Brendon
| Brendon | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 The Stag Hunters Inn, Brendon | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS769482 |
| Location: | 51°13’12"N, 3°45’47"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 159 (2001) |
| Post town: | Lynton |
| Postcode: | EX35 |
| Dialling code: | 01598 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Devon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Devon |
Brendon is a village in the very north of Devon, along the south bank of the East Lyn River on Exmoor, and close to the border with Somerset. The village stands a mile and a half south-east of Lynton and fifteen miles west of Minehead in the East Lyn Valley.
The village is to be found just off the A39 and is on two long distance footpaths, the Coleridge Way and the Samaritans Way South West.
The Church of St Brendon is two miles from the village and was built in 1738, possibly with building material brought from another site.
The village
The Church of St Brendon was built in 1738, possibly using the stones from the original church at Cheriton, and it stands midway between Cheriton and Brendon, about two miles from each. It has a tower and four bells. The church was further restored in the nineteenth century but it houses a Norman font. There is a sundial above the porch dated 1707.[1]
The village is located just off the A39 and its population was 159 in 2001. The parish of Brendon is roughly square in shape and is defined by the East Lyn River to the north, the Hoaroak Water to the west and the Badgworthy Water to the east; a tributary of the latter, the Hoccombe Water defines part of its southern boundary. Brendon Common occupies a part of the moorland area which characterises the south of the parish. Badgeworthy Water is crossed by the 17th century packhorse bridge known as the Malmsmead Bridge.[2][3][4]
History
The name contains two Old English words, brun dun, meaning 'broom (shrub) hill'.[5] It is recorded in the Domesday Book as Brandone. (It is unconnected with the Brendon Hills in the south of Exmoor.)[6]
White's Devonshire Directory (1850) describes Brendon as follows:
A small village 1½ miles SE of Lynton & 15 miles W of Minehead is in a picturesque valley of the river Lyn, has in its parish 271 souls & 6733 acres of land including Leeford hamlet & a large tract of moorland on the borders of Somersetshire where the rivers Exe, Lyn and Barle have their sources. F. W. Knight Esq. is the Lord of the mannor owner of most of the soil, and patron of the rectory ... valued in 1831 at £148. The Rev. T. Roe of Oare, Somerset is the incumbent, and has 57a, 2r, 22p, of glebe. The parsonage is a small cottage, and the church [St. Brendon] is an ancient structure with a tower and 4 bells.[1]
Events
The Exmoor Folk Festival is held each year in Brendon,[7]
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Main road through Brendon -
The East Lyn River -
Brendon village -
Deer on the hillside over Brendon
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Brendon) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Brendon". GENUKI. http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Brendon/. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 35099 – Malmsmead Bridge
- ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (26545) Malmsmead Bridge
- ↑ National Heritage List 1289346: Malmsmead Bridge
- ↑ Gelling, M. and Cole, A. 2000 The Landscape of Place-names Shaun Tyas, Stamford, Lincs ISBN 1900289261 pp. 164–168
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1960. p. 63 ISBN 0198691033
- ↑ "Exmoor Folk Festival". Exmoor and Devon. http://www.exmoorfolkfestival.co.uk/. Retrieved 14 August 2016.