Surname Index

to

A review of part of Risdon's Survey of Devon

Containing the general description of that county;
with corrections, annotations, and additions

By

William Chapple

Exeter, R. Thorn (1785)

Transcribed by Michael Steer

Tristram Risdon (c. 1580 - 1640) was an antiquary, topographer and author of Survey of the County of Devon. He devoted most of his life to writing it. After its completion in about 1632 it circulated among interested people in several manuscript copies for almost 80 years before first being published in an inferior form. A full version was not published until 1811. It remains one of the most useful sources of information about the history of Devon. In 1785 William Chapple of Exeter published the first part of his Review of Risdon's Survey containing the general description of the county, but died before he could continue the work. The first complete edition did not appear until 1811, and included many additions. The edition was based on a copy of Risdon's manuscript belonging to John Coles of Stonehouse, which after having been compared with others, appeared to be the most correct. A list of subscribers to the text appears elsewhere in GENUKI Devon. This copy of the rare and much sought-after book was produced digitally from a copy held in the Bodleian Library collection that can be downloaded from https://books.google.co.uk/books, with a search by either author or title. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.