Braunton
Big Wave, Croyde Bay, Devon (Photo: Jon Davis 1982) Braunton on the InternetSurf Conditions/Commercial/Shops: Chapter Surf Shop Surfstation Institutional Sites: Tourism: North Devon Marketing Bureau Media: North Devon Journal Lingard Surf Guide: Croyde Woolacombe Saunton General Home Page |
Accommodation in BrauntonTry at the Tourist Information Office by the Car Park. But the following aint bad:
Braunton in 1850"BRAUNTON, the large ancient village which gives name to this Hundred and Petty Sessional Division, is situated on the banks of a rivulet about 2 miles from the sea coast and the Taw estuary, and 5 miles W.N.W. of Barnstaple.Its extensive parish contains 2274 inhabitants, and 9951 acres of land, extending to the sea coast and the estuary of the Taw, and including the scattered hamlets of Saunton, Lobb, Nethercott, Knoll, Winsham, Halsinger, Pipppacot, and Boode. Near the sea is a large tract of land covered with sand, called Braunton Borrow, abounding in rabbits and having two lighthouses for the security of mariners navigating the Bristol Channel, or crossing Barnstaple bar. The principal manors in the parish, and their owners are, Braunton Abbots, the Earl of Devon; Braunton Arundell and Gorges, A.D. Bassett, Esq.; Bere Charters, Sir B.P. Wrey; Buckland, C.H. Webber, Esq., of Buckland House; and Saunton, the heirs of the late Col. Cleveland; but a great part of the parish belongs to the Executors of the late Lord Rolle, the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, Richard Dyer, Esq., and several smaller owners. Braunton was an ancient demense of the Crown, and was given by Richard I. to Odo, ancestor of the Carews. Henry III gave two-thirds of it to Clive Abbey, in Somersetshire. In the reign of Chas. I. it belonged to Sir Richard Reynell, from whom it passed to the Courtenays. The Church (St. Brannock,) is a large antique structure, remarkable for having no pillars. Its tower contains six bells, and is crowned by a spire." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)] Return to Home Page |
