Local pair launch YouTube history channel Devon History & Heritage Channel

Shilstone's resident historian Abi Gray has launched a YouTube channel focussing on local history, alongside cameraman and editor David French. 

So far, Devon History and Heritage Channel has released the first three mini-documentaries, starting with the Herzogin Cecilie wreck and covering the Dartmoor legends of Squire Cabell and Kitty Jay. The latest topic is the story of the Hairy Hands, and they're hoping to look at the evacuation of Slapton during WWII. 

Abigail Gray is an archaeologist and historian who was born, raised and now works in Devon. She graduated from the University of Exeter in 2008 with a BA (Hons) Degree in Archaeology, and went on to attain a Master’s degree in Landscape Archaeology the following year.

Since 2011 she has been the Curator of the Devon Rural Archive and Resident Archaeologist at Shilstone near Modbury. Most recently she has also become the Archive Coordinator at Sharpham in Ashprington.

Abigail has been working in Devon’s heritage sector for over 20 years and alongside her work with local archives she is also a Trustee of the Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum and of the Devon History Society, and is a committee member for the Friends of Devon’s Archives, which promotes the preservation and use of historical records throughout the county and raises public awareness of their importance for research and education.

David French works as a freelance cameraman and editor in broadcast TV, as well as running his own independent production company. You’ve probably seen his work, without realising it, on local programmes like Spotlight and Inside Out, but also BBC Breakfast, BBC News and BBC World. David also makes promotional films for small to medium businesses, and films and livestreams events.

Abi said: "I’m so pleased that people are enjoying our content and hope that in the coming months we will be able to share many of Devon’s stories. So often we overlook what is on our own doorstep and so the films we are making will raise awareness of the history and folk lore around us and make it accessible to more people." 

David said: “I love filming and producing creative content, and it occurred to me, rather than produce great content for other people, why not do it for myself? Local history and heritage is something that interests me, but also seemed the type of thing to engage the public at large.

"Locals and visitors alike seem to love to hear about the heritage of our fantastic county, so I thought we could bring some stories to life which would appeal to a wide audience.

“YouTube is a place where anybody can publish anything they want, but much of the content is not particularly well made. At the high end, there are YouTube channels which really put a lot of time and effort into their content, and some have enormous viewing figures, but there aren’t so many high quality documentary-style channels. What we want to do with the Devon History & Heritage Channel is to bring engaging, TV-style short documentaries to the global audience on YouTube.

"So rather than just have a presenter narrating over stock footage clips, we’re going out on location to film using decent gear and aerial footage, and putting together recreations of past events to hopefully bring the history to life.

“Of course we don’t have TV budgets, so we have to be a bit clever about how to film a historical recreation without a full cast, make-up, wardrobe department, location budget etc. But of course we have access to local talent such as up-and-coming actors, and can be a bit clever about how we film things and use some tricks in post-production so we can still make vivid, emotional recreations.

"It’s vastly more time-consuming to produce, but I think it’s a whole lot more engaging.

“I knew Abi through friends of friends, and when I was looking for a ‘face’ to present the channel, she was the obvious person to talk to. She has a formal understanding of history, archaeology and research that I don’t have, and I knew she’d be a natural on camera. It’s working out really well, and I think she’s enjoying it too!"

They also captured a strange sound when investigating Jay's Grave on Dartmoor - was it a ghostly voice? 

David explained: “We went to film at Jay’s Grave on Dartmoor. I’d researched a lot of different stories about Kitty Jay, and like a lot of folklore, there’s plenty of contradictory information out there; nobody really knows for sure what the grave actually contains. While we were filming at the graveside, I was recording a locked-off shot on the tripod, and I could hear what sounded like a distorted woman’s voice coming through my headphones.

"At first I thought it was Abi, who was a little way away, but I realised her mic was turned off. It wasn’t until I got back to the edit suite that I could check whether we’d captured the sound on the microphone, and sure enough, there it was. The mic was picking up plenty of wind noise, despite the foliage in the shot looking fairly still, and the logical explanation is that the sounds are odd aspects of the wind noise.

"However, they’re not sounds I’ve heard before despite spending many hours listening to wind noise through headphones!"

The main goal for the Devon History and Heritage Channel at this stage is to build the number of viewers and subscribers, in the hope that the channel can become self-sustaining and Abi and David can continue to tell the world these wonderful local stories - check out the channel HERE.