Bideford Town Council – Town History, the Saga of Roanoke – from 2009

‘British settlers arrived in America before Pilgrim Fathers’ – The Telegraph 7 May 2010

The town of Bideford makes a claim for a more significant role in the legends of America’s origins. The colony of Roanoke, established by Sir Walter Raleigh, was thought to have failed. Some of the colonists were believed to have joined with native Americans, and now, using DNA, there is a project to establish these links with the town from where the colonists originated. The links above describe Bideford’s claim. Presumably the contrast with the Pilgrims comes from Bideford’s proximity to Plymouth, from where the Pilgrims sailed, rather than making the contrast with the earlier settlement at Jamestown in Virginia.