Bridford

Bridford is a village in the Teign valley on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, in Devon. It borders Dunsford, Doddiscombsleigh, Christow and Moretonhampstead parishes. The name appears around 1080 as Bridaford and in Domesday Book (1086) as Brideforda, meaning the brides' ford, and Domesday counts 59 households. The population was 444 in 1801, 609 in 1851 and 404 in 1901, and 503 at the 2011 census.

The church of St Thomas Becket was dedicated by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter in November 1259. The present Grade I listed building has a 14th-century chancel and 15th-century tower and nave, built largely of granite. Its rood screen dates from the early to mid 1500s and carries the initials of the vicar, Walter Southcote, with the double rose and pomegranate of Katherine of Aragon. Parish registers start in 1538.

Mining shaped the parish. The Wheal Ann copper, tin and silver-lead company began commercial work in 1849 and became Bridford Consols, and barytes extraction began in 1875 and continued until 1958, with over 400,000 tons taken out. A school opened in 1878 for 85 children and closed in December 1948. The Teign Valley railway lost its passenger service in 1958 and closed in 1967. Today the village has the Bridford Inn, a Methodist chapel, a village hall, and a summer fete in July. It is twinned with Saint-Vaast-sur-Seulles in Normandy.