Thornbury is a small 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 authority ...

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 ...

Torridge Torridge may refer to: * Torridge District, a local government district in the county of Devon, England * River Torridge, is a river in Devon in England * Torridge Lass Suffix beginning with F ''Empire Fabian'' ''Empire Fabian'' was an E ...

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 ...

, England. The parish, which lies about north-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 ...

, comprises the five hamlets of Thornbury, Woodacott, Brendon, Lashbrook and South Wonford. These five hamlets are spread over an area of some , with a distance of from Brendon to Thornbury Church. Hence, the community is quite widespread, with the only focal point being the Green at Woodacott Cross. The parish 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 ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

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

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 ...

. In 2011, its population was 290, in 120 households, little changed from the 291 residents it had in 1901. The parish church, dedicated to St Peter, is in the hamlet of Thornbury and has a fine

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 ...

south doorway dated to around 1150. Although most of the rest of the fabric dates to the early 14th century, it was partly hidden by a heavy

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1876 during which the tower was also increased in height by five feet. In the churchyard there is an arch which used to lead to the village pound where stray animals were kept. In 2014 a group of volunteers photographed and transcribed all of the gravestones and inscriptions in and around both the Church and Chapel. The results are availabl
here
There is a Methodist Chapel at Woodacott, which was originally built in 1833, with the current building dating from 1891. It is now closed for worship. The neares
primary school
is in

. The village has its own website a
www.thornburyhamlets.com
and copies of the parish magazine, th
"Thornbury Tatler"
can be downloaded from the website.

References

Villages in Devon Torridge District {{Devon-geo-stub