Brannock of Braunton

Brannock of Braunton was a missionary monk of the sixth century who, by tradition, migrated from South Wales into North Devon, where he founded a monastery at Braunton near Barnstaple and served as its first abbot. A pre-schism Western saint venerated as Orthodox, he is remembered for his missionary labors in Devon and for the church that has borne his name and his patronage from at least the ninth century.

The traditions surrounding Brannock are admittedly confused, and the saint is recorded under several spellings — Barnoc, Brannoc, and Brannocus among them. Some hagiographers have identified him with the sixth-century Welsh missionary Saint Brynach, though the two are generally held to be distinct. By tradition he is associated with the household of Brychan, the Welsh chieftain whose descendants populate much of the early hagiography of South Wales and the West Country; one liturgical text names him a tutor of the children of Brychan.

Brannock's settlement at Braunton grew in importance over the following centuries. The church dedicated to him was established by at least 854, and the minster that developed around it gave rise to the Saxon settlement known as Brannocminster, which by the time of the Norman Conquest was a royal manor ranked with Barnstaple. The Domesday Survey of 1086 records St Brannock's among the principal churches of Devon, evidence of the standing his foundation had attained.