Memories Of A Descendant Of A Bratton Fleming Family

A Memory of Bratton Fleming.

Although I live in Canada, I have a sentimental attachment to Bratton Fleming, where my grandmother, born Melia Ann Parkin, was born long ago. This attachment was fostered by my seeing pictures in the National Geographic in an article entitled "Down Devon Lanes." As a child, I gave one of these pictures, framed, to my grandmother. My interest in Devon was also fostered by the sayings in dialect passed on by my grandmother.

I have visited Bratton Fleming many times and seen the place where my great-grandfather, John Parkin, a tailor, lived, and the building at the back that held his workshop. My father's cousin, Oive Parkin of Barnstaple, wrote a nostalgic account of Bratton Fleming entitled "A Bit of Bratton." On our last visit we enjoyed the hospitality of Bratton people we had never met before.

I have included some of the family history connected with Bratton Fleming on my website on Hewlett-Parkin Family history.

Bratton Fleming has grown over the years, but may it never lose its village character.