Tiverton, Devon, is a town of approximately 19,000 population at the confluence of the river Exe and the river Lowman in Devon County in the southwest of England.
It is the administrative centre for Mid Devon district.
The area has been a site of human population since the Stone Age.
The climate is oceanic, which means the temperature does not vary much over the course of the year.
The average low in the dead of winter is +3C (37F) and the average high at the height of summer is 21C (70F).
An Iron Age earthwork grandly named Cranmore Castle is the oldest surviving structure in Tiverton, Devon.
After being referred to as "an Iron Age hill fort" since time immemorial, that evaluation was called into question in a recent book by archaeologist Mike Sampson.
He argues that it is a poor location for a fort from a military point of view.
Sampson points out that the earthwork changes in levels by 50 meters and argues that these height differences are meant to accommodate specific views of the region.
Specifically, it allows one to see all high ground locations and other Hills and Earthworks while overlooking the river confluence and the forded crossings.
A higher position would not be able to see all of these.
Tiverton was a center of the wool trade and textile industries in the middle ages.
The industrial revolution brought textile mills and riots by the local labor guilds for weavers and wool combers.
In the post-war era the town went into decline, losing a number of businesses.
That decline was arrested by the building of the A361 North Devon Link Road in the late 1980s.
The highway opened up the southwest to a pent-up demand for housing from the north.
In the 1990s new junction was added to the A361, bringing a direct link into Tiverton.
It is the administrative centre for Mid Devon district.
The area has been a site of human population since the Stone Age.
The climate is oceanic, which means the temperature does not vary much over the course of the year.
The average low in the dead of winter is +3C (37F) and the average high at the height of summer is 21C (70F).
An Iron Age earthwork grandly named Cranmore Castle is the oldest surviving structure in Tiverton, Devon.
After being referred to as "an Iron Age hill fort" since time immemorial, that evaluation was called into question in a recent book by archaeologist Mike Sampson.
He argues that it is a poor location for a fort from a military point of view.
Sampson points out that the earthwork changes in levels by 50 meters and argues that these height differences are meant to accommodate specific views of the region.
Specifically, it allows one to see all high ground locations and other Hills and Earthworks while overlooking the river confluence and the forded crossings.
A higher position would not be able to see all of these.
Tiverton was a center of the wool trade and textile industries in the middle ages.
The industrial revolution brought textile mills and riots by the local labor guilds for weavers and wool combers.
In the post-war era the town went into decline, losing a number of businesses.
That decline was arrested by the building of the A361 North Devon Link Road in the late 1980s.
The highway opened up the southwest to a pent-up demand for housing from the north.
In the 1990s new junction was added to the A361, bringing a direct link into Tiverton.