Devon is a ceremonial county located in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west. The largest city in Devon is Plymouth, while Exeter serves as the county town.
Devon covers an area of 2,590 square miles (6,700 square kilometers) and has a population of 1,194,166 people. After Plymouth, the largest settlements are the city of Exeter (130,709 people) and the seaside resorts of Torquay and Paignton, which together have a population of 115,410. These areas are along the south coast, the most populated part of the county. The largest towns in the north and center of Devon are Barnstaple (31,275 people) and Tiverton (22,291 people). For local government, Devon is a non-metropolitan county with eight districts and two unitary authority areas: Plymouth and Torbay.
Devon has a diverse landscape. It includes Dartmoor and part of Exmoor, two upland areas that are the source of most of the county’s rivers, including the Taw, Dart, and Exe. The longest river in Devon is the Tamar, which forms much of the border with Cornwall and rises in the northwest hills of the county. The southeast coast features the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, known for its high cliffs that display the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous geology of the area. The county is named after the Devonian geologic period, which includes the slates and sandstones found along the north coast. Dartmoor and Exmoor are national parks, and Devon also contains parts of five national landscapes.
