The Heaven That Is Devon Trivia Quiz

Answer: In the south-west of England

Devon lies in the south-west region of England, situated between the counties of Cornwall to the west, and Somerset and Dorset to the east.

It is the only county in England to have two separate coastlines, with the Bristol Channel on its north coast, and the English Channel at its south.

The main economy of the county is tourism with attractions including two national parks located at Dartmoor and Exmoor, the Jurassic Coast of south-east Devon (the first natural World Heritage Site in England), and the four towns which are collectively known as the 'English Riviera' (Babbacombe, Torquay, Paignton and Brixham).

Answer: Thomas Newcomen

Born in February 1664, Newcomen was an Ironmonger as well as a preacher, and it is through his association with the Baptist church at Bromsgrove that he was able to spread the design of his steam engine.

Newcomen's engine was the first realistic tool to use steam as a means to produce mechanical work, and was used initially for pumping water out of coal mines.

Over 600 of Newcomen's engines had been built and used throughout the world before James Watt managed to better the design in 1775 making them more effective. Despite this, the number of Newcomen's engines subsequently built rose to over 2,000 as Watt's engine was more expensive. However, due to the improved efficiency which Watts had made, it is his name (and engine) which is better known as regarding the origin of steam engines than Newcomens.

Answer: Old Mother Hubbard

It was first published as "The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog" on 1 June 1805, although her version may well have been based on earlier material.

The book was well received most likely as a result of the belief that it contained hidden criticism of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's decision to refuse Henry VIII a divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon.

The name Mother Hubbard has been used as a character from 1591, but the surviving works that include this name does not bear any resemblance to that in the rhyme.

The housekeeper of Kitley House, which later became a hotel, is believed to have been the main subject of the pictures and verses of the nursery rhyme.

Answer: Westward Ho!

Charles Kingsley, best known for "The Water Babies", published Westward Ho! in 1855. The novel's success prompted developers to build a hotel named after the novel ten years later to develop tourism in the area, which was then followed by a number of villas, and the growing settlement naturally took on the hotel's name, and thus, the name of the novel.

Westward Ho! is also one of the place-names in the world that uses an exclamation mark. Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! (a town in Quebec) and the city of Hamilton, Ohio, which was changed to Hamilton! in 1986 are two others.

Answer: False

It is known that Paul Simon spent time in England during the late sixties, and stayed in room number six at a pub called the Fisherman's Cot in Bickleigh when he performed in the Exeter area.

The pub is sited next to an old stone bridge, which dates back to the 16th century. The river at the time of his stay was flooded, and it is this bridge which was thought to be the inspiration for the song which was released a few years later. However, in a radio interview in 2003, Art Garfunkel stated that the song had taken the phrase from a Baptist hymn.

Answer: Taxi

Hansom also designed the Catholic Cathedral in Arundel, Sussex, as well as St Walburge's Church in Preston (which has the world's tallest parish church spire in England). He worked mainly in the Gothic Revival style. He was also one of the founders of the architectural journal 'The Builder' in 1843, as well as inventing the Hansom Cab.

The patent for a 'safety cab' was submitted on 23 December 1834 for which the basic concept was for a two-person carriage, as well as the driver, to be pulled by a single horse with a low centre of gravity by suspending the passenger carriage in between the two large wheels. The 'footprint' would be smaller to that of the hackney carriages of the time and thus took up less space in a city street.

Hansom sold his invention for ten thousand pounds, but only ever received £300, and the eventual success of the cab was due to changes and designs which occurred afterwards and which had nothing to do with Hansom.

John Walker made the modern match in 1827 whilst Joseph Glidden made the barbed wire in 1873. Sir James Dewar invented the Dewar flask (or Vacuum Flask) in 1889.

Answer: It is the first 16 sided Georgian home

The building is thought to be designed by Jane Parminter, who supposedly based it on the 'Basilica of San Vitale', and lived there with her cousin Mary until Jane died in 1811.

The building, which consists of twenty rooms, was intended to showcase the curios they had collected during their ten year Grand Tour, made with two other women.

The interior decoration has included a frieze comprised of feathers gathered from native game birds which is set in isinglass, and a fragile shell-encrusted gallery which is said to contain close to 25,000 shells.

The windows here were the inspiration for the diamond windows seen in the Harry Potter films.

Answer: Witheridge

The film is based on actual events. O 3 April 1817, a cobbler from a village called Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, met a woman who appeared to be disorientated and speaking an unknown language, whereby he helped by taking her to the local magistrate, Samuel Worrall, who took her into his charge.

After deciding that she was a beggar, it was decided that she should be tried for vagrancy at Bristol where she was imprisoned.

Whilst she was awaiting trial, a fellow inmate of Portuguese origin, translated her story explaining that she originated from the island of Javasu and had the misfortune of ending up in the hands of pirates during the crossing of the Indian ocean and escaping whilst sailing through the Bristol channel

The duplicity lasted ten weeks before a lady called Mrs Neale recognised her from a photo in the 'Bristol Journal' to be a cobbler's daughter from the village of Witheridge called Mary Baker (née Willcocks).

Answer: Bakery

Located at 38 Southside Street on the Barbican, FH Jacka was baking as far back as the time of Sir Francis Drake when he was toying with his bowls before addressing the Spanish Armada in 1588. The bakery is known to have baked biscuits for the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.

Answer: Abide With Me

The work is classified as an evening hymn, based on a passage from the bible, Luke 24:29, where the disciples asked Jesus to "abide with us, for it is evening and day is almost spent".

Many of its imagery comes from the theme of the passing of the day as evening comes along: the dimness as night approaches, fading glories and even the ending of life as viewed by Lyte, as the words were written in 1847 whilst under ill-health brought on by tuberculosis.

Although Lyte had also written a tune to go with the lyrics, it was not widely used, and when it was later discovered by William Monk, he decided to pen a different tune which is the version we know today, and published it in 'Hymns, Ancient and Modern' in 1861.

The hymn has since become a British institution, and is sung during the pre-match ritual of England's football F.A. Cup Finals. It was also reputedly played by the Titanic's Band as the ship sank, and Edith Cavell is also believed to have sung it as she faced a German firing squad.