Brantham

The Brantham Bull pub

Brantham
St Michael's Church, Brantham
Brantham
Brantham shown within Suffolk
Population	2,566 (2011)^[1]
OS grid reference	TM105345
Civil parish	Brantham
District	Babergh
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Manningtree
Postcode district	CO11
Dialling code	01206

Police	Suffolk
Fire	Suffolk
Ambulance	East of England

EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	South Suffolk

Brantham is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. It is located close to the River Stour and the border with Essex, around 2 miles (3 km) north of Manningtree, and around 9 miles (14 km) southwest 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 Domesday 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 drawing, which is in the V&A museum in London is one of the earliest dated drawings by Constable of which the whereabouts are now known.

The Tudor didactic poet Thomas Tusser settled at Katwade (now Cattawade) 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. The former was disused by the end of the 1930s. The BX siding was active until the early 1960s for coal deliveries.

In 2018 Greater Anglia will open a train depot on the site a former Imperial Chemical Industries factory.^[4]^[5]^[6]

References

↑ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 10 September 2015.
↑ 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
↑ Abellio unveils plans for new £70 million state-of-the-art depot near Manningtree Daily Gazette 10 February 2017
↑ New rail depot unveiled by Greater Anglia at Brantham on Suffolk/Essex border East Anglian Daily Times 10 February 2017
↑ Plans unveiled for new depot near Manningtree Great Anglia 13 February 2017

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brantham.

Brantham Vision of Britain

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 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, 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

Ceremonial county of Suffolk
Boroughs or districts	Babergh Forest Heath Ipswich Mid Suffolk St Edmundsbury Suffolk Coastal Waveney
Major settlements	Aldeburgh Beccles Brandon Bungay Bury St Edmunds Carlton Colville Clare Eye Felixstowe Framlingham Hadleigh Halesworth Haverhill Kesgrave Leiston Lowestoft Mildenhall Needham Market Newmarket Orford Saxmundham Southwold Stowmarket Sudbury Woodbridge See also: List of civil parishes in Suffolk
Topics	Parliamentary constituencies Places Places of interest Population of major settlements SSSIs Country houses Grade I listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings History Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Schools Museums Windmills

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