Woodbury Common
Woodbury Common in East Devon , England is a common land that consists mainly of heathland and borders the village of Woodbury in Devon to the west. To the south it is bordered by the towns of Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton and to the east by the hamlet of Yettington . Woodbury Common is bounded to the north by the A3052. It is part of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest .
In the heather is Woodbury Castle , a hill fort from the British Iron Age that sits on a hill above the villages of Woodbury and Woodbury Salterton and on the other side of the River Exe overlooks the area from the Otter Valley to the Haldon Hills . Woodbury Common is part of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty .
The heathland is characterized by long stretches of gorse and heather in various varieties and is a popular place for orienteering , mountain hiking, mountain biking and flying radio-controlled model airplanes. It is home to abundant wildlife, including night swallows , which fly in from Africa every year. The area is owned and administered by the Clinton Devon Estates.
The area is also home to a Royal Marines training area , which is part of the base in nearby Lympstone in the Parish of Woodbury.
At the north end of Woodbury Common is the Woodbury Park Hotel, Golf Course and Country Club, which was founded by former Formula 1 racing driver Nigel Mansell .
Battle of Woodbury Common
On August 4, 1549, a battle took place in the area that was part of the Prayer Book Rebellion . On August 2nd, troop reinforcements had arrived to aid the royal troops under John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford , and a thousand German mercenaries arrived the following day under the command of Lord William Gray .
The royal army left Honiton with 5,000 men to relieve Exeter , which was then besieged, but instead of taking the heavily barricaded highway, Russell turned west over the hills. Russell's scouts discovered that 2,000 men were standing in the way at Alphington and dispatched Captain Travers to clear the road. The historian of Edward VI. , John Hayward , later wrote that the Cornish were "slaughtered like cattle" in the attack. Russell advanced as far as Woodbury Common, where he made camp by a windmill. At dawn on August 4th, forces from Devon and Cornwall defending Clyst St Mary attacked the stronger royal force. Both sides suffered heavy losses and there was no clear winner, but Russell's forces took numerous prisoners, 900 of whom were executed the next day at Clyst Heath .
supporting documents
- ↑ devonlink.co.uk ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Woodbury Park Hotel, Golf and Country Club
- ^ The Anglo-Cornish War of June-August 1549 at cornwallinformation.co.uk
- ^ Philip Payton: Cornwall. Alexander Associates, Fowey 1996, ISBN 1-899526-60-9 .
