Braunton, village and civil parish in Devon, UK
Braunton is a village in North Devon, England, situated in a valley between three hills and just a couple of miles from the sea. The village has quiet streets lined with old buildings, crossed by the Caen Stream and connected by the A361 road to nearby coastal towns.
The village was founded around 855 and listed in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Brantone with about one hundred households at that time. The name Braunton comes from Saint Brannock from South Wales, who settled here around 550 AD and built the first Christian church in North Devon.
The name Braunton comes from St. Brannock, a Welsh preacher from the 6th century who brought Christianity to the area and founded a church here. St. Brannock's Church with its detailed carvings from the 15th century remains central to village life and shows how deeply locals connect to their religious heritage.
The village is easily reached via the A361 road and offers shops, cafes, restaurants, and a medical centre for both visitors and residents. From the old railway station building, the Tarka Trail provides a popular walking and cycling route through the coastal landscape and countryside of North Devon.
The Great Field is one of only three fields in England that still shows the old medieval strip system with nearly five hundred individual plots where farmers work today just as their ancestors did. During World War Two, the Braunton Marshes served as a fake airfield to confuse enemies about the real airfield's location, and American soldiers left monuments to their presence that remain visible today.
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