Brancaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or less continuous settlement along the A149 at the edge of marshland fringing Brancaster Bay and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve. The villages are located about 5 km west of Burnham Market, 35 km north of the town of King's Lynn and 50 km north-west of the city of Norwich.
The civil parish has an area of 21.43 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 897 in 453 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. The Clerk to Brancaster Parish Council has recently reached 40 years of service in this post.
A petrified forest can be seen on the shore near Brancaster at low tide. There was a Roman settlement here named Branodunum. The Saxon Shore fort at Brancaster, and accompanying area (much of which was destroyed during the construction of a locally opposed housing development in the 1970s) is not visible now, and remains mainly untouched. The garrison at Brancaster was made up of cavalry from Dalmatia. Native Roman centurions and officers were rarely posted to such remote places unless deemed necessary for disciplinary reasons.
Numerous theories exist as to what the Roman presence would have made or exploited in the area, in particular, the natural harbour that the fort would have been very close to at that time. Theories have connected it with amber although a more likely cargo would have been grain and oysters.
The Church of Burnham Deepdale St Mary is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.
The wreck that can be seen off the harbour is the steamship Vina which was used for target practice by the RAF before sinking in 1944.
[edit] References
- ^ Ordnance Survey (2002). OS Explorer Map 250 - Norfolk Coast West. ISBN 0-319-21886-4.
- ^ Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
[edit] External links
- Map sources for Brancaster
- Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale - Guide to these two villages and the beautiful north Norfolk coast
- Information from Genuki Norfolk on Brancaster.
- Norfolkcoast.co.uk on Brancaster.
- Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley which mentions the petrified forest.
- Website with photos of Burnham Deepdale St. Mary, a Round-tower church
- http://www.letzersseafood.co.uk Fishing out of Brancaster Staithe from the Whitby Crest & Speedwell Local fisherman Simon Letzer catches Lobsters & Crabs many of which are sold to local restuarants and via the Crab Hut in Brancatser Staithe Harbour.
