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Okehampton Devon CAM
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Okehampton castle
Place: Okehampton
Category: Castles
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About: Okehampton Castle is an impressive stone motte and bailey fortress, founded by Baldwin de Brioni. This castle is the largest in Devon, standing against the steep banks of the River Okement it originally had wet defences on all sides.
Photograph Added: 18th October 2005
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Lucky Cottages
Place: Okehampton
Category: Places
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About: Street in Okehampton, the interestingly named lucky cottages is in the foreground.
Photograph Added: 18th October 2005
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Shoppers browsing
Place: Okehampton
Category: Places
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About: Shoppers browsing a market flower stall at Okehampton. Conveniently located on the main route to Cornwall, and with easy access to Dartmoor, Okehampton is an ideal base for visiting the surrounding area.
Photograph Added: 22nd September 2005
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View area map / aerial photograph.
About Okehampton Devon.
Okehampton is located about 25 miles from Exeter at the north edge of the Dartmoor National Park in fact the town has often been referred to as the 'Gateway to Dartmoor'. The location of the town, with its easy access to the moor and the adjacent A30 trunk road has contributed to establishing Okehampton as the walking centre for the northern region of the National Park.
Okehampton lies on the River Okement and like many towns in the Devon, it grew prosperous on the Medieval wool trade but it is known that Iron Age people lived here before and around AD 0. Following the invasion of Britain by the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Romans built a fort close to Okehampton that can easily be seen by aerial photography.
In the Domesday Book the town is called Ochemenstone and from Celtic times it was an important place as it stood on the main route into Cornwall.
Okehampton Railway Station was closed to passenger in the 1960's although the line remained open for freight to a nearby quarry. The Exeter to Okehampton line has now been re-opened although it is limited service at the present, running on weekends only. It does however provide people with another means of convenient travel to the town. A second line called the Dartmoor Pony runs from Okehampton across the spectacular Meldon Viaduct to nearby village of Meldon.
Okehampton Castle is sited just outside of the town on top of a wooded hill it is in a strategic position over the River Okemont valley and the main route into Cornwall. The Castle today is little more than a ruined motte and bailey it has Norman origins and is reported to date from the late 11th century. The castle is mentioned in the Domesday Book when it was in the possession of Baldwin de Brionne, the Sheriff of Devon. In 1539 the owner Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, was executed and the castle was partially dismantled. Much of the surviving masonry, including the bulk of the Keep and the curtain walls, is of 14c construction. Now in the care of English Heritage the ruins have been painted and engraved over the centuries, including two paintings by JMW Turner and one by Samuel "Lamorna" Birch
Today Okehampton is a bustling market town with a population of about 7000. It is a good place to stay with many fine buildings and easy access to the Moors and it is quickly accessible from the main A30 dual-carriageway highway that goes through Devon and Cornwall.
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