Bridford is a village and civil parish in south west England, 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 on the edge of Dartmoor. 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 Christow is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, about southwest of Exeter. The village is in the Teign Valley, just off the B3193 road that links Chudleigh and Dunsford. Christow is on the eastern edge of ...

, and Moretonhampstead. 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 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 to ...

, ''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

. 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 comm ...

and Newton Abbot. Bridford's church is dedicated to

St Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

. 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

. They then attend

Teign school Teign School is an 11–18 academy school located in Kingsteignton, a town to the north of Newton Abbot. The original 1936 building has been expanded upon substantially and numerous additional buildings have been constructed within the groun ...

, an Academy. Bridford has its annual village summer fête in July. It is twinned with

Saint-Vaast-sur-Seulles Saint-Vaast-sur-Seulles () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of ...

, 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