History - Braunton

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Braunton claims to be the largest Village in England and has a long history, with settlers arriving there as early as the Stone Age. It is a Celtic settlement, inhabited from 500 AD when St Brannock, a Celtic missionary, arrived to convert the Celts to Christianity and he founded a Church. The Saxons arrived in North Devon in 680 and in Braunton they co-existed with the Celts, settling in without bloodshed. The heart of the Saxon community was at the present day Square and was marked by a stone cross. This stone cross was usually replaced by a church, but this didn’t happen in Braunton and so the Saxons and Celts probably worshipped together. The present church building is Norman and was built in 1310. St Brannock’s remains are still there today which makes Braunton unique. There are wonderful chestnut pews that were carved in the 1500-1600s and are very well preserved.

In 1086, Braunton was a Norman Royal Manor of considerable wealth, which spread along the banks of the Caen stream. This manorial system lasted until Victorian times. The river is important to Braunton’s history and the Caen stream that flows down to the Taw and Torridge estuary.
The growth of Braunton can be traced back to maps dating from 1575. The Saxon Great Field is a classic example of how Medieval England’s land was cultivated. The area of land was made by successive Ice Ages creating terraces in the estuary upon which melting ice deposited alluvial salts, clay and peat up to 120 ft thick. The Great Field is one of those terraces and is very fertile land. Thick wood had to be cleared, providing over 350 acres which was then divided up into the ‘strip’ system with clearly marked divisions, some of which are still visible today.

Braunton Marsh is at the southern end of the Great Field and it was a wild vast salt marsh until it was reclaimed in 1811. A massive barrier, the Great Sea Bank, was built and was up to 100ft thick in places to make 949 acres with drainage channels. As local men were in short supply, additional men were brought in from Ireland, Cornwall and Holland. The bank is now covered in grass and is home to a large number of animals, birds and wildflowers.

Braunton men have always been sailors but the building of the Quay at Velator enabled huge vessels of 130 tons to deliver and take cargo. Between 1860 and the end of World War 2, over 100 ships carried cargo, including bound for America and Ireland. From 1910 to the 1930s, forty ships regularly traded with the ports of the Bristol Channel, carrying coal, salt, flour, manure, gravel, clay and scrap metal.

Braunton Burrows, named after the Normans introduced the rabbit there, is one of the largest areas of sand dunes in Great Britain. It is 3 miles long and over a mile inland and is internationally famous for plant, bird and animal life. The Burrows are owned by the Christie Estate Trustees with two thirds being a National Nature Reserve. The Southern end has been leased to the Ministry of Defence, since 1964. American troops practised in the dunes to prepare for the Normandy landings during World War 2 – a location chosen as it closely resembled the coast of north West France.