Braunton, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands near the mouth of the river Taw, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 217 miles from London. It is a considerable place, with several streets and many shops, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.) It was originally called Branockstown, and took that name from St Branock, a prince of Calabria, who came hither in the year 300 as a missionary. The parish comprises 10,265 acres of land and 1492 of foreshore and water; population, 2171. There are several manors, and one of them belonged in Edward the Confessor's time to the Crown, and was afterwards given to St Peter's, Exeter. From several points in the neighbourhood magnificent views are obtained. An extensive tract between the village and the sea, called Braunton Field, is noted for fertility. A tract of drift sand on the coast, called Braunton Burrows, has witnessed many shipwrecks, and has two lighthouses 933 feet apart, erected in 1820—one a fixed light, the other a tidal light—for directing vessels over Bideford Bar. An ancient chapel, called St Ann's, is embedded in the burrows, and remains of another, ascribed to St Branock, crown a neighbouring hill NE of the church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter; gross value, £536 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Exeter. The church is Early English, and was restored in 1887; it contains some very fine pieces of wood carving of the 15th century. There are also Congregational and Methodist chapels, a school with £83 endowment, and other charities. Richard Knill, the missionary, was a native.
