Brannoc of Braunton

Saint Brannoc was a saint of the sixth century, connected with the village of Braunton in the county of Devon, in England. His commemoration is on 7 January. The Russian Church has entered him in the Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland.

His story is confused. Some sources identify him with Saint Brynach, but Exeter Cathedral keeps the feast of Brynach on 7 April and that of Brannoc on 7 January, so they are unlikely to be one and the same saint. At Braunton itself, however, Saint Brannoc's Day is kept on 26 June.

Brannoc was a Welshman, from South Wales, who crossed to neighbouring Devon as a missionary to found a monastery there. The church at Braunton was dedicated to him from at least the year 854, and in the Middle Ages it was believed that he was buried in it, both William of Worcester and John Leland, antiquaries of the Renaissance, stating that he was buried there. Legend says that he first built his church on a hill overlooking Braunton, but it collapsed. Then it was revealed to him in a dream that he should look for the place where a sow with seven piglets was and build his church there. The story is preserved in a stained-⁠glass window and in a roof boss of Saint Brannock's Church at Braunton.

The relic of the saint was an arm, kept in the church of Saint Winifred at Branscombe, until King Athelstan moved it in 933 to Milton Abbey in Dorset. Afterwards the trace of the arm was lost.