Locations

Below are pen portraits of selected Braddon locations. Details of Braddons living in these locations may be found on the index of places pages of Individual records and descendancy charts.

Launcells is set in a secluded valley three miles east of Bude in the north eastern corner of Cornwall, on the border with Devon.

Launcells is a church and a parish rather than a village; the chief hamlets are Grimscott and Buttsbear. The groupings of farms and hamlets that make up the parish are scattered some miles radius from the church, itself reached down narrow lanes. St Swithin was described by John Betjeman as the 'least spoiled church in Cornwall' and contains floor tiles, bench ends, a wall painting, monumental slabs and an early font, all of which would have been familiar to those seventeenth century Braddons. Would the smell of wild garlic also have filled their nostrils?

The first record of a Braddon in Launcells is in the 1599 Launcells Lay Subsidy Rolls returns for the parish, where a Richard Braddon was assessed on the value of his land to the sum of £31 8s. He or another Richard Braddon was also assessed in Launcells in 1628-9.

The parish is on the south coast of Cornwall sandwiched between the parishes of Fowey and Lansallos and is the major settlement in the parish of Lanteglos by Fowey. The attractive village of Polruan with its

steep huddled streets is situated opposite Fowey on the eastern side of the Fowey estuary. In the past castles here and in Fowey helped protect the seaport by suspending an iron chain across the estuary. Now a ferry service operates for foot passengers.

Braddons lived in Polruan for a hundred years from the 1850s, when James Harris Braddon moved with his family from the neighbouring village of Polperro, to work as a carpenter. His children, in turn, worked as sailors, master mariners and carpenters.

The village and harbour of Polperro lies on the south coast of Cornwall between the towns of Looe and

Fowey. It owes its existence to the sheltered harbour, which provided a haven for both fishermen and smugglers. The village of Polperro used to be divided between the two parishes of Lansallos and Talland by the River Pol ,though in 1875 the boundaries were re-drawn and the whole of Polperro is now entirely within Talland ecclesiastical parish.

Despite its peaceful appearance today it has many stories of smugglers and shipwrecks in the past. One Parson Dodge who was involved in smuggling in the 18th century kept the lanes clear at night by spreading tales of demons and ghosts.

Braddons lived in Polperro from the time of the arrival of William Braddon in the 1790s until well into the twentieth century.

Poughill on the north coast of Cornwall lies just to the east of the modern resort of Bude. It is bounded on the north by Kilkhampton, on the east by Launcells and Stratton, on the south by Stratton, and on the west by Bude Bay. The name is pronounced 'Poffle', and the origin is uncertain.

Richard Martyn Braddon moved here from Treneglos at the turn of the nineteenth century.

St Gennys on the north coast of Cornwall is bounded on the north by the sea and Poundstock, on the east by Jacobstow and Warbstow, on the south by Otterham and St Juliot, and on the west by the sea. The name comes from St.Genesius, the patron saint of the local church. This small village is on high cliffs on the north Cornish coast overlooking Bude Bay. Its surface consists wholly of high hills and deep valleys. The High Cliff, near Crackington Haven reaches 735 feet above sea-level. There are three pointed headlands jutting into the sea from this parish, namely: the Cambeak, Dizard Point and Castle Point.

William Braddon MP acquired the manor of Treworgie in the parish in 1651; his tomb and those of his wife and son are to be found in the church.

Saint Kew

The parish of St Kew lies near the north coast of Cornwall south of Port Isaac. St Kew Churchtown is the heart of the parish. This contains the church, the old vicarage and a 15th century Inn. St Kew Highway is a hamlet on the A39; the other villages are the Churchtown, Chapel-Amble, Tregelles, Trelill, Trewerthan, Pendoggett, and Trequite.

The first Braddon to live in St Kew was Henry of Stowford, a surgeon, who married Sarah Phillis Clode at Lanteglos by Camelford, Cornwall on December 2^nd 1782. Sarah Phillis was the sister and heiress of Major William Clode of Skisdon Lodge, St. Kew, Cornwall who had made his fortune in India. On his death in 1807 she inherited Skisdon Lodge. Henry was Mayor of Camelford in 1790, 1798 and 1807. He was buried at St. Kew on 4^th March 1815 age 56. His descendants, including the novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon, continued to live at Skisdon Lodge well into the twentieth century. There is a Braddon monumental window in the church.

Treneglos is situated in north Cornwall near the Devonshire border. The Cornish origin of name is 'Farm of the church'.

William Braddon of Stowford and Bridgerule acquired the property of Treglith in Treneglos parish through his marriage to Margaret Spettigue at the turn of the nineteenth century. His descendants farmed both in this parish and the neighbouring one of Warbstow. There are many monumental inscriptions in Treneglos churchyard.

"ABBOTS-BICKINGTON a small parish, 9 miles S.W. of Torrington, has only 75 souls, and 1034 acres of land, formerly belonging to Hartland Abbey. The Trustees of the late Lord Rolle are now lords of the manor, owners of most of the soil, impropriators of the great tithes, and patrons of the perpetual curacy, valued at £96, and now held by the Rev. PD Foulkes, of Shebbear. The Church (St. James,) is a small fabric, with three bells. . . ." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

"BARNSTAPLE, the principal port, market-town, and borough in North Devon . . . is pleasantly seated on the north-east side of the navigable river Taw, where it receives the small river Yeo, and is crossed by a handsome bridge of sixteen arches. . . It is a very ancient borough, and respectable town, and is distant 40 miles N.W. of Exeter, 9 miles N.E. of Bideford, 11 miles W.N.W. of South Molton, and 192 miles W. by S. of London. The parish of Barnstaple comprises about 1096 acres of land, in the broad and fertile vale of the river Taw, which is to be traversed by a railway from Exeter. . . The parish had only 3748 inhabitants in 1801, but in 1821 they had increased to 5079, in 1831 to 6840, and in 1841 to 7902. . . . Barnstaple was a naval port in the reign of Edward III. . . The staple trade of the town, from a very early period till the latter part of the last century, was the manufacture of woollen goods. . . . Since 1822, when bonded warehouses were established here, the port has had an increasing foreign trade [importing] goods from the Baltic, France, Spain, Portugal, North America, etc." [From White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon (1850)]

"BRADWORTHY, a scattered village, near the sources of the small river Waldon, 6½ miles N. by W. of Holsworthy, has in its parish 1081 souls, and 9856 acres of land, including a large portion of hilly moorland, and the small hamlets of Denworthy, Alfardisworthy, Kimsworthy, and Youlston. A fair is held in the village on September 9th. The manor, with a fair on St. John's day, was granted to Lord Brewer by King John. After passing to various families, the manor was sold in severalities, and it now belongs to C.H. Hotchkys, Esq., the Trustees of the late L.S. Ashton, A.B. Wren, Esq., and a few smaller freeholders. The Church (St. John,) is an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells, and the living is a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £25. 5s. 5d., and in 1831 at £283, with the perpetual curacy of Pancrasweek annexed to it. The patronage is in the Crown, and the Rev. J.B. Clyde, B.A., is the incumbent, and has a good residence, and 25A. 2R. 3P. of glebe. . ." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

This village is the one with the highest level of Braddon occurrences in the eighteenth century; again most were agricultural labourers.

"BRIDGERULE, a village and parish on both sides of the Tamar valley, 5½ miles W. by S. of Holsworthy, has 497 souls, and upwards of 3000 acres of land, of which 221 souls and about 2000 acres are in Devon, and the rest are in Cornwall, being on the west side of the river, near the Bude canal. It was anciently called Bridge Reginald, from Reginald Adobed, who held it at the Domesday Survey. The Church and the hamlets of Tines and Dux are in Devon. Sir Wm. Molesworth is lord of the manor, but most of the soil belongs to Mrs. E. Usherwood, T.H. Kingdon, and a number of smaller owners. The Church is an antique structure, with a tower and five bells. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £14, and in 1831 at £152, is in the gift of the Rev. T.H. Kingdon, B.D., and incumbency of the Rev. S.N. Kingdon, B.D. who has 33A. of glebe, and a good residence, erected in 1842. The Church House, built in the reign of Henry VIII., is partly occupied as a school and partly by paupers." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

Newacott, a fine house situated on the Cornwall side of the River Tamar, was home to the descendants of Rev John Braddon, vicar of Luffincott and St Giles, for some hundred years from the early eighteenth century.

"BUCKLAND-BREWER, a large village, 5 miles W. by N. of Great Torrington, has in its parish 1103 souls and 5652 acres of land, including the hamlets of Bilsford, Galsworthy, and Tithacot, and many scattered houses. It had formerly a weekly market on Wednesday, granted to the abbot of Dunkeswell in 1290, but

it has long been obsolete. Two fairs are held in the village, on Whit-Tuesday and the third Monday in November. The trustees of the late Lord Rolle are lords of the manor, which was given by the Brewer or Briwere family to Tor and Dunkeswell Abbeys. Mrs. and the Rev. J.M. Stevens, J.H. Lee, Esq., and several smaller owners, have estates in the parish. The Church (St. Mary and St. Benedict,) is a large antique structure, with a lofty tower and five bells. It stands on an eminence, commanding a view of the Bristol Channel." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)].

Braddon Hill in the south of the parish is one of the probable origins of the Braddon families.

"DARTINGTON parish, from one to three miles N.E. of Totnes, contains 603 souls, and 3248A. 3R. of land, on the south-western side of the fertile and picturesque valley of the Dart, and includes the small hamlets of Wick, Venton, Brooking, Staple, and many scattered houses. It was anciently the seat of a barony, which belonged successively to the Falesia, Tours, Martyn, Audley, Vere, Holland, and other families. Henry Champernowne, Esq., owns two-thirds of the parish and is lord of the manor. His seat Dartington House. has been the residence of his family for many generations, . . . The Church (St. Mary,)

is an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells. It is in the perpendicular style of the time of Richard II., and was renovated and newly fitted with open benches about 15 years ago. It has a handsome pulpit and screen, and some antique monuments of the Champernownes. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £36. 4s. 4½d., and in 1831 at £924, is in the patronage of Henry Champernowne, Esq., and incumbency of the Ven. R.H. Froude, M.A., archdeacon of Totnes, who has 108A. of glebe and a handsome residence, which he has much improved. . . ." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

Braddons lived here as blacksmiths and stonemasons in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

"The Isca of Ptolemy and Antoninus in Devonshire. The environs of the city are hilly, and afford a variety of delightful prospects. Its port is properly at Topsham, 5 miles below, but vessels of 150 tons come up to the quay here. Here is a noble cathedral, (for it is one of the sees of the bishops of the Church of England), court-houses, public institutions for charity and education, &c. It is the seat of an extensive foreign and domestic commerce, and particularly it had a share in the fisheries of Newfoundland and Greenland. Here are flourishing manufactories of serges and other woollen goods. It is seated on the river Exe, over which it has a long stone bridge. It is 173 miles from London. Markets, Wednesday and Friday. Population, 31,312." (From Barclay's Complete and Universal English Dictionary, 1842.)

As one of the two cities of Devon many Braddons lived here and migrated here from the surrounding rural areas.

"FENITON, or Feynton, a small village in the Otter valley, four miles W.S.W. of Honiton, and N. by E. of Ottery St. Mary, has in its parish 315 souls and 1822 acres of land, including the small hamlets of Corscombe and Colestock. The manor was anciently held by the Malherbe family, who were seated here for thirteen generations, and had the power of beheading criminals. It now belongs to many freeholders, the largest of whom are Sir John Patteson, Knt., (who has a handsome seat here,) Sir J. Kennaway, Bart., J.P. Matthews, Esq., Mr. W. Porter, and Miss Wright. The Church, (St. Andrew,) is a plain structure, with a tower and five bells. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £16. 8s. 6 ½d., and in 1831 at £372, is in the alternate patronage of S.C. Flood, G.B. Northcote, and -- Wooley, Esqrs., and incumbency of the Rev. H.E. Head, M.A., who has a good residence and 74A. of glebe. The tithes were commuted in 1839 for £288 per annum. The poor have 4 ½A. of land, purchased with benefaction money, in 1717 and 1737, and now let for £8. The church land (3 roods,] is let for £2." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

Braddons lived here in the seventeenth century, close to one of the early centres of Braddons in Ottery St Mary.

"HARBERTON, a small village of 353 inhabitants, on high ground, in a pleasant valley, 2½ miles S. S. W. of Totnes, has in its parish 1496 souls, and 5755 acres of land, including six hamlets, of which the following are the names and population :- Harbertonford, 468; Luscombe, 55; East Leigh, 171; West Leigh, 45; Belsford, 55; and Englebourne, 49. The soil is generally light and fertile, and in the parish is a remarkable rock of trap stone, so hard as to resist the mason's chisel, and surrounded by dunstone and slate. The manor, anciently held by the Valletorts, was dismembered many years ago, and now belongs to many freeholders, some of whom have neat and pleasant seats here, as named below. J. Parott, Richard and John Brown, C. Webber, E.W.W. Pendarves, and John Bidlake, Esqrs., and the Rev. W.B. Bennett, are the principal owners. At Harbertonford, on the banks of the small river Harbourn, is an old woollen factory, now occupied as a corn mill and starch manufactory; and in the same valley is the large shovel and reaping hook manufactory, called Hill Mills. The Church (St. Andrew,) is one of the finest specimens of the decorated style in the county, and has a lofty tower and six bells. . . . The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £49. 2s. 1d., and in 1831 at £752, with the curacy of Halwell annexed to it, is in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and incumbency of the Rev. George Martin, B.D., chancellor of the diocese, and canon of Exeter. . . . There are National Schools at Harberton and Harbertonford. . . . The Baptists have a small chapel here." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

"HUNTSHAW, or Hunshaw, 3 miles N.E. of Torrington, has in its parish 296 souls, and 1962 acres of land, mostly belonging to Lord Clinton, the lord of the manor and patron of the rectory, valued in K.B. at £11. 7s. 1d., and in 1831 at £200. The Rev. C.D.M. Drake is the rector, and has 36A. of glebe, and a good residence, in a picturesque valley. The tithes were commuted in 1844, for £151 per annum. The Church (St. Mary,) has a tower and three bells, and the parish sends two boys to the Free School at Wear Gifford. The Church Lands &c., comprise 3 gardens, 2 orchards, 4 houses, and a blacksmith's shop; and the poor have about £2 yearly from John Lovering's Charity, and an annuity of 20s. left by Edm. Dennis." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

"MAMHEAD is a small parish of scattered houses, chiefly on the western acclivities of a bold eminence, 3 miles W. of Starcross, and 4 miles E. by N. of Chudleigh. It has 246 inhabitants, and 1220 acres of land, mostly the property and manor of Sir R.L. Newman, Bart., whose father was created a baronet in 1836. He resides at Mamhead Park, which has a large and handsome mansion in the Elizabethan style, erected about 20 years ago on the site of the old house, which was mostly built by Sir Peter Balle, an eminent loyalist who died in 1680, aged 82. It was afterwards the seat of the two last Earls of Lisburne. The house stands on a rising knoll at the junction of three narrow valleys, opening towards the coast, and backed with a high woody ridge of Haldon. . . . On the lofty wooded summit of Mamhead Point, stands a noble obelisk of Portland stone, built by Thos. Balle, Esq., about 1742. The Church stands in the park, and is a neat structure with a tower and five bells. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £10. 17s. 6d., and in 1831 at £206, is in the patronage of Sir R.L. Newman, Bart., and incumbency of the Hon. and Rev. H.H. Courtenay, M.A., who has a good residence and 20A. of glebe. . . . " [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

"Plymouth is a large sea-port, seated between the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar, and one of the chief naval magazines in the kingdom, owing to its excellent port or harbour, which capable of safely containing 1000 sail. There are, properly speaking, however, three harbours, Catwater, Sutton Pool, and Hamoaze. The first is the mouth of the Plym, and affords a safe and commodious harbour for merchant ships, but is seldom entered by ships of war. The second is frequented by merchant ships only, and is almost surrounded by the houses of the town. The third inlet, which is the mouth of the Tamar, is the harbour for the reception of the British navy. It is defended by a fort on St. Nicholas Island, and other forts, and particularly by a citadel, called the Haw, which overlooks the town, and is a good land- mark for mariners. A floating bridge plies across the Hamoaze. What is called The Dock, is a separate town, situated about two miles up the Hamoaze, and is now nearly as large as Plymouth itself. Here are some spacious docks, solidly built. It has a good herring fishery, and a considerable trade beside its manufactures, which are of all kinds of goods required in shipping; and the great business arising from the dockyard. It is 210 miles from London. Markets, Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. Population, 37,058." (From Barclay's Complete and Universal English Dictionary, 1842.)

As with Exeter, the rapidly expanding city of Plymouth with its dockyards at Devonport attracted many, including Braddons, from the neighbouring countryside of Cornwall and Devon.

"STOKE DAMEREL, a parish, in the hundred of ROBOROUGH, Roborough and S. divisions of DEVON; adjoining the borough of Plymouth, and containing 33,820 inhabitants. This parish, which includes Devonport and Morice-Town, is one of the most extensive in the county; the village occupies an elevated site, and comprises several rows of excellent houses, a crescent, and some private mansions of more than ordinary beauty. Among the public structures are, the immense reservoir of the Devonport Water Company, which supplies the government establishments and the neighbourhood in general; the military hospital, a spacious edifice of grey marble, erected in 1797, on the west side of Stonehouse Creek, comprising four large square buildings, of similar size and form, connected by a piazza of forty-one arches; and the Blockhouse, occupying an eminence north of the village, surrounded by a fosse and drawbridge, commanding a most magnificent prospect. On the eastern bank of the Hamoaze is Morice-Town, consisting of four principal streets . . The church is a mean but spacious building, with a low square tower. Two additional churches have been erected; and there are places of worship for Independents, Calvinistic Methodists, and Wesleyans." [From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (1844)]

This parish on the outskirts of Plymouth proper included the dockyards of Devonport, which attracted workers, including carpenters and mariners from nearby Cornwall.

"STOWFORD, a small village, in the valley of one of the tributary streams of the river Lyd, seven miles E.N.E. of Launceston, has in its parish 647 souls, and 2066 acres of land, including Sprytown hamlet, and many scattered houses. Henry Blagrove, Esq., is lord of the manor of Milford, but that of Stowford, belongs to Mrs. Harris, together with Haine and Stone estates, which have been held by the Harris family many generations. She has a handsome seat here, called Haine Castle - a large quadrangular mansion, in the castellated style, erected 40 years ago. The Church is a handsome structure, with a tower, six bells, and several monuments belonging to the Harris family, one of whom was master of the household to Geo. II. ad III. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £11. 12s. 6d., and in 1831 at £270, is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Jno. Wollocombe, M.A., who has 55A. 2R. 22P. of glebe, and a handsome residence. . . ." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

John Braddon of Bridgerule, son of Rev John Braddon, acquired the farm of Milford on his marriage to Mary Ann Martyn in the mid eighteenth century. Milford, now a farmhouse, was a Domesday manor (WG Hoskins 'Devon' p483).

"TEIGNMOUTH, A market town in the hundred of Exminster, is situated, as its name implies, at the mouth of the Teign, and is sheltered on all sides by hills, except towards the sea. . . . A small brook divides the town into two parishes West and East Teignmouth; the former a manor of Lord Clifford's and the latter of Courtenay. The eastern part of the town is the principal resort of company, where the public rooms are situated, a neat building, containing tea, coffee, assembly, and billiard rooms. . . . Near the centre of West Teignmouth is situated the new church, dedicated to St James, erected on the site of the old, in form an octagon, but in very bad taste. East Teignmouth church, now pulled down for the erection of a new edifice, was probably one of the earliest structures built after the coming of the Normans, and was dedicated to St Michael. The trade of Teignmouth consists chiefly of commercial intercourse with Newfoundland; the exportation of clay and granite, and the importation of coal, is carried on principally in craft, built at the place, where are yards for launching vessels of 3 to 400 tons. . . . The population is 3980." [From: Pigot's Directory, 1823-24]

Braddons were living and working as mariners from here from the sixteenth century on.

"TOPSHAM (ST. MARGARET), a market-town and parish, in the union of ST. THOMAS, hundred of WONFORD, Wonford and S. divisions of DEVON, 3½ miles (S. E.) from Exeter, and 170 (W. S. W.) from London; containing 3733 inhabitants. . . This town, situated just above the influx of the river Clyst into the Exe, and about 6 miles from the sea, is so celebrated for the salubrity of its air that it is reported to have lost only one person when the plague was raging at Exeter and in the vicinity, in the reign of Charles II.; and during the desolation produced in the neighbourhood by the cholera, in 1832, it entirely escaped the contagion. The place is lighted with gas; and on the strand are some neat residences, fronted with gardens, extending to the water's edge, the view being justly admired for its variety and extent. . . The foreign TRADE was formerly very great, but has gradually fallen away, and at the present time its vessels are chiefly employed in the coasting trade; in the time of William III., the number engaged in the Newfoundland fishery exceeded that of any port in the kingdom, with the exception of London, but these vessels were mostly taken in the American revolutionary war, and the little trade that remained was transferred to Teignmouth. . . Ship-building is carried on extensively; chain-cables, anchors, ropes, twine, and sacking, are manufactured; a large paper-manufactory is in operation, and there is a considerable trade in coal and timber. In 1275, an annual fair for three days was granted to the inhabitants, and, together with a market on Saturdays, confirmed to them by Edward I.; the market is still held on Saturday, and there is a small fair on the Thursday after the 20th of July." [From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (1844)]

In the sixteenth century Braddons were sailing their ships to Newfoundland, fishing for cod.

"TORQUAY . . . is a handsome market town, seaport, and bathing place, delightfully situated on the strand and the picturesque acclivities of the shore of the northern recess of Torbay, in the parish of Tor-Moham, 22 miles S. of Exeter, . . Its terraces and suburban villas extend more than a mile westward, to the old village of TOR, or Tor-Moham; and such has been the rapid increase of buildings and population during the last twenty years, that they may now be considered as one town . . . . The Parish of Tor-Moham, or Tor-Mohum, comprises about 2000 acres of land, occupying most of that bold promontory which projects eastward into the English Channel, about three miles in length, and two in breadth, to Hope's Nose, the point which divides Torbay and Babbicombe Bay. . . . Torquay, which was merely a small fishing hamlet at the close of the last century, is now a large and handsome town, comprising with its western suburbs of Tor and Upton, about 9000 inhabitants. . . . The Parish Church at Tor-Moham, more than a mile west of the Quay, is an ancient structure, . . . It has an embattled tower, two galleries, and a good organ . . . C.H. Mallock, Esq., is the patron, and the Rev. J.H. Harris, D.D., is the incumbent. . . . " [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

The Braddon Hills to the north east of Torquay are another possible original home for Braddon families.

"TOTNES, an ancient borough and market town, which retains some portions of its once formidable castle, and gives name to an archdeaconry and deanery, to a large union, and to county court and polling districts; is picturesquely seated on the western bank of the navigable river Dart, opposite the suburb of Bridgetown, 10 miles N.W. by W. of Dartmouth. . . . Its parish contains 967A. 1R. 24P. of land, mostly in meadows and pastures; and had 2503 souls in 1801; 2725 in 1811; 3128 in 1821; and 3442 in 1831. . . . There are some neat and substantial mansions in the town and suburbs, and a considerable number of respectable houses have been erected during the last twenty years, on and near the Plymouth road. . . . Being in the heart of the fruitful district called the South Hams, or garden of Devonshire, which abounds in rich pastures, meadows, corn fields, and orchards, its weekly market, held every Saturday, is abundantly supplied with provisions. . . . The Church (St. Mary,) is a handsome structure, in the early perpendicular style, with a lofty tower at the west end, containing eight bells. Its date was unknown until about 1800, when the south-east pinnacle, being struck down by lightning, fell through the roof of a small room over the porch, in which were found two chests full of ancient records, from which it appeared the church was rebuilt in 1259, and again in 1432. . . . The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £12. 8s. 9d., and in 1831 at £200, is in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor and incumbency of the Rev. J. W. Burrough, who has a good residence. . . . At Follaton House is a small Roman Catholic Chapel, and in the town is an Independent Chapel, and a small Wesleyan Chapel. . . ." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

Braddons and Braddens were living here, including as shopkeepers, through from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.