West Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are also often included. Some usages of the term include even wider areas, while others are more specific though with little consistency of definition.
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[edit] Geography
The area is mostly rural, with only a few sizeable cities, such as Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Gloucester. Tourism and agriculture, especially dairy farming, play a significant role in the economy. The landscape is principally granite moorland in the west, and chalk and limestone downland and clay vales in the east. Historically, tin mining and the fishery were sources of income and employment in the west of the area, but less so today, although the latter still contributes to the economy. The region is traditionally famous for its production of cider, clotted cream and pasties, but now at least equally well known for the Glastonbury Festival and other attractions.
[edit] Area boundaries
Apart from the Bristol Channel and English Channel, as with any informal area, the West Country's boundaries are difficult to define and as a consequence there are a number of different definitions used.
Some groups use the term as roughly synonymous with the South West Region,[1][2][3] while others use it more specifically to refer to either the northern part of the region,[4] or the southwestern part.[5] The term is also used, for example, to refer to sports matches between such cities as Gloucester and Bath.[6] West Country Carnival events take place in Somerset and Dorset.
The "West Country" edition of the 2005 BBC TV series Seven Natural Wonders featured "wonders" in Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire (Symonds Yat), but not those in Devon or Cornwall which were the subject of a separate programme on the "South West", nor Dorset which was covered in a programme on "The South".
The West Country Clothing District was an area that made woollen cloth, but only part of the region described above. It covered east Somerset and parts of the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire] and at some periods extended into Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The clothing district around Tiverton and Exeter in Devon and west Somerset tended to make different kinds of cloth and is best regarded as distinct.
"West Country Farmhouse Cheddar" is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) that can only be applied to Cheddar cheese made in the traditional way in the four counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.[7]
Westcountry Television is an ITV franchisee covering covering Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and areas of Somerset and Dorset.
[edit] West Country and Wessex
The term "West Country" is sometimes associated with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Wessex Regionalists seek to promote this as an alternative to the South-West region, including some counties in central southern England - Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight - and excluding Devon and Cornwall.
[edit] Counties and unitary authorities
The following counties and unitary authorities are included within the most usual definitions of West Country:
[edit] Notable towns and cities
Cities in bold.
[edit] Places of interest
- Avebury
- Bodmin Moor
- Cherhill White Horse
- Dartmoor
- Exmoor
- Glastonbury Tor
- Jurassic Coast
- Mendip Hills, including Cheddar Gorge
- South West Coast
- Stonehenge
- West Country Carnival
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ BBC - "ITV West Country staff to be axed", referring to Bristol and Plymouth
- ^ Blue Badge Tourist Guides - The West Country
- ^ Pictures of England - The West Country
- ^ BBC - "Major flooding in Wiltshire has affected train services across the West Country"
- ^ West Country Views - "Photos of Devon and Cornwall"
- ^ The Times - "Gloucester rough and ready for West Country derby"
- ^ "PDO - our provenance". West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
