Brendon is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of

Brendon and Countisbury Brendon and Countisbury is an England, English civil parish in the district of North Devon and the county of Devon. The civil parish was created on 1 April 2013, by the merger of the previous civil parishes of Brendon and Countisbury. Referenc ...

, in the

North Devon North Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

district, in the county of

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. It is close to the border with

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

within the

Exmoor National Park Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simons ...

, the village is southeast of

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Lynton sits dire ...

and west of

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

in the

East Lyn Valley East Lyn Valley is a valley of Exmoor, covering northern Devon and western Somerset, England. The East Lyn River is formed from several main tributaries including Hoar Oak Water beginning near Weir Water. Its mouth is at Lynmouth at the confluen ...

. It is located just off the A39 and is on two long distance footpaths, the

Coleridge Way The Coleridge Way is a long-distance trail in Somerset and Devon, England. It was opened in April 2005, and the route links several sites associated with the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge starting from Coleridge Cottage at Nether Stowey. Ori ...

and the

Samaritans Way South West Samaritans Way South West is a Long-distance footpath in South West England. It was officially opened on 21 April 2004 by the Ramblers Vice Chairman, the Samaritans (charity) Chief Executive and a farmer from Gloucestershire who headed the Far ...

. The Church of St Brendon is from the village and was built in 1738, possibly with building material brought from another site. In 2001 the parish had a population of 159.

The village

The Church of St. Brendon was built in 1738, possibly using the stones from the original church at Cheriton. It lies midway between Cheriton and Brendon, about two miles (3 km) from each, and has a tower and four bells. The church was further restored in the nineteenth century and houses a Norman font. There is a sundial above the porch dated 1707. The village is located just off the A39, the parish of Brendon is roughly square in shape and is defined by the

East Lyn River The East Lyn is a river which rises high in Exmoor, in the English county of Somerset. It flows through the East Lyn Valley in Devon. Watercourse The river is formed as the Upper East Lyn at Malmsmead from two minor tributaries, the Oare ...

to the north, the Hoaroak Water to the west and the

Badgworthy Water Badgworthy Water is a small river which flows through Malmsmead on Exmoor, close to the border between Devon and Somerset, England. It merges with Oare Water to become the East Lyn River. On the banks of the river are the remains of a few dw ...

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 A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

Malmsmead Bridge Malmsmead Bridge is a 17th-century stone bridge which crosses Badgworthy Water in the hamlet of Malmsmead, on the road between Oare, Somerset, Oare and Brendon. The Badgworthy Water forms the boundary between the counties of Somerset and Devon, a ...

History

The name contains two

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

place-name elements, the first – from ''brom'' – referring to the plant

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

and the second – from ''dun'' – which tends to signify a fairly extensive and flat hill or upland expanse. It is recorded in the

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 ''Brandone''. It is not connected with the

Brendon Hills The Brendon Hills are a range of hills in west Somerset, England. The hills merge level into the eastern side of Exmoor and are included within the Exmoor National Park. The highest point of the range is Lype Hill at above sea level with a sec ...

in Somerset, the name of which has a different origin. ''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 t. Brendonis an ancient structure with a tower and 4 bells.

Brendon is home to the Exmoor Folk Festival, and is both on the route of the

and the

. On 1 April 2013 the parish was abolished and merged with

Countisbury Countisbury is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Brendon and Countisbury, in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is on Exmoor, roughly two miles east of Lynmouth along the A39. It has a church and ...

to form "Brendon and Countisbury". Image:Brendon 2.jpg, The Stag Hunters Inn Image:River Lynn.jpg, The East Lyn River Image:Deer over Brendon.jpg, Deer on the hillside over Brendon

References

External links

Brendon Valley
{{authority control Villages in Devon Former civil parishes in Devon North Devon