John Prince (1643–1723), in his Worthies of Devon, says he was a native of Exeter, and "born there of poor and mean parentage".

Prince appears to be quoting an earlier authority, Bishop Francis Godwin (1562–1633), who writes of Walter Bronscombe: "Patre natus Exoniensi cive, sed tenuissimae sortis et ex plebe infimâ ("He was born to a father who was a citizen of Exeter, but of the least and lowest of the common people"),[4] and it is not clear that the Branscombe family, who filled various positions of responsibility and authority in the fourteenth century,[5] married into the high Devonshire families of Courtenay and Champernowne, held land at Colyton, and took their name from the parish ever lived at Edge, Branscombe which, from the reign of King Edward III, was home to the Wadham family.

Branscombe held a prebend in of St Nicholas's College at Wallingford Castle, as well as a number of other benefices.

[7] He was ordained a priest on 10 March 1258, with both rites being performed by Boniface of Savoy, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

[2] Maurice Powicke's opinion was that, having been trained in the royal service, Branscombe settled down to become an assiduous diocesan bishop.