History - Links with America

North Devon’s history and heritage has strong links to the United States and experienceDevon’s holiday itineraries can take you off the beaten path with the adventure of the Lost Colony, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake and Richard Grenville; World war 2 and the D-Day landings and tobacco and other trade with the US and the new world.

Bideford’s history is full of links to the eastern seaboard of America, particularly with Sir Richard Grenville’s fist colony of Roanoke Island, North Carolina and with the huge trade in tobacco with Virginia. Sir Richard Grenville sailed from Bideford via Plymouth in 1585 to Roanoke Island. This expedition was to set up the first colony there in the ‘new world’. In 1586, Sir Richard Grenville brought an American native Indian back to Bideford who he was a source of amazement and wonder by the locals. He was later christened Rawley and he is the only native American to have been baptised and buried as a Christian in England. He was buried in St Mary’s Church in the town centre. Richard Grenville’s expeditions laid the foundation for trade and Bideford’s port saw the biggest trade in tobacco outside of London. North Devon pottery was also exported to the American colonies in the later 17th and early 18th centuries.

Today, the connections between the two towns of Bideford and Manteo, Roanoke Island, are deepening through the start of an official twinning process. A visit to Manteo by Bideford officials in 2008 has already been undertaken with a return visit from Manteo town representatives planned for 2009.

Other links
Bideford also has links with Biddeford, Maine USA. The first European to reside here was physician Richard Vine in the winter of 1616-1617 at Winter Harbor, (he called it Biddeford Pool). The town was reorganized in 1718 as Biddeford, after Bideford, from which some settlers had emigrated and trade links established.

World War 2
During the Second World War, much of the North Devon coast was used for military training in preparation for the D-Day landings as its similarity to the coast of Normandy made it an ideal location. The entire coastal area from Braunton Burrows to Morte Point was assigned to the U.S. Army as Assault Training Centre (A.T.C.) Croyde. Baggy Point was Area F. The A.T.C. moved its headquarters from Grosvenor Square to Woolacombe and many thousands of troops with invasion barges and tanks moved into the area. Morte Point was used as a target by anti-tank guns and seaborne artillery, and as a demonstration area of air-to-ground support firepower. Croyde Bay was used for loading and unloading troops with amphibious vehicles, while assaults were practised at Baggy Point and full-scale assaults on Woolacombe Beach. The vigorous training which the troops underwent prepared them to spearhead the landings on the Normandy beaches and so to achieve the historic victory of 6 June 1944. Dummy pillboxes were built to represent enemy gun emplacements and there was also an observation house at the western end of the promontory and temporary roads, still visible as earthworks. The structures which survive on Baggy are not only unique as some of the most complete examples of D-Day training installations but they are also monuments to those who trained here.

Barnstaple
Barnstable, Massachusettes is twinned with and named after Barnstaple, Devon. The area was first explored by Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 being one of the first towns to be settled in 1636. There is still a relationship today between the two towns through an official twining and reciprocal visits by representatives.