Bradford 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

of Torridge,

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. Devo ...

, England. The parish, which lies about six miles east of the town of

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the paris ...

has part of its eastern boundary formed by 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 Bristo ...

, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of

Milton Damerel Milton Damerel is a village, parish and former manor in north Devon, England. Situated in the political division of Torridge, on the river Waldon, it covers . It contains many tiny hamlets including Whitebeare, Strawberry Bank, East Wonford an ...

, Shebbear,

Black Torrington Black Torrington is a village and civil parish in mid Devon, England, situated between the towns of Holsworthy and Hatherleigh. It is located on and named after the River Torridge. Within the village is a small but well maintained 15th-centu ...

Ashwater Ashwater is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 651 that had risen to 673 by the 2011 census. It is close to the Cornish border, and is about 10 miles nor ...

Cookbury Cookbury is a village and civil parish in the local government district of Torridge, Devon, England. The parish, which lies about five miles east of the town of Holsworthy, is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Thornbury, ...

and Thornbury. In 2001 its population was 359, compared to 280 in 1901. The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, is in the village of Bradford and mostly dates from the early 14th century although it has a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

doorway and baptismal font. By the 19th century the church was in poor condition and was restored twice, in 1869 and in 1875–89. Within the parish are several former manors mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086: Bradford, Dunsland, Henscott and Lashbrook. The 10th Century Bradford Manor was damaged by fire in around 1770. Purchased and then rebuilt in the 1870s the existing Manor was styled and rebuilt by J T English.

Dunsland Dunsland is a historic manor and former house in the parish of Bradford (or Cookbury) near Holsworthy in Devon, England. It was successively home to the Arscott, Bickford, Coham and Dickinson families and, although the ownership records are in ...

was the home of several notable Devon families and the fine house had just been extensively renovated by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

when it was destroyed by fire in 1967.

Hengist Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent. Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...

the Saxon is said to have camped at Bradford.

References

External links

Bradford Community webpageCommunity website with information about the area
Villages in Devon Torridge District {{Devon-geo-stub