River Yeo - Oil on Canvas

When the Romans left Britain, the Anglo-Saxons arrived, but there is plenty of historical evidence to show that they only reached the West country slowly. By then communication between the different ethnic groups was well established, and their arrival in Devon did not mean that the Celtic people were overwhelmed. Instead the Saxons took command of Exeter, the Old Roman city, and lordship of the surrounding lands, and settled in fair places of their choice (such as Thorverton, six miles upriver from Exeter), and the local people made do with what was left to them. As a result the history and character of Devon is much more of an amalgam of Saxon and Celtic than is found, say, in Hampshire or Kent.
The word "Yeo" derives from the Celtic for river and many rivers in the West country are called by that name. The Yeo in this painting rises on the hills above our valley in the area of Hittisleigh and flows into the Creedy at Crediton, the birthplace of Boniface, patron saint of Germany. Boniface was born in 675 and baptised with the name Wynfrith, which means "Friend of Peace", possibly because his father was a Saxon and his mother British, to show that the two peoples had come together.
Sometimes it can seem more of a pleasure to walk beside a brook than to follow a larger river because the paths are much less well-trod and you have the miniature landscape all to yourself. Everything is closer, the emphasis is on details, and there are many secluded corners which seem to shyly open before one, like secrets being disclosed.
There is a walk nearby where the banks of the river form a gully of such depth as to cast deep shadows, and the contrast with the sunlit areas is pronounced. Beneath the gash of red earth, limpid waters trickle gently over smooth stones. An old oak rises here and leans over the stream, giving shade on its meadow side to summer lambs, and casting dark reflections on the water. Foliage in light and shadow surrounds and surmounts the onlooker, a gentle kaleidoscope of soft greens, shimmering on a lattice of branches which at their extremities become as delicate as needlework.

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