The trail followed a ridge linking Okehampton (Devon) to Launceston (Cornwall), both having fortifications in the form of Norman Castles.

Bratton Clovelly lies midway between these centres hence affording a high ground resting point for travellers and traders.

is not listed in the Domesday Book of 1086[5] but in 1810 "Bunbury" was described as "the principal estate in the parish", and was then the property of John Hawkes of Okehampton.

[6] It had long been the seat of the Burnby family, as stated by Risdon (d.1640):[7] Vestiges of the Burnby family survive in St Mary's Church, in the form of fragments of 15th century heraldic glass now in the vestry but originally in the window of a former chapel at the east end of the south aisle, of which chapel the piscina survives.

Kelly's Directory of 1893 states a descendant of this family to have been the swashbuckling "Col. Fred Burnaby, RHG, killed in the Sudan",[9] at the Battle of Abu Klea.