Branston, Staffordshire

Branston
Branston Depot, the original home of Branston Pickle
Branston  Branston shown within Staffordshire
Population	6,540 (2001)
OS grid reference	SK2321
Civil parish	Branston
District	East Staffordshire
Shire county	Staffordshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BURTON-ON-TRENT
Postcode district	DE14
Dialling code	01283
Police	Staffordshire
Fire	Staffordshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Burton
List of places UK England Staffordshire

Branston is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 6,540.^[1]

Branston was originally a small village beside the River Trent and lies to the south of Burton upon Trent. It spread in the 19th century along the main Burton to Lichfield road, which is now the dual carriageway A38. There is much 19th- and 20th-century housing along Clays Lane, north of the village, and along Burton Road to the east. Elsewhere, the land is mainly farmland, with the former Sinai Park in the northern part of the township.

Branston has many housing developments such as Regents Park and Fairway estate next to Branston Golf Course.

There are two schools in Branston, Rykneld Primary School and Paget High School.

Branston was the original home of Branston Pickle, before production moved to Bury St. Edmunds in 2004.

The parish church in Branston is St Saviour's, part of the Diocese of Lichfield.

The name Branston is Old English and means an estate belonging to a man called Brant, a personal name of Scandinavian origin. The medieval village stood near the river, its position decided by its proximity to a ford

In 942 King Edmund granted an estate at Branston to Wulfsige the Black, possibly an ancestor of Wulfric Spot, the founder of Burton Abbey, and in 1066 it was held by Godgifu (Lady Godiva), the widow of Leofric, Earl of Mercia.

By the later 18th century the village stood at the east end of Old Road, which with Warren Lane formed the line of the medieval road between Burton and Lichfield before Main Street was laid out to the north in the early 19th century. A new village centre then developed along Main Street. A Congregational chapel was opened in 1834, and there was a post office by 1871.

A public house mentioned in 1789 was by 1818 called the Gate inn. It presumably stood on the site of the present inn of that name at the southern end of the modern village, and took its name from the nearby toll-gate set up after the Burton-Lichfield road was turn-piked in 1729. By 1818 there was another inn a short distance to the north. Then called the White Hart, it was known as the Anglesey Arms by the earlier 1830s and still existed in 1918. A third inn, the present Blacksmiths Arms at the junction of Main Street and Old Road, existed as a beer house called the Smiths Arms in 1851.

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References

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