h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...in Devon's Celtic heritage? I have said quite a bit, both here and elsewhere, about how I first got interested in Wessex and the Anglo-Saxons, and thought it'd be nice to hear similar stories from other people on this forum about what led them from Devon to Dumnonia (so to speak).

I have always had a general interest in Devon's history, including place-names and cultural activities such as Devon Wrestling, Crying the Neck, Step Dancing etc. (many of which have equivalents in Cornwall, but in no other bordering county).

But surely there must have been something that initially sparked your interest? Say a folk dance display where you first saw the step dancing or something like that.

I have always had a great love of my county, it's history and culture but never really associated it with being Celtic. Proudly and fiercely a Devonian. Then I left for uni Wales and a history degree, and discriptions of Welsh culture and cultural practice (family life, cultural heritage, superstitions etc) seemed to fit Devon and the Devonians more than those that as an Anglo Saxon county we were meant to have to be different from Cornwall. And finding out from Cornish friends that probably 80% + for our traditions, beliefs together with the dialect are identical. Our culture felt in a way more Welsh, ie Brythonic. I decided to look into it a bit more and found this group, of may I call you all friends? And on the evidence I have seen in Devon, the rest of England, Wales etc, I stongly believe Devon to be part of the Celtic World.

Oh and btw, King Alfred the Great remains my great hero in history followed by Sir Francis Drake and King Robert I. So I am not anti the Anglo Saxons, just keen on bringing Devon's Celtic past more to the world's attention.