Bridford is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in south west

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, located in the

Teign Valley Teigne (also : Teign, Tègne, Teeñ, Tin or Tañ in Wolof language) was the title of the monarch of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Baol, now part of present-day Senegal. In Wolof, "Teigne" means the support that is placed on the head to carry ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

on the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

. The parish is surrounded (clockwise from the north) by the parishes of

Dunsford Dunsford is a village in Devon, England, just inside the Dartmoor National Park. The place-name 'Dunsford' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Dunesforda'', meaning 'Dunn's ford'. The village has a number of ...

Doddiscombsleigh Doddiscombsleigh (anciently ''Doddescombe Leigh'') is a small settlement in Devon, England. It is southwest of the city of Exeter and one mile East of the River Teign and the Teign Valley. Along with a few other places in Devon, it is one of ...

, Christow, and

Moretonhampstead Moretonhampstead (anciently ''Moreton Hampstead'') is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe (), and i ...

. At the 2011 census the population of the parish was 503, compared with 404 in 1901.

History

The place-name 'Bridford' is first attested in a charter of circa 1080, where surprisingly it appears as ''Bridaford''. It is recorded as ''Brideforda'' 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086. The name means 'brides' ford', and has the same derivation as

Britford Britford is a village and civil parish beside the River Avon about south-east of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The village is just off the A338 Salisbury-Bournemouth road. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 592. Geography ...

in Wiltshire.

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 t ...

, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.64.

Today

Bridford has a village pub called the Bridford Inn, which incorporates the village shop. The Post Office visits every Friday in the village hall, and the doctor's surgery is open five days a week in neighbouring Christow. Moorgate vets have a small surgery just outside the village, and there is a MOT and general servicing garage and garden centre within a mile of Bridford. There is a children's play park, a village garden and a village hall. The village also has a two-acre Woodland Trust nature reserve and Rowdon Woods. It is well served by buses to both

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal c ...

and

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in th ...

. Bridford's church is dedicated to St Thomas Becket. There is also a tiny Methodist chapel in the centre of the village. The village has clubs such as scouts, women's institute, darts and skittles teams. Teign Valley Golf Club is four miles away and there is a football pitch and tennis courts in Christow two miles distant. Children from Bridford go to neighbouring primary schools in the neighbouring villages of Christow,

. They then attend Teign school, an Academy. Bridford has its annual village summer fête in July. It is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with Saint-Vaast-sur-Seulles, a village in the Normandy region of France.

References

External links

Bridford at GENUKIBridford Village website
*https://web.archive.org/web/20111003015302/http://www.devon.gov.uk/historicbridford Villages in Devon {{Devon-geo-stub