2024: The Story of Otterton

Otterton was already a substantial village at the time of the Domesday Book survey in 1085 and it was the subject of our exhibition in the Local History Room. Administered by a community of French monks for two hundred years after the conquest, local industries included ship building and salt refining as well as farming and fishing.

While the River Otter was navigable, Otterton was home to many shipwrights

David White's photograph of a small flock of wigeon above the Otter estuary. We showed a collection of David's bird photography and his tips for successful nature photography

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An Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead found in a field overlooking the LORP area, proving that people were exploring our valley more than 4000 years ago. Before the estuary was relandscaped, SouthWest Archaeology surveyed the fields that might be impacted and this flint arrowhead was found by volunteers helping with field-walking investigation. We showed some of the most exciting finds, which included Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools and a Roman coin