Braunton History
BRAUNTON
Braunton holds the title of ‘Britain’s largest village’ and still has a Parish Council, in spite of feeling like a small town. Situated on the A361 between Barnstaple, North Devon’s ‘capital’, and Ilfracombe on the north coast, the village is a bustling place. Amazingly it has three primary schools (Caen Street, Kingsacre and Southmead) and an 11 - 16 senior school, Braunton Academy. So there are upwards of 1500 children, almost all from the village itself, being schooled here at any one time - amazing for a village!
Braunton is an attractive place to live. Coming in from Barnstaple, the wide main road gives a feeling of spaciousness. We have many shops and restaurants, and it is very seldom that an empty retail premises is unoccupied for long. The main road through the village was constructed in 1924, cutting through ancient orchards and long gardens that had gone right down to the River Caen as it meandered through the low-lying land. The new road was a real necessity, for the original ways were narrow and twisty. An interesting walk from Knowle through the village to Wrafton sees you turning left and upwards into Corilhead (where there was a quarry), then going along Silver Street (linked to the Sylvester family), up Church Street, once with many shops and tradesmen, carrying further along into Abbots Hill, into Hillsview and thence along Wrafton Road.
At the crossroads where Caen Street, East Street, the new Chaloner’s and Exeter Roads meet once stood an ancient elm tree, the hub of the old village where all manner of activities went on, and where a village crier proclaimed any news (and gossip!) The tree was cut down in 1935 but the name ‘Cross Tree’ lives on in a small shopping area, with flats above, and also a commemorative plaque; many older residents still use the term. Just a few yards from this four-ways cross are South Street and Heanton Street, both old thoroughfares.
(Interestingly another ‘Cross Tree’ stood near the back of The Williams Arms in Wrafton, on the old road to Barnstaple.)
On the other side of the A361 ran the railway line. A transport link much missed, and which would be much prized today, its route can also be easily traced by starting at the village green and turning into the main car park (only 20p for one hour’s parking!): the newsagent’s shop at the entrance was once the stationmaster’s house, the Surf Museum was the engine shed, a housing complex is called Signal Court and nearby is Station Road, where one old signal still stands. There is a fabulous model railway diorama in nearby Braunton Museum which shows how the station and the surrounding countryside used to be.
Near to the Museum is the Braunton Countryside Centre: both it and the Museum are full of interest and chart the maritime and agricultural heritage of the village and surrounding area, which includes the AONB – an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’.
The Great Field that lies to the south-west of the village is of great historical importance, being one of very few original ‘strip farming’ tracts of land in England remaining. At one time (‘backalong’) there were many farms in Braunton, with the family farmhouse being situated centrally – many of them along North Street and in the ‘Townsend’ area out towards Saunton and Croyde. The farmers’ grazing land would be away from the middle of Braunton and until relatively recently it was a common sight to see herds of cattle being driven through the roads in the village centre. Nowadays most of the farmhouses and the farm buildings have been converted to homes, individual and complexes (e.g. Town Farm in North Street and Cross Farm in Caen Street ( at its junction with Chapel Street) and the farms have moved to the fertile Velator and Great Field areas. A unique farm
called the Bulb Farm was situated here from about 1925 until 1970, employing many; cut flowers would be sent up to London markets by train. During WW2 farmers also sent thousands of wild rabbits by train: meat ‘off the ration’ and thus a very valuable and lucrative commodity.
East Street has the Agricultural Inn, fondly known as the ‘Aggi’: its original entrance was from East Street, but since the new wide road was cut through its main entrance is from Chaloner’s Road. (The old Chaloner’s School has become Braunton’s fire station.)
But for the historical importance of the Great Field it would be an ideal site for a by-pass, which the village desperately needs, for traffic jams are the bane of the summer in particular. Braunton is seen as ‘the Gateway To the North Devon beaches’, through which all holiday traffic must at present pass; a south-west by-pass would mean that all the Saunton, Croyde and Georgeham traffic need not enter the village; yes, the motorists heading for Woolacombe and Ilfracombe would still come through the village on the A361, but the lower overall numbers would be a boon!
Also to the south-west is the old maritime area of Braunton – Velator (sometimes appearing as Vellator); at one time it had a very busy quayside and many men employed as mariners and in connected jobs. South Street was the road that sailors took from Braunton’s centre to the ‘Pill’, as the many North Devon creeks and waterways were known); the Mariners Arms is situated there. History tells us that sailors’ wives would watch from the Beacon (the village’s highest spot, to the west of North Street) to see the boats come in, and hurry down to the quay to prevent their returning husbands spending all their wages in the pub! Nowadays the quay is a quiet place, with beautiful views over marshes, and lovely walks to Crow Point along to the White House. A lighthouse, fondly known as ‘Blinkin’ Billy’ used to stand here – very close to Appledore as the crow flies but a long way by road! A ferry service – just a small boat – used to operate here too.
Ecclesiastically, the Parish Church of St. Brannock, situated at the north end of the village, has a fascinating history, St. Brannock having dreamt of the place where he should establish his church. (The name ‘Braunton’ is said to derive from ‘Saint Brannock’s Town’.) The dream concerned a sow and her litter of piglets – where this group was seen would be where the church should be built, and the story has passed into history. One of the many ‘bosses’ on the ceiling of the church depicts this legend. Another story is of a cow that was cut into pieces and put into the cooking pot suddenly became whole again. The church contains many treasures, not least of them more than fifty wonderful carved pew ends, perhaps the best in England.
A smaller church is nearby, on the west side of Chaloner’s Road, on land that is part of the Buckland Manor estate. Called ‘St. Brannoc’s (with no ‘k’), it is the Roman Catholic Church. There is also Christ Church, a merged Methodist and United Reformed Church, on the main road, and several other smaller churches in the village. On the hill behind the Parish Church are the remains of St. Michael’s Chapel.
In the churchyard of St. Brannock’s is a tree planted in 1944 by American Soldiers, commemorating the part that the Braunton area played in the training of troops for D-Day. Near Braunton Burrows and Crow Point is a straight track still referred to as ‘The American Road’.
Braunton Museum, housed in The Bakehouse Centre at the entrance to the main car park, has wonderful collections and displays that illustrate all the facets of Braunton’s history, with a wide choice of books for sale. Look on its website for information:
A writer called Samuel Ellacott wrote many books about Braunton and these are sold in the Museum. Amongst them are ‘Here is Braunton’, ‘Ships and Sailors of Braunton’, ‘Braunton’s Farms and Farmers’ and ‘Ancient Braunton and the Manors’. A biography of Mr. Ellacott, called “A Peerless Gentleman” will be available in Spring 2016, together with a book of his watercolour scenes of the area: he was a very talented illustrator.
The little poem that follows is taken from ‘The North Devon Magazine’, Summer 1988; it was written by Margaret Trump, whether with Braunton in particular in mind I don’t know. But it seems to apply to our village!
The Right-Sized Loaf
Take a river
A shallow ford
Take a trader
Add a road
Soon will rise
Some cotts of stone
A traveller
Never walks alone.
Take a hamlet
A pack-horse bridge
The merchants passing
Need an inn
Take a landlord
Rich and old
He builds a church
To ease his soul.
Take a church,
An inn, a bridge
Soon folks flock
Towards a village
Take a village
Of great renown
Then keep it
We don’t want a town!
Margaret Trump