BRENDON, a parish in Barnstaple district, Devon; at the northern extremity of the county, adjacent to the coast and to Exmoor forest, 1½ mile ESE of Lynton, and 17 NE of Barnstaple r. station. Post Town, Lynton, under Barnstaple. Acres, 6,733. Real property, £1,570. Pop., 291. Houses, 57. The manor belonged, in the time of Edward the Confessor, to Ailward Tochestone; was given by William the Conqueror to Ralph de Pomerois; passed to the Beaples and the Chichesters; and belongs now to F. W. Knight, Esq. Much of the surface is sheep-walk and deer preserve. The vale of Brendon is narrow, deep, and picturesque. The parish is a meet for the North Devon hounds. Major Wade, a leader in the insurrection under the Duke of Monmouth, was made prisoner at Farley farm. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £200. Patron, F. W. Knight, Esq. The church is a structure partly of 1733, mainly of 1828.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))