Heanton Punchardon | |
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St Augustine's Church, Heanton Punchardon |
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Heanton Punchardon shown within Devon | |
Population | 2,406 2011 census |
OS grid reference | SS5035 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BARNSTAPLE |
Postcode district | EX31 |
Police | Devon and Cornwall |
Fire | Devon and Somerset |
Ambulance | South Western |
EU Parliament | South West England |
UK Parliament | |
Heanton Punchardon is a village, civil parish and former manor, anciently part of Braunton Hundred. It is situated directly east-southeast of the village of Braunton, in North Devon. The parish lies on the north bank of the estuary of the River Taw and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Braunton, Marwood, Ashford and across the estuary, Fremington. The population was 418 in 1801 and 404 in 1901. Its largest localities are Wrafton and Chivenor. The surrounding area is also an electoral ward with a total population at the 2011 census of 2,673.
The parish is within Barnstaple Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. The parish church is dedicated to St Augustine, who brought Christianity to England. It is a Grade I listed building and has three listed monuments in its churchyard. Parts date to about the 13th century. It has a bell-tower at the west end, with embattled parapet with crocketted corner pinnacles. The nave contains Tudor arched doorways and a five-bay arcade. The sundial over the south porch, dated 1795, is by John and Thomas Berry.
An ornate Easter Sepulchre tomb in the chancel is to Richard Coffin (1456–1523), Sheriff of Devon in 1511. The church has monuments to the Ballyman family and to the Basset family, lords of the manor, situated in the Basset Chapel, at the east end of the north aisle, now almost fully occupied by the organ.