Bradninch

Bradninch dates back to before the 7th century and at some time there was almost certainly a Norman or Anglo-Saxon fortress on Castle Hill. There are no physical remains, and no known primary documentary references, but the likely site was surrounded by a number of 'castle' field names on the tithe map. It would have been unusual for Bradninch not to have had a castle given its status in the medieval period.

Bradninch was the caput of the feudal barony of Bradninch granted by William the Conqueror (1066–1087) to William Capra, who is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as holding this manor. The barony escheated to the crown and King Henry I (1100–1135) granted it to William I de Tracy (d.circa 1136). He left one daughter and sole-heiress Grace de Tracy who married John de Sudeley,[7] They had two children: Ralph de Sudeley (d. 1192), the eldest, who became his father's heir, and Sir William II "de Tracy" (d. post 1172), who inherited his mother's barony of Bradninch and assumed her family name in lieu of his patronymic.[7] He married Hawise de Born and had a son William III de Tracy (d. pre-1194),[7] one of the four knights who assassinated Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in December 1170.

Following the execution of King Charles I in 1649, an Act of Parliament was passed which allowed the sale of the feudal barony of Bradninch (or "honour of Bradninch") together with its caput, namely the manor of Bradninch, together with the borough of Bradninch, and on 24 March 1650 all were sold for the sum of £19,517 11 shillings 10 1/4 pence to Thomas Sanders and John Gorges as trustees for the new Commonwealth. The feudal barony and manor were returned to the Dukedom of Cornwall following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660[8] although the feudal element of the holding was effectively extinguished at about the same time by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660.

Prince William, as the present Duke of Cornwall, remains the nominal lord of the manor of Bradninch, and the theoretical feudal baron of Bradninch, and the Duchy of Cornwall continues to own much of the land within the parish.

The town was largely destroyed in a fire in 1666 (the same year as the Great Fire of London).

Bradninch lost its borough status in 1886 under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act.[9] The property of the corporation, including Bradninch Guildhall, has since been vested in the Bradninch Town Trust, which is a separate organisation to the town council, though four of its nine trustees are appointed by the town council.[10]

The 15th-century church is dedicated to St Disen (a unique dedication in the British Isles) who is considered to have been an Irish missionary saint.[12] Previously this church was dedicated to St Denis or St Dionysius. Some confusion has arisen with some believing the attribution to St Disen to have been a romantic invention of one of the 19th-century vicars of the parish, Rev. Mr. Croslegh.[13] The church possesses a finely decorated screen; in the panels at the screen's base are nearly 50 paintings of saints and biblical scenes. Another screen in the church is simpler, with panels of various saints, including an unusual one of St Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata.

Bradninch Manor – Ancient seat of the Sainthill family

The surviving grade I listed[14] manor house is situated on the north side of Parsonage Lane, to the immediate east of the town. It was built in 1553[15] by Peter Sainthill (c.1524-1571), MP, Recorder of Bradninch and Deputy Steward to the Duke of Cornwall of the manor of Bradninch.[16] It was the scene of Peter's Banquet or The Cavalier in the Dumps, a Puritan satirical verse written circa 1645,[17] describing a banquet held there during the Civil War for his soldiers by Captain Peter Sainthill (1593-1648), MP, grandson of the builder. One of the verses is as follows:

Peter, their Captain, for to try

If good King Charles they'd stand by,

Prepared a Banquet at his hall,

And there invited one and all

To eat, and drink, and for to sing

"God bless the cause! God bless the King!"

The present structure represents only half of the original "H-shaped" building.[15] During World War II it served as a home for evacuees from Duchy-owned properties in London. Immediately after the War, in the late 1940s it served as a boarding school for very young children.[18] Many of the original fittings of some of the 17th century rooms were removed illegally by the then owners in 1980,[19] but the magnificently decorated Job Room survives in its original Jacobean form, and is comparable to a similar room with internal porch at nearby Bradfield House, Uffculme.[20][21]