Heanton Punchardon

Heanton Punchardon
Devon
St Augustine's Church, Heanton Punchardon
Location
Grid reference:	SS502356
Location:	51°6’2"N, 4°8’23"W
Data
Population:	2,406  (2011)
Post town:	Barnstaple
Postcode:	EX31
Local Government
Council:	North Devon
Parliamentary constituency:	North Devon

Heanton Punchardon is a village in the Braunton Hundred of Devon, in the north of the county directly east of the village of Braunton. It is found on the north bank of the estuary of the River Taw.

Its parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Braunton, Marwood, Ashford and across the estuary is Fremington.

The largest localities of the parish are Wrafton and Chivenor, which has an air base; RAF Chivenor.

Parish church

St Augustine's Church, dedicated to Augustine of Canterbury, is the parish church. Parts date to about the 13th century.

The church is a Grade I listed building and has three listed monuments in its churchyard.

The church has a bell-tower at the west end, with embattled parapet with crocketted corner pinnacles. The nave contains Tudor arched doorways and a five-bay arcade. The sundial over the south porch, dated 1795, is by John and Thomas Berry.

An ornate Easter Sepulchre tomb in the chancel is to Richard Coffin (1456–1523), Sheriff of Devon in 1511. The church has monuments to the Ballyman family and to the Basset family, lords of the manor, situated in the Basset Chapel, at the east end of the north aisle, now almost fully occupied by the organ.

Commonwealth War Graves

Heanton Punchardon is one mile from the RAF Chivenor and during the Second World War, the churchyard of St Augustine's was enlarged to accommodate a war graves plot on new ground. The churchyard contains two burials of the First World War and 85 from the Second World War. It also has 38 post-war Royal Air Force burials and one Italian war grave. In total it has 126 active military personnel graves.

Heanton Court

Heanton Court, seen across the estuary of the River Taw

Heanton Court is the former manor house of the Manor of Heanton Punchardon, and a Grade-II-listed building. It stands on the north shore-line of the River Taw's estuary, about a mile south-east of the parish church.

Heanton Court across the Taw estuary: 1796 watercolour by Rev. John Swete (L) and today (R)

The Rev. John Swete described the house in spring 1796 as "the seat of Col. Basset" and wrote of it that "The house exhibits itself handsomely though its situation (like that of Lord Heathfield's on the Exe, [i.e. Nutwell]) seems to be too contiguous to the water. Nearly opposite to it was a large track of marsh and sand..."

Swete later made a copy of a painting by William Payne, c. 1790.

The house as painted by Swete in about 1797 is essentially as it survives today, retaining its battlements and corner towers. It is currently used as a public house and hotel, known in 2015 as the Braunton Inn.

Hamlets

Wrafton

• 51°8’60"N, 4°15’0"W

Wrafton is a large hamlet narrowly separated by a small field from edge of the main local town centre, that of Braunton to the west.

This hamlet is the location of Wrafton Laboratories, the division of over-the-counter preparations and contract medications producer Perrigo UK, which bought the laboratories in 2001.

The Tarka Trail follows the course of the dismantled railway through Wrafton.

Chivenor

• 51°4’60"N, 4°9’0"W

Chivenor was an estate within the parish and is immediately to the south of the village, which has a considerable military personnel only housing estate. Until 1970 the Chivenor part of the village had the first railway station (Wrafton Station) after the still active Barnstaple station on the now-closed Ilfracombe Branch Line.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Heanton Punchardon)

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Wrafton)

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Heanton Punchardon)