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A view of Devonshire in MDCXXX
with a pedigree of most of its gentry

By Thomas Westcote

Exeter, W. Roberts (1845) 649 pp.

Index prepared by Michael Steer

Thomas Westcote (1624-1636), topographer, baptised at Shobrooke in Devonshire on 17 June 1567, was the third son of Philip Westcote of West Raddon in the parish of Shobrooke. In his youth 'he was a soldier, a traveller, and a courtier,' but in middle age he retired to private country life where he began to interest himself in local antiquities, and his tastes were encouraged by his friendship with the topographers Sir William Pole and Tristram Risdon He wanted to undertake a description of Devonshire, similar to that accomplished for Cornwall by Richard Carew. He was encouraged in his design by Edward Bourchier, earl of Bath, and compiled two collections, 'A View of Devonshire,' in which, after a general dissertation on the history of the county, he gave a topographical account of its condition about 1630, and the 'Pedigrees of most of our Devonshire Families,' a compilation containing much genealogical information, but impaired by 'some egregious mistakes and errors.' The two manuscripts were published at Exeter in 1845, under the editorship of George Oliver (1781-1861) [q. v.] and of Pitman Jones. The book, held as part of the University of California at Berkeley Library Collection was produced from a digital copy that can be downloaded from Google Books. 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.