Branscombe Project © 2009-2024

The Branscombe Project

Articles on Local History


An occasional series of articles on local history. Click the links to read the papers (where available).



Unpublished papers by John Torrance


Saxon Branscombe


Cider as Wages



Published papers by John Torrance


‘The Landscape of Branscombe in the Early Fourteenth Century’ in J. Bliss, C. Jago & E. Maycock (eds) Aspects of Devon History  (Devon History Society, 2012), pp. 37-50


‘A Lost Chapel in Colyton’ Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, vol. XL, pt. IV, 2008, pp. 95-103


Raddis Lane: what’s in a name?’ The Devon Historian, vol. 77, 2008, pp. 51-66


‘Raddis Lane: Politics and Landscape’, Rep. Trans. Dev. Ass. Advmt Sci., vol. 141, 2009, pp 237-268


‘Branscombe 1280-1340: An East Devon Manor before the Black Death’, The Devon Historian, vol. 81, 2012, pp. 67-80


Branscombe 1280-1340: A Medieval Landscape’, The Devon Historian, vol. 82, 2013, pp. 35-50


Waterwheel (Oversteps Books, 2013, poetry)


‘The Ousting of Tomkins: a Struggle for Power in a Victorian Village’, Rep. Trans. Dev. Assoc. Advmt Schi., vol. 148, 2016, pp. 207-226


‘Medieval place-names in a landscape: Branscombe’, Journal of English Place-name Society, vol. 50, 2018, pp 75-96


‘A Hydraulic Landscape in Branscombe’, The Devon Historian, vol. 89,  2019, pp. 35-48


Under the Wave (Fore Street Press, 2021, poetry)