Denbury used to be our home village in the parish of Torbryan, South Devon.  The name Denbury, which is a later form of Deveneberie, comes from the Celtic "Defnas burh" meaning "the fort of the men of Devon".  This is a reference to the imposing Iron Age hillfort which stands on the hill to the south-west of the village centre, and known locally as Denbury Down.

 

In 1086 (and possibly earlier) Denbury belonged to Tavistock Abbey.  It was granted a licence for a three day fair and market in 1285 which continued until 1866 when an outbreak of the cattle disease rinderpest brought it to a faltering end.



As well as a long history, Denbury has many of the other elements of a typical English village.  These include the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Denbury Primary School, and a pub, The Union Inn, which has a prime location next to the village green.  The green is still the site of the annual Mayfair and many other important local events.

Denbury has some things of particular interest as well, and we will start to add pictures and information about these.

We are starting to find lots of good archive material about Denbury which includes personal histories, old photographs, the reason that the Manor wall facing the Rectory was raised 10 feet, and much more.  As and when we get time we will begin to place some of this material on these pages.

To start with, here are some old photos of Denbury.
We have also started to put together a page on Denbury hillfort.

Here are a few more links to information relating to Denbury and the surrounding area.

Lots more to follow soon . . .

If anyone else would would like to offer information, photos, or anything else please contact David Westcott d.westcott@virgin.net or Karen Westcott k.westcott@tesco.net


References:

'Devon', W G Hoskins.

'The Devon Village Book', The Devon Federation of Women's Institutes.

'Yesterday's Village', The Dartington Rural Archive.

 

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