Bramley is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In the 2001 census it had a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 3,348. It has a village shop, bakery, estate agency, pub (The Bramley Inn, opened in 1897 as The Six Bells) and a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. Also, Bramley Camp houses an Army facility where military training and manoeuvres take place.

History

Evidence of Bramley's first inhabitants can be found in Bullsdown Camp, a prehistoric settlement, where remnants of flint-scrapers, a spear-head, a core and flint-flakes have been found. This is thought to be a late Celtic " triple-walled dun". This fortification can still be seen today, situated to the east of the village south of the Bramley to Sherfield road. The Romans occupied

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern vi ...

and built a walled city known today as

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

. Bramley is on the Chichester to Silchester Way Roman road and has remains of a Romano-British villa nearby. Bramley is listed as a significant settlement in the 1086 Domesday Survey, with 39 households, in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

. Included in its resources were two mills, a church and woodlands, ploughlands and meadows with a total value of £9. The Reverend Robert Toogood wrote a history of the village and church. It includes some anecdotes about

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

's connections with the village and Cufaude Manor. The Church of St James stands at the west of the village and originally dates from 1160, however it features many historical alterations and additions up to the 20th Century. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. St James' church, Bramley, Hampshire. Within the church, images were uncovered which dated back to the pre-Reformation. The famous physicist

Lise Meitner Elise Lise Meitner ( ; ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist who was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission. After completing her doctoral research in 1906, Meitner became the second woman ...

is buried in the burial ground next to the church, near the grave of her brother Walter. The railway line between

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

was built through the village in 1848. The village had to wait another 47 years until on 1 May 1895 a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the village opened, at the insistence of the then Duke of Wellington, a prominent landowner in the area. During 1935 parts of the film 'The Last Journey' were shot on the railway within the village.

Geography

Bramley is located south of the large town of

, and north of

. The village is the site of Bramley (Hants) railway station, on the line between Reading and Basingstoke, and is served by Great Western Railway's local services. The station is north of Basingstoke.

Governance

The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Bramley includes the village of Bramley and the neighbouring settlements of Bramley Green and Bramley Corner. The village is also part of the Bramley and Sherfield

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Basingstoke and Deane borough council. The borough council is a

Non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in England. The council was created in 1889. The county council provides county-level services to eleven of the thirteen districts geo ...

. All three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. At Borough level, Bramley is represented by Councillors Nicholas Robinson and Venitia Rowland who, together, represent the Bramley and Sherfield Ward. At County level, Bramley is represented by Keith Chapman, who represents the Calleva and Kingsclere Division.

Army training area

Bramley Camp is a military training area south of the village, used mainly by 21 SAS (reserves). The camp has also been used to shoot parts of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television series '' Scrapheap Challenge,'' and the

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

series ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

.'' Because the site is not open to the public and in many ways is undisturbed; it is a valuable haven for wildlife, being home to badgers, deer and pheasant.

References

External links

Bramley Parish Council

Bramley Show
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Civil parishes in Basingstoke and Deane