Bramerton

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Bramerton is a village in South Norfolk 4¾ miles (7½ km) south-east of Norwich, just north of the A146 and south of the River Yare. In the 2001 census it contained 158 households and a population of 350.^[1]

1 The Village
2 St. Peter's Church
3 Woods End
4 Sports and Recreation
5 Transport links
6 Geology
7 Nearby Villages
8 External links
9 References

[edit] The Village

Bramerton is centred along 'The Street', around St. Peter's Church. Opposite the church lies Church Farm, once the site of Herbert Parker Ltd agricultural and seed merchants, but now Church Farm Business Centre. Bramerton no longer has a post office (closed 1968), shop (closed 1977) or school (closed 1978) but still has a pub, Bramerton Woods End, which lies on the south bank of the River Yare to the north of the village in the hamlet of Woods End. At the north end of the village is a Dawn Christadelphian Hall, first opened in 1952, but extended in the 1960s and then again in the 1980s.^[2] Bramerton is also the home to Bramerton Health Care Clinic offering homeopathy, herbal supplements and dietary advice.

[edit] St. Peter's Church

Parts of the church date back to the 13th century but it was extensively rebuilt in 1462 and the interior is now almost entirely Victorian. The entrance to the church is via a lych-gate built in the late 1920s by local carpenter John Shingles using oak from local trees.^[3]

See St Peters Bramerton page on the Norfolk Churches website

[edit] Woods End

Billy Bluelight on the Wherryman's Way at Woods End PH with the River Yare in background

There has been an Inn on the site since before 1700. In Victorian times it possessed tea rooms and gardens popular with river-borne day-trippers from Norwich. In 1828 the scene was painted by Joseph Stannard entitled Boats on the Yare at Bramerton it now resides in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. It is still a popular spot for the mooring of pleasure craft and is also one of the few places on the Norfolk Broads where water skiing is allowed. Outside the pub is a statue of the colourful Billy Bluelight (William Cullum), who in the 1920s/30s used to challenge boat trippers to a race along the river bank from Norwich towards Great Yarmouth. He is famed for his claim... "My name is Billy Bluelight, my age is 45, I hope to get to Carrow Bridge before the boat arrive." He is said to have remained '45' for many years.^[4] Just to the east lies Bramerton Common which provides picturesque moorings. The rocks coming to the surface in the woods adjacent to the common have given their name to an inter-glacial stage in Britain's pre-history. (See Geology below).

Bramerton Woods End

See Woods End Inn page of www.norfolkpubs.co.uk for historical details.

The Woods End Inn

[edit] Sports and Recreation

Bramerton and District Bowls club was founded in 1965, moving to its current location near the village hall in 1972. The village hall itself was erected by voluntary labour in 1988 after having been rescued from its previous existence as a Surlingham bungalow. The village hall is now the venue for a range of activities

Bramerton Village Hall

including a play group, Brownies and yoga. Adjacent to the Bowls club is a children's playground with swings, climbing frame and slide. At Grange Farm Barns in the centre of the village is a Caravan Club certified location.^[5]

[edit] Transport links

Bramerton is served by bus route 001 operated by Anglian Coaches providing six services a day into Norwich via Kirby Bedon and to the neighbouring villages of Surlingham and Rockland St. Mary — timetable

National Cycle Route 1 passes Woods End on its route from Norwich via Trowse and Whitlingham and out to Loddon via Surlingham.

Wherryman's Way a Long distance footpath passes close by at Woods End.

[edit] Geology

The rock strata reaching the surface in the area known as Bramerton Pits adjacent to Bramerton Common at Woods End have given its name to an early Pleistocene glacial stage used in the British Isles called Bramertonian interglacial distinctive by the presence of shelly, sandy deposits indicative of a temperate climate. ^[6] Bramerton Pits has been noted as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and has been excavated on several occasions.