- published: 21 Dec 2009
- views: 3268
Coordinates: 51°13′11″N 3°45′49″W / 51.219815°N 3.7636147°W / 51.219815; -3.7636147
Brendon is a village in Devon, England, close to the border with Somerset near the Exmoor National Park. The village is 1½ miles SE of Lynton and 15 miles (24 km) W of Minehead is in a picturesque East Lyn Valley, has 6,733 acres (27.25 km2) of land including Leeford hamlet and a large tract of moorland on the borders of Somersetshire where the rivers Exe, Lyn and Barle have their sources. The church of St. Brendon was built in 1738, possibly using the stones from the original church at Cheriton. It lies midway between Cheriton and Brendon, about two miles (3 km) from each, and has a tower and 4 bells. The village is located just off the A39 and its population was 159 in 2001.
White's Devonshire Directory (1850) describes Brendon as follows:
Brendon is home to the Exmoor Folk Festival, wonderful traditional English pubs and classic old style B&B's.
Main Road Through Brendon
The Stag Hunters Inn
The East Lyn River
Piers Brendon (born 21 December 1940, Stratton, Cornwall) is a British writer, known for historical and biographical works. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, Shropshire, and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read History. He earned his Ph.D for his thesis, Hurrell Froude and the Oxford Movement, which was published, with much modification, in 1974.
From 1965-78, Dr. Brendon was Lecturer in History, then Principal Lecturer and Head of Department, at what is now Anglia Polytechnic University. From 1979 onwards he has worked as a free-lance writer - books, journalism and television and from 1995 he has been a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge and was Keeper of the Churchill Archives Centre from 1995 to 2001, taking over from Correlli Barnett. He was succeeded by Allen Packwood.