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

A - Z of Devon Places and Women Writers G is Going to Gittisham The G parish in this A-Z had to be Gittisham, birthplace of Devon's most notorious and eccentric female 'writer' 'prophetess', Joanna Southcott.  Around Gittisham Photo Julie Sampson I have written about Joanna both in my book, and in my other blog, see   Woman Clothed in the Sun at Scrapblog whilst a poem about her was published in the collection Tessitura .  I'm not going to make more comment here except to say that l ike her contemporary, Mary Willcocks aka 'Caraboo', from Witheridge, Joanna Southcott is fascinating. I find her totally bizarre and yet compelling, perhaps in part because her family lived only a few miles from a district where many of my own ancestors were based. When I read that she had over 100,000 followers (in the C19 that is a LOT), I can not help but wonder if a few of my forefathers and foremothers were drawn into her orbit.  Book Blurb abou...

At Brixham 'The merry boats of Brixham Go out to search the seas; A staunch and sturdy fleet are they, Who love a swinging breeze; And before the woods of Devon, And the silver cliffs of Wales, You may see, when summer evenings fall, The light upon their sails'. ( The Wives of Brixham by Menella Bute Smedley)       A to Z of Devon places and Devon women writers - B Excerpt from my poem about Flora Thompson in Brixham B for Brixham Page from Miss Green's Journals 1841 It's unlikely that you reading this don't know of Brixham, in Torbay in the south of Devon. Chances are you may have been there. Brixham is one of the county's prime tourist places as well as one of Devon's most famous fishing towns, In my first post in this A-Z of Devon places and women writers I noted that, as I've trawled the county in search of places associated with various authors, it has often happened that my quest to find one or other writer has coincid...