Devon farmers who made their home in the same remote location for 1,200 years had a taste for exotic imported food and drink, archaeologists have found.
There was a thriving settlement in Ipplepen, South Devon, for hundreds of years longer than previously thought, excavations have shown.
It was originally thought that people only lived on the site during the Roman period, but radiocarbon analysis now shows the settlement was founded in the middle of the pre-Roman Iron Age - the 4th century BC. It was only finally abandoned in the 8th century AD, possibly because of the...
Every year on 5 November for reasons lost in antiquity, the Flaming Tar Barrels are carried through the streets of Ottery St Mary to the delight of thousands of townsfolk and visitors.
Ottery St Mary is internationally renowned for its Tar Barrels, an old custom said to have originated in the 17th century. Each of Ottery's central public houses sponsors a single barrel. In the weeks prior to the day of the event the barrels are soaked with tar. The barrels are lit outside each of the pubs in turn and once the flames begin to pour out, they are hoisted up onto local people's backs...
