Bradworthy is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, situated north-east of the border with

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. This location has led to it being called the "last village in North Devon" – traveling further west leads to the Cornish village of

Kilkhampton Kilkhampton () is a village and civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Kilkhampton was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Chilchetone". T ...

. The village is close to the site of the first

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s in Devon, erected in 2005. Bradworthy has the largest village

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

in England. The civil parish is bordered by the Devon parishes Hartland, Woolfardisworthy,

West Putford West Putford is a small settlement and civil parish in the local government district of Torridge, Devon, England. The parish, which lies about north of the town of Holsworthy, is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of East Putf ...

Sutcombe Sutcombe is a village and civil parish in the Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Torridge District, Torridge, Devon, England. The parish, which lies about 5.5 miles north of the town of Holsworthy, Devon, Holsworthy, is surr ...

Holsworthy Hamlets Holsworthy Hamlets is a civil parish in the northwest of Devon, England. It forms part of the local government district of Torridge and came into being on 1 April 1900 when the ecclesiastical parish of Holsworthy was split into two. The parish ...

, and

Pancrasweek Pancrasweek is a village and civil parish and hamlet in the far west of Devon, England forming part of the local government district of Torridge and lying about three miles north west of the town of Holsworthy.Ordnance Survey mapping It is bord ...

and the Cornish civil parishes

and

Morwenstow Morwenstow () is a civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish abuts the west coast, about six miles (10 km) north of Bude and within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Morwens ...

. As well as a number of shops, Bradworthy village has a pub, a primary school, and an industrial estate. Bradworthy church - geograph

The parish church of St John the Baptist dates from the 13th century and is a

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building.

Arthur Herbert Procter Arthur Herbert Procter VC (11 August 1890 – 27 January 1973) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth for ...

, a

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

recipient, was vicar of Bradworthy from 1963 to 1964. The name Bradworthy comes from the words ''brad'' and ''worþign'', meaning "wide estate". Bradworthy appears in the 1086

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Brawordine''. It was held by ''Ralph of Pomeroy'' and its assets were: 12

ploughland The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s, 10 plough teams, of meadow, of

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

, 40 cattle, 10 pigs, 120 sheep, 5 goats, and 30 other livestock. It rendered £8.

Amenities

Bradworthy has a wide range of shops, many of which are situated on the perimeter of the village square, including a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, a

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

, a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

(The Bradworthy Inn) a butcher's, a vet's, a

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

, and two homeware stores. Finally – in addition to being served by a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

– the village has a hairdresser's and a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

. Bradworthy Primary Academy is the village's government-funded school and pre-school, with 203 children on roll as of Spring 2020. It has seven classrooms, outdoor playgrounds, and a pool.

Landmarks

Bradworthy claims to have the largest village square in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

. Its tarmacked area, which marks the centre of the village, is enclosed by businesses and houses, and has been present for around 1,000 years. The River Waldon, a tributary of the

River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristol ...

, flows near to the village centre.

References

External links

*
Bradworthy history
Villages in Devon Civil parishes in Devon Torridge District {{Devon-geo-stub