshire, and his castle in Okehampton is the only Devon castle listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The present castle, on the same site, is that rebuilt and considerably enlarged in the early 1300s by Earl Hugh Courtenay, of the powerful Courtenay family of the County. In 1539, its owner, the Marquis of Exeter, was executed by order of King Henry VIII, and it gradually fell into disuse from then onwards. General Information of Local Interest Information on Places to See and Visit In and Near Okehampton including Okehampton Castle, Finch Foundry,Tavistock, Local Villages and Dartmoot National Park The Infracombe / Plymouth Cycle Route Map of that Cycle Route Descriptive Details of that Cycle Route Gulworthy Village previously important for mining but now a farming & forest area Tavistock an elegant town, south of Okehampton, famous for its historic pannier market Lydford Village established as a fortified Saxon town by King Alfred the Great. The Dartmoor National Park easily accessible from Okehampton by car or bus Dartmoor is an area of wild & beautiful scenery. Please click here to see examples of that scenery. Books about Dartmoor Books about Devon

Copyright D W and A P Palmer, 2000-2011; Copyright D W Palmer, 2012 and Onwards These pages are the intellectual property of D W Palmer and are not to be copied into other Internet sites. Considerable effort has been made to try to ensure the correctness of the information on these pages, but the responsibility for and the consequences of any and all use of the information rest entirely with the user.

Web-Site designed and published by Palmer Associates, Deran House, Gulworthy Village , Tavistock, Devon PL19 8JA, UK Our Privacy Policy