Earlier the manor together with the advowson of the church had been acquired by the influential Barnstaple merchant and MP John Delbridge (1564-1639).

[2] Most travellers reach West Buckland by a steep, winding, mostly single track hill up from the North Devon Link Road (A361).

There is no public house, but the village hall now has a licensed bar which is opened during a considerable number of social events throughout the year.

The village may be best known for having given its name to the adjacent co-educational independent West Buckland School: educators of, amongst others, England cricketer Harold Gimblett and British world record triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards.

The daily school traffic includes a fleet of long coaches which pass through the narrow village street twice a day.