In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Braunton like this:
BRAUNTON, a village, a parish, a subdistrict, and a hundred in Devon. The village stands near the mouth of the river Taw, 5 miles WNW of Barnstaple r. station; is a considerable place, with several streets and many shops; and has a post office‡ under Barnstaple. It was originally called Branockstown; and took that name from St. ...
Branock, a prince of Calabria, who came hither in the year 300 as a missionary.—The parish comprises 10,473 acres of land, and 1,510 of water. Real property, £11,236. Pop., 2,168. Houses, 472. The property is much subdivided. There are several manors; and one of them belonged, in Edward the Confessor's time, to the Crown, and was afterwards given to St. Peter's, Exeter. St. Branock's House, at the upper end of the villa, Franklin's Cottage, at a short distance thence, and a number of other places command magnificent views. An extensive tract between the village and the sea, called Braunton Field, is noted for fertility. A tract of drift sand on the coast, called Braunton Burro's. has witnessed many shipwrecks; and possesses two lighthouses 933 feet apart, erected in 1820, with fixed lights 86 and 40 feet high, for directing vessels over Bideford bar. An ancient chapel, called St. Ann's, is embedded in the burrows; and remains of another, ascribed to St. Branock, crown a neighbouring hill. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value. £450.* Patron, the Bishop of Exeter. The church is early English, in a jumbled condition; and was proposed to be restored in 1869. There are chapels for Independents and Methodists. A school has £75 from endowment; and other charities £23. Richard Knill, the missionary, was a native.-The subdistrict is in the district of Barnstaple, and contains seven parishes. Acres, 31,469. Pop., 6,957. Houses, 1,476.-The hundred contains twenty parishes. Acres, 71,452. Pop., 14,786. Houses, 3,108.
Braunton through time
Braunton is now part of North Devon district. Click here for graphs and data of how North Devon has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Braunton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Braunton in North Devon | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1754
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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