Nothing for certain is known of Walter Branscombe's origins and education, but he is thought to have been born in Exeter in about 1220. although others appear to dispute this.
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"), and it is not clear that the Branscombe family, who filled various positions of responsibility and authority in the fourteenth century, 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. ==Career==