It was represented by two Knights of the Shire, in the House of Commons of England until 1707, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and finally the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832.
Under the Reform Act 1832, it was split into two divisions, North Devon and South Devon, for the 1832 general election.
The constituency consisted of the historic county of Devon, excluding the city of Exeter which had the status of a county in itself after 1537.
(Although Devon contained a number of other parliamentary boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in its own right for part of the period when Devon was a constituency, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.
Constituency created 1290, during the reign of King Edward I (1272–1307).