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Northlew, Devon

As far as we can tell, the first Braund in Northlew, in mid Devon, was Lewis, the son of William and Joanne Braund née Burdon from branch 19. It is very difficult to get information about this part of the family as the parish registers for Northlew do not survive before the 1690s and the Bishop's Transcripts do not seem to be complete. Fortunately, despite the mass destruction of the majority of Devon's probate material, typescript copies of the wills of some of these Braunds and their in-laws, do survive. At some point between 1616 and 1625, Lewis,  who was born about 1593 in neighbouring Black Torrington, married Margaret Kimber, whose family were from Northlew. The couple farmed Four Shilling Moor, they also had a dwelling house called Luckcroft in the parish. Lewis and Margaret had at least four children, three daughters, Margaret, Ann and Mary and a son, William.

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William was married about 1640 to a girl called Mary, who was the step-daughter of John Coombe alias Axworthy. William was a yeoman like his father but also a saddler. With one exception, information about William and Mary's nine children comes exclusively from wills and almost nothing is known about them apart from their christian names. John Coombe mentions 'the children of William Braund' in his will and we can guess at their birth order as they are left a brass pan each of differing quality; thus John had the best brass pot, Rebecca had the second best and so on, down to Susanna who had the 'worst brass pan'. Poor Benjamin, the youngest, didn't even rate a brass pan, only 'the second best pewter dish'. Pity the poor executor who had to decide whish of John's brass pans was the fifth best and distinguish it from the fourth best!

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William and Mary's son, Benjamin, left Northlew and became a vintner in London, none of the other children have been traced, in Northlew or elsewhere. 

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Another branch of the family with origins in Northlew is branch 6, headed by John Braund and Florence, who married there in 1715 before settling in Sampford Courtney. It is likely that John is a grandchild of William and Mary née Coombe.

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The Braunds had left Northlew by the time of the 1841 census.

Northlew (6).JPG

Parish Registers


The original parish registers for St. Thomas of Canterbury, Northlew are held at Devon Heritage Centre
Baptisms 1692-1973

Marriages 1692-1837

Burials 1690-1947
Bishops’ Transcripts dating from 1610 also are held at the Heritage Centre.

The parish registers have been digitised and indexed on the subscription website FindmyPast.

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Records of the Wesleyan Chapel for c.1815-1837 are at The National Archives at Kew.

St. Thomas of Canterbury

 Northlew

Adjacent Parishes


Black Torrington

Highampton

Hatherleigh

Inwardleigh

Okehampton

Ashbury

Beaworthy

A Westcountry Village: Ashworthy, family, kinship and land by W. M. Williams Routledge and Kegan Paul (1963) is about Northlew

White's Devonshire Directory 1850


North Lew, 4 miles S.S.W. of Hatherleigh, is a large and pleasant village on an eminence, commanding delightful views and having two ancient crosses, one in the centre, the other at the cross roads. Its parish contains 1051 inhabitants and 5306 acres of land, including 2000 acres of common, 200 acres of wood, and the hamlet of Whitston. Mr. Vowler is lord of the manor of North Lew, but that of Harper's Mill belongs to Mr. W. Honeychurch; and a great part of the parish belongs to J.M. Woollcombe, Esq., Mrs. Morris, and many smaller owners. Redcliffe belongs to Mr. Woollcombe, and has a fine freestone quarry and the remains of an ancient chapel. The Church (St. Thomas a Becket,) is a small antique fabric, with a tower and five bells, and is in a delapidated state, but it is hoped that funds will shortly be raised for its reparation. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £27. 8s. 9d., and in 1831 at £342, is in the patronage of the Crown, and incumbency of the Rev. Thos. England, M.A., who has 39A. of glebe, and a neat residence, built in 1849. 

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