The Devon-Newfoundland Story (the Devonshire Association)
The Devonshire Association (www.devonassoc.org.uk) in collaboration with the Devon Family History Society (www.devonfhs.org.uk) is organising a major celebration of historic and cultural links between Devon and Newfoundland in the first two weeks of April 2017. This blog is to keep those interested up to date with developments as plans progress.
Monday 20 February 2017
Thursday 15 December 2016
Monday 10 October 2016
Sunday 22 May 2016
The Devon-Newfoundland Story: a Celebration of Historical and Cultural
Connections
In the first two weeks of April 2017
the Devonshire Association (www.devonassoc.org.uk), in collaboration with the
Devon Family History Society (www.devonfhs.org.uk), is planning a celebration
of nearly 500 years of contact and interaction between Devon and Newfoundland.
The
Association, which was founded in 1862 to promote the study, understanding and
appreciation of every aspect of Devon, is an active organisation with over 1300
members. It has both historical and existing links with Newfoundland: several
of its present members have collaborated with Newfoundlanders in history,
archaeology and music, and in the 1970s and 1980s the Association had a
Newfoundland Branch, based in St John’s. Developing these connections is one of
the aims of the planned celebration; another is to make ordinary Devonians and
Newfoundlanders more aware of the importance of each place in the history and
development of the other, and of how much culture they share.
The
celebration will be county-wide, but particularly centred in Exeter, the county
town, and in Bideford, a North Devon port town with strong historic
Newfoundland connections. The core event will be a weekend of talks, workshops
and exhibits: starting with a reception on Friday April 7th in
Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum, awarded UK Museum of the Year in 2013;
and continuing on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th with a
symposium in Devon County Hall in Exeter, in which a series of talks by experts
from both sides of the Atlantic will explore aspects of shared history and
trade, dialect and folklore, music, mumming and dance. Alongside and
interspersed with these will be an informal programme of exhibits, short talks
and conversation in which family history interests can be shared and discussed.
Both before
and after this central weekend, there will linked events in other Devon towns,
and excursions to these and to other places with particular Newfoundland
connections. These will include a tour
on Thursday 6th to Dartmouth, Totnes, and to Compton Castle, the
seat of Sir Humphrey Gilbert who first claimed Newfoundland for a British
colony, and still owned by the family. Friday 7th will explore
Exeter, a walled city founded by the Romans, with fine mediaeval and later
buildings; and will visit the pretty adjacent port of Topsham. Monday 10th
will visit Plymouth, with its citadel and old harbour. On Tuesday April 11th Bideford and
Barnstaple will run a full programme of events, including talks, museum visits,
displays and pottery workshops – North
Devon pottery was widely used in C17th and C18th Newfoundland, and
is still made. Throughout the two weeks several museums in Devon towns are
mounting special exhibitions linked to the overall celebration. There will be a
concert of folk music involving musicians from both Devon and Newfoundland,
which will explore their shared traditions and may tour between several venues
in the county.
For those
interested in family history: as well as the weekend event it will be possible
to visit Tree House in Exeter, the research centre of the Devon Family History
Society; and the Society is also planning a family history help desk on April
11th and a talk and display on April 15th, all in Bideford.
Devon will be in early
Spring, and we hope that many Newfoundlanders will take the opportunity to
visit this beautiful, historic, amazingly varied county and take part in this
celebration of our common heritage. For those wishing to explore on their own
we will provide details of car hire companies and bus and rail timetables.
If you may
be interested in coming please email devonshireassoc@btinternet.com
without commitment, and we will keep you posted with developments.
You will be made very welcome.
The Forum and Symposium, on the weekend of April 8th-9th 2017 will be the central event of the Devon Newfoundland Story celebration, and will take place at Devon's County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter. The symposium itself will be in the Council Chamber, and the expected speakers and the titles of their talks are shown below. In the committee rooms there will be exhibits, and informal sessions for people from both Newfoundland and Devon to meet and discuss family links and shared interests.
A full 20 page brochure with booking forms will be available shortly.
Watch this space!
Devon/Newfoundland Symposium - Updated provisional list of talks - 6.12.2016
PLEASE NOTE: the email address on the flier for the Devon Newfoundland Story is INCORRECT.
THE CORRECT ADDRESS IS devonshireassoc@btconnect.com
SATURDAY 8th APRIL
West Country fishers at
Newfoundland, 1500-1700: five myths and a theory (keynote lecture)
Professor Peter Pope (Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St Johns)
Devon's coastal fisheries
and the Atlantic expansion to Newfoundland, 1500 – 1650
Dr Todd Gray (University of Exeter)
Devonshire, Iberia, and the logic of the trade in Newfoundland saltfish
Professor Olaf Janzen (Memorial University of Newfoundland, St Johns)
Newfoundland, Dartmouth and the triangular trade
Professor Richard Cooke (Liverpool University and
Dartmouth)
Leaving West Country shores in 1590. The men
who went fishing
Dr Jenny Moon (Bournemouth University)
Over there and back again. Devon and Newfoundland songs
Marilyn Tucker and Paul Wilson (Wren Music, Devon)
The Old
World and the New in one Newfoundland singer's repertoire
Dr Jonathan Roper (Tartu University., Estonia)
Closer to
the floor: an illustrated look at the evolution of Old World folk dance
traditions in Newfoundland
Jim Payne (SingSong inc., Newfoundland)
The Newfoundland mummering tradition.
Chris Brookes (Battery Radio, Newfoundland)
SUNDAY 9th
APRIL
Exploring Devon-Newfoundland connections through 25 years
of archaeology at Ferryland (Keynote
lecture)
Professor Barry Gaulton (Memorial
University of Newfoundland, St Johns)
Whitbourne,
Crout and Berry: Three Devonians in early modern Newfoundland
William Gilbert (Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation, Newfoundland)
Pirates of the North Atlantic: the Devon captives
Jill Drysdale (Totnes)
‘We are as near to Devon by sea as by land’
Simone Parkyn (Torre Abbey, Torquay)
Revisiting home medicine: the Newfoundland experience
from a Devon perspective
Dr John Crellin (Memorial University of Newfoundland. St
Johns, and Totnes)
Admiral Preedy and the
Victorian internet
Trevor Waddington (Fairlynch
Museum, Budleigh Salterton)
The place
of Devon in the writing of Newfoundland history
Professor Jerry Bannister (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia)
Some West
Country lexical elements in Newfoundland English
Professor.John Widdowson (Sheffield
University)
Aspects of the pottery trade between Devon and
Newfoundland
John
Allan (Exeter) and
Sadie Green (Bideford)PLEASE NOTE: the email address on the flier for the Devon Newfoundland Story is INCORRECT.
THE CORRECT ADDRESS IS devonshireassoc@btconnect.com
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