Braunton
Braunton is a large village, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish and former manor in Devon. The village is situated west of Barnstaple. It is one of the largest villages in Devon with a population at the 2021 census of 10,217 people. There are two electoral wards. Their joint population at the above census was 8,218. Within the parish is the fertile, low-lying Braunton Great Field, which adjoins the undulating Braunton Burrows, the Core Area in North Devon Biosphere Reserve, the largest psammosere in England. It confronts the Atlantic Ocean at the west of the parish at the large beach of Saunton Sands, one of the South West's international-standard surfing beaches.
Toponymy
The origin of the name Braunton is unclear; there are two likely explanations for the name. The first is that the name comes from the common name Brampton, derived from "a town where broom grew". The other explanation is that it could be named after St Brannock. Neither of these explanations fit perfectly, and the origin of this name will likely remain a mystery.Topography
The South West Coast Path National Trail passes through the village and gives access for walkers to the spectacular North Devon coast. The Tarka Trail also passes through the village. Braunton Burrows marsh on the west side of the parish is a designated biosphere reserve, the first place in Great Britain to have gained such status. The coastal part of the parish lies within the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and comprises Saunton Sands to the west, a beach of finely-grained sand, and to the south the estuary of the River Taw, of mixed mud and sand. The north of Braunton Burrows are open to light public access and have been converted into a Links Golf Course. Braunton was half-surrounded by an extensive brackish salt-water marsh restricting available agricultural land. In 1808 this was surveyed by Charles Vancouver, for the Board of Agriculture, who recommended that the marsh should be enclosed and reclaimed. This met with local approval and James Green was appointed as engineer for the drainage scheme. An Act of Parliament was obtained for the purpose on 25 May 1811. On completion, responsibility for the marsh passed Marsh Inspectors, who sanctioned further work in 1854, involving the straightening and embanking of the River Caen, or Braunton Pill, to form the Braunton Canal. The scheme was completed by the addition of a new quay at Velator in the 1870s.To the West of Braunton is Saunton and its beach and the sand dune system but bordering the village is what is reputed to be the largest remaining 'strip' farming area in the UK and which known as the 'Great Field'. Probably from medieval times and continuing today, this large area has been opened tilled without formal boundaries, with at least 3 families still involved in production. This boundary effect by the 'Great Field' now acts as a 'natural' barrier to the development of the town in that direction.
During building works in the end of the 20th century, two strange findings revealed something of the areas geology. In one area of the village high on the side of the hill and about above the flat area of the village, excavations for 1 m deep foundations of a house broke in to a pocket of sand which was found to extend greater than 5 m. The subsequent house had to be built on a raft on the sand. The sand was understood to have been examined by Exeter University, who considered it to have been a pocket pushed up by a glacier during the last ice age. At similar time in the flat area of the village, excavations for foundations revealed large sooth, rounded stones which were put down to a wide water course having been present at some time, rather than the small river that flows through the village now.
Braunton railway station formerly existed on the now closed Ilfracombe Branch Line two stations from Barnstaple railway station on the 'Tarka' or North Devon Line from Exeter, which currently operate regular and heritage trains.
The presence of the river, the 'soft' water and permission for abstraction, encouraged an American company, 'Curity' to set up business in the village in the early 60's for the purposes of bleaching and processing imported raw cotton wool from the US into various products such as cotton wool balls, and rolls of perfectly white cotton for other companies to make such products as tampons and other medical/surgical products. Despite being in operation for about 40 years, the softness of the water and minimal 'ion exchange' meant that the 'Steambloc' boilers needed no treatment or aggressive cleaning.
Climate
Braunton experiences a temperate oceanic climate with temperatures heavily moderated due to its proximity to the Atlantic - although Braunton is not a coastal town.History
Manors
Braunton was the chief manor of Braunton Hundred, and had been held by Saxon kings. Between 855 and 860 ten hides in Brannocminster were granted by King Æthelbald of Wessex to Glastonbury Abbey. After the Norman Conquest of 1066 the manor continued as a royal possession, in the demesne of King William the Conqueror. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as held at farm by Baldwin the Sheriff, Sheriff of Devon, whose fiefdom of 176 landholdings as recorded in Domesday Book was the largest in Devon. As recorded in the Domesday Book one virgate of land had been administratively transferred from the manor of Braunton to the tenure of Robert de Pont Chardon, lord of the manor adjoining of Heanton Punchardon. The royal manor was eventually split into three parts:Braunton Dean
Braunton Dean, which probably represented the land granted by King William the Conqueror to Algar the Priest at some time before the compilation of the Domesday Book of 1086. Together with the Rectory of Braunton, it shortly afterwards came into the possession of the Dean of Exeter. In 1810 it was held, as a tenant of the Dean and Chapter, by Charles Trelwany of Coldrenick in Cornwall.Braunton Abbots
Braunton Abbots, which extended also over part of the adjoining parish of Marwood. It was created by a grant from the remnant of the royal manor of Braunton by King Henry III to Cleeve Abbey in Somerset. In 1810 it belonged to William Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon of PowderhamBraunton Gorges
Braunton Gorges, was held by the de Sachville family. Robert de Sachville had been granted this part in 1202. Their successors were the Gorges family of Wraxall, Somerset. As is recorded in a surviving document, in 1324 Eleanor Ferre, wife of Ralph de Gorges, Baron Gorges, Sheriff of Devon, and daughter of Sir John Ferre of Tothill, Lincolnshire, was granted lands at Braunton including 1 acre at 'La Crofta', two acres at 'Myddelforlong', and half an acre at 'Longeland', which names are still in use today. In 1330 as is recorded in the Calendar of Fine Rolls:Waleys, by a fine levied at Westminster in the octave of Michaelmas, 4 Edward III, granted to Ralph Gorges two-thirds of the manor of Braunton Gorges by the name of two-thirds of 3 messuages, 2 carucates of land and 100s. of rent in the same town of Braunton, together with the reversion of the third part thereof which John Pecche and Eleanor, his wife, both now deceased, held as dower of the said Eleanor of the inheritance of the aforesaid Walter, to hold the same to himself and the heirs male of his body, with remainder in default of such heirs to William son of Theobald Russell and the heirs male of his body, and remainder in default of such heirs to Theobald brother of the said William and the heirs male of his body, and that the said Ralph and William died without heirs male of their bodies, and that Theobald brother of William entered the premises by virtue of the said fine, took to wife Agnes late the wife of Theobald Gorges, " chivaler," had issue by her Bartholomew Gorges and Thomas Gorges, and died seised of the premises, after whose death the said Bartholomew entered the manor as his son and heir male, and died seised of the two-thirds aforesaid without leaving an heir male of his body, so that the two-thirds and reversion ought to remain to the said Thomas, who is of full age, as brother and heir male of Bartholomew, and that the manor is held of the king by the service of rendering to the king a barbed arrow whenever he hunts in the Forest of Exemore, "to take the fealty of the said Thomas, and cause him to have full seisin of the said two-thirds and reversion".
Sir Theobald de Gorges died seized of this estate and was succeeded by his son Ralph de Gorges, succeeded by his son Bartholomew de Gorges. In 1810 it was owned, together with Ash, Fullabrook and Braunton Park, by Joseph Davie Basset, later of Watermouth Castle, near Lynmouth, son of John Davie of Orleigh Court, near Bideford, by his wife Eleanora Basset, sister and heiress of Francis Basset of Heanton Punchardon and Umberleigh. In accordance with the terms of the inheritance, as was then usual in such cases, Joseph Davie and his descendants adopted the arms and surname of Basset in lieu of their patronymic.