Great Sluice

Great Sluice is a sluice built to drain marshes, constructed around 1811 to 1815 by engineer James Green. It features coursed and dressed stone revetment walls with three segmentally arched sluice openings, flanked by two semi-circular retaining walls. The piers are grooved to allow sluice gates to slide down, and there is a continuous impost around the piers and retaining walls at the springing level of the arches. At the opposite outer end of the sluice, there are retaining walls at right angles on either side, along with two large projecting round-ended piers beside timber sluice gates leading to a single arched sluice.

Braunton Marsh was likely reclaimed from the tidal waters of the River Taw during the Middle Ages, but between 1811 and 1815, it was more extensively drained following an Act of Parliament. This effort was driven by the Lords of the Manors of Braunton Gorges, Braunton Abbotts, Braunton Arundel, and Saunton, who had grazing rights on the marshes and sought to enclose the area, which was frequently flooded. A total of 949 acres were reclaimed during this period, with surveyor John Pascoe and engineer James Green overseeing the work. Nearby Horsey Island was reclaimed between 1852 and 1857.

The late enclosures in Braunton are historically significant, particularly as the Great Field, located immediately north of the marsh, is one of only three surviving open field systems in England. As of 1984, there were only five farmers in the Great Field, but their holdings remain widely dispersed, similar to the situation in the Middle Ages when there were around 100 farmers.