Brantham

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The Brantham Bull pub

Coordinates: 51°58′08″N 1°03′47″E / 51.969°N 1.063°E

Brantham
Brantham Brantham shown within Suffolk
Population	2,650 ^[1] (2005)
OS grid reference	TM105345
District	Babergh
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Manningtree
Postcode district	CO11
EU Parliament	East of England
List of places UK England Suffolk

Brantham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, United Kingdom. Located in Babergh district, it is situated 2 miles (3 km) north of Manningtree and 9 miles (14 km) south west of Ipswich.

History

The name Brantham is of Anglo Saxon origin - Brant for 'hill' and ham 'village' — hence, 'village on the hill'. Another possible translation may be 'burnt village', a name given after a Viking invasion coming up from the River Stour. Evidence of the village's Saxon hertigae can be found in the form of some silver ninety coins from the time of Edward the Elder (899-924) in what has become known as the Brantham Hoard, found in the village in 2003.

Brantham is mentioned in the 1086 Doomesday book as having 38 households and under the lordship of Aelfric of Weinhou. Until 1887 the local economy was almost entirely agricultural. This changed in 1887 when British Xylonite Ltd. purchased the 130-acre (0.53 km²) Brooklands Farm and built their factory, which was later renamed BX Plastics.^[2] There was insufficient accommodation available locally for the workforce, so the company also built Brantham New Village, consisting of about 60 new houses.

Recreation

Brantham Leisure Centre is a community-interest company providing venues for football, bowls, netball, cricket and tennis, plus bar and function facilities.^[3]

The village's football club, Brantham Athletic, competes in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League.

Residents participate in a variety of recurring charitable events, including an annual Guy Fawkes Night fireworks event.

Historical buildings and notable former residents

Brantham's parish church of St. Michael and All Angels dates back to the 14th century, although it is believed a religious building has been on the site for over 1,000 years. The church also has connections with Dodnash Priory (founded in 1188). When the priory was dissolved at the time of the Reformation, it is thought that some of the priory's medieval glass was fitted in one of the south facing nave windows. The church underwent extensive repairs in 2004 following extensive fund raising efforts and a £23,000 grant from the UK National Lottery. St Michael's owns one of only two known religious paintings by John Constable. "Christ blessing the children" was presented to the church by the artist himself in 1805. A reproduction hangs on display in the church today but the original is kept at the Ipswich museum. Brantham is generally acknowledged, along with Flatford, Dedham and East Bergholt, to be part of 'Constable Country'. The artist chose a cottage in the village overlooking the Stour as a subject to one of his sketches 'Fisherman's cottage in Brantham with a view of Mistley Hall' in 1796.

The Tudor didactic poet Thomas Tusser settled at Katwade (now Cattiwade) and is believed to have written his most famous work "A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie" at Braham Hall. The lord of the manor of Brantham in the 15th century was 'shire knight of Suffolk' Sir John Braham (d.1420).

The village's oldest pub, the Brantham Bull, is a 16th-century grade 2 listed building. Some of the beams from the building are thought to have come from the wreckage of the Spanish armarda and over the centuries the building has also been used as a court house and a prison. Witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins, once hanged a lady by the name of Nancy on the green outside the front of the building. A passage used by smugglers used to run from the pub's cellar out to the River Stour.

Transport

Brantham is about half a mile from Manningtree station. A long railway cutting runs past the village. At one point near Brantham Bull it is the deepest railway cutting in Suffolk. There was once a siding to Marsh Farm, where fresh fruit and vegetables were loaded for London, and a siding going into the old BX Plastics factory (now derelict) for loading and unloading materials. Both were disused by the end of the 1930s.

References

↑ Estimates of total population of areas in Suffolk Suffolk County Council
↑ Aftalion, Fred (2001). A history of the international chemical industry By. Chemical Heritage Foundation. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-941901-29-1.
↑ Welcome to Brantham Leisure Centre Official site

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brantham.

Brantham Vision of Britain

v t e Babergh

Towns	Sudbury Hadleigh

Civil parishes	Acton Aldham Alpheton Arwarton Assington Belstead Bentley Bildeston Boxford Boxted Brantham Brent Eleigh Brettenham Bures St Mary Burstall Capel St Mary Chattisham Chelmondiston Chelsworth Chilton Cockfield Copdock and Washbrook East Bergholt Edwardstone Elmsett Freston Glemsford Great Cornard Great Waldingfield Groton Hadleigh (town) Harkstead Hartest Higham Hintlesham Hitcham Holbrook Holton St Mary Kersey Kettlebaston Lavenham Lawshall Layham Leavenheath Lindsey Little Cornard Little Waldingfield Long Melford Milden Monks Eleigh Nayland with Wissington Nedging with Naughton Newton Pinewood Polstead Preston St Mary Raydon Semer Shelley Shimpling Shotley Somerton Sproughton Stanstead Stoke by Nayland Stratford St Mary Stutton Sudbury (town) Tattingstone Thorpe Morieux Wattisham Wenham Magna Wenham Parva Whatfield Wherstead Woolverstone

Other settlements	Ash Street Audley End Bower House Tye Bridge Street Broad Street Burstallhill Bury Road, Lawshall Calais Street Castling's Heath Chelsworth Common Cock Street Cornard Tye Cuckoo Tye Dorking Tye Drakestone Green East End Fenstead End Gipsy Row Gosling Green Hadleigh Heath Hanningfield Green Harrow Green Hart's Green Hibb's Green Honey Tye Horner's Green Humble Green Kersey Tye Kersey Upland Lambs Lane, Lawshall Lawshall Green Lindsey Tye Lower Holbrook Lower Raydon Mill Green Naughton Nayland Nedging Nedging Tye Newman's Green Parliament Heath Polstead Heath Priory Green Rooksey Green Rose Green, Assington Rose Green, Lindsey Round Maple Sackers Green Scotland Street Smithwood Green Swingleton Green Sherbourne Street Shop Corner Stackyard Green Stone Street Tattingstone White Horse The Street, Lawshall Thorington Street Upper Somerton Washmere Green Whelp Street Whitestreet Green Wicker Street Green William's Green Wissington Washbrook Washbrook Street White Street Green Withermarsh Green Workhouse Green

Buildings	Abbas Hall All Saints Church Lawshall Coldham Cottage Flatford Mill Kentwell Hall Lawshall Hall Melford Hall Milden Castle St James's Chapel Wattisham Strict Baptist Chapel Willy Lott's Cottage Woolverstone Hall

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