Travel Braunton Map

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Braunton tourist guide map of landmarks & destinations by Walkfo

Braunton history

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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 (Exon Version) 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, 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, 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 (1216–1272) to Cleeve Abbey in Somerset. In 1810 it belonged to William Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (1768–1835) of Powderham Braunton Gorges, was held by the de Sachville family. Robert de Sachville (Latinized to de Siccavilla (“from the dry town”)) 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 (d.1323), 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 (if not spellings) 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 (d. 1381) 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 (1764–1846), 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 (c. 1740–1802) 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.

St Brannock’s Church

Grade I listed parish church dedicated to St. Brannock is large and has a Norman tower topped by a spire. The building is almost entirely 15th century, excepting the 13th century chancel with its arch and three lancet windows. The advowson of the parish church was historically a possession of Exeter Cathedral.

  

Braunton map & travel guide with history & landmarks to explore

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Tourist Guide to Braunton Map

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