Women Writing on the Devon Land: A County's Women Who Wrote - circa 1965

Across Devon Lands Looking towards Literature post Saxon Queens See Extract 7 from Writing Women on the Devon Land Exeter Castle from Rougemont Gardens 'As with so many other royal Saxon women linked with Devon’s history, Gytha’s life has descended into one of the dark ‘Her/storical’ holes, although there are glimpses of her movements transcribed within the manuscripts of contemporary texts, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.' 

Hartland Abbey  © Copyright  Roger Cornfoot  and licensed for reuse under this  Creative Commons Licence               A-Z of Devon Places and Devon Women Writers Her-Story at Hartland        My choice of Hartland for 'H' in this A-Z of Devon places associated with Devon women writers is twofold; I have two 'Devon' women in mind. They lived centuries apart and, for different reasons, both of their lives and specific connections with Hartland are swathed in mystery. They are  Elizabeth Stucley Northmore , who was a C20 writer and the very much earlier  Gytha , the C11 Danish noblewoman who spent part of her life in Devon, and became mother of kings and queens.          Not much appears to be known about either Gytha or Elizabeth; but they share certain characteristics, especially their upper-class ancestries.         Fifteen or so years before she escaped from Exeter down the river Exe and from thence more or less out of his or her story, Gytha mother o

Exeter Environs A - Z of Devon Places & Women Writers  E is Easy         Well, at first glance, Exeter 'for E' seems an easy choice of places for this A-Z of Devon women writers,  in the sense that many writers linked with Devon were also connected with the city. But, when I sat down to begin writing this piece I realised that actually Exeter may be one of the hardest of this A-Z of Devon places. In other words, perhaps too many of the writers on my lists were closely associated with Exeter! It would be possible to have a whole blog devoted just to them.  I've found information that shows us women writing in one way or other from the earliest historical records right up to the mid C20. In the book I'm completing, Exeter is threaded like a gem throughout the text as a central county hub, which connects individuals to one another and through the centuries. This is no surprise of course, as Exeter represents a historical slice of time for Devon.