Brandeston is a village in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England on the River Deben northeast of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. Brandeston is west of Kettleburgh and northwest of Hoo Green. It is a Parish in Plomesgate district and 3½ miles SW of Framlingham r. station."

History

Brandeston Priory is to the north of the village, on the road to Earl Soham. It is a Grade II* farmhouse, dating back to 1586.

"19th century Brandeston Hall stands beside the church; for many centuries, its predecessor on the site was home to the Revett family, but it is now a public school."

Brandeston Hall Brandeston Hall is a grade II* listed house in Old Maids Lane, Brandeston, Suffolk, England. The Hall is the former manor house of Brandeston but is now used for educational purposes. The original house was built around 1550 for Andrew Revett, b ...

, the largest building in the village, is now the preparatory department of nearby Framlingham College. It was largely destroyed in a fire in 1847 and rebuilt as an exact replica by its then owner Charles Austin QC, who married Harriet Jane Ingilby of Ripley Castle and died at the hall.

Sutton Hoo, a few miles away from Brandeston, is the ceremonial burial place of the first English kings, who led their people through the misty marshlands of what is now the River Deben and established their first settlements on its banks.

The number of households from the period 1831 to 1961 fluctuates with little pattern. The data has no huge anomalies except for one but yet no clear relationship. For example, the one large anomaly in the data is the period from 1831 to 1851. In 1831 there were 64 occupied households yet in 1841 there were 108 before declining again to 66 households occupied in 1851. The 20th century map of Brandeston from Vision of Britain shows Brandeston and the surrounding villages, including Cretingham, Hoo and Kettleburgh.

Churches

The medieval parish church (the Church of All Saints) is a Gothic building, with a square tower. There is an Independent chapel, built in 1838, capable of accommodating 400 persons. In 1602, the chancel of All Saints was described as ruinous, and from 1861 to 1863 restoration of the church began. The Vicar of Brandeston between 1596 and 1645 was John Lowes. Lowes was accused of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

by the self-styled 'Witchfinder General' Matthew Hopkins, and was tried at the 1645 Bury St Edmunds witch trial where he was hanged. Lowes story was dramatised as part of

Ronald Bassett Ronald Leslie Bassett DSM (10 April 1924 – March 1996) was a British writer and novelist. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction, sometimes under the pseudonym of "William Clive".Atkinson, Frank (1987) ''Dictionary of Literary Pseudo ...

's 1966 novel '' Witchfinder General'' which was released as a film two years later. Lowes' figure now features on the

village sign In many parts of England, an ornamental village sign is erected to announce the village name to those entering the village. They are typically placed on the principal road entrance or in a prominent location such as a village green. The design ...

, hanging from the gallows.

Demographic

Brandeston population time series 1801 - 2011

According to the 2011 Census, there were 144 males and 152 females living in Brandeston. The median age of residents in Brandeston is 48 and 49.3% of all usual residents are in the age range of 45–74, according to the Office of National Statistics. Occupations have been grouped by status from 1831 data. It shows that there were 15 people categorised as Employers & Professionals, 31 as Middling Sorts, 70 as Labourers & Servants and 22 as Others. The graph titled 'Occupational structure for Brandeston in 1881' shows the dominance of men working during this time. The main occupational sector for men was by far agriculture, the second most popular sector was persons working with houses, furniture and decorations, and thirdly those working with animals. The women's occupational structure is very different with unknown occupations, persons without specified occupations and domestic offices or services all being the main sectors that they worked in. Occupation definitions are different from those in 1831. In 2011 out of 134, 42 work in Professional occupations, 27 work in Associate Professional and Technical Occupations, 21 as Managers, Directors and Senior Officials, 14 in Administrative and Secretarial Occupations, 14 in Skilled Trades Occupations, 7 in Caring and Leisure Occupations, 6 in Sales and Customer Service Occupations, 2 in Elementary Occupations and 1 in Process, Plant and Machine Operatives. General health in Brandeston was mostly 'Very Good Health' in 2011 with a majority of 162 usual residents under this category, 106 under 'Good Health', 23 under 'Fair', 5 under 'Bad' and no residents in the 'Very Bad Health' category.

In fiction

Brandeston features prominently in

's 1966 novel ''Witchfinder'' ''General'' and in the 1968 film of the same name, although the latter was not filmed in the village.

Notable residents

* William Clubbe (1745–1814), clergyman and poetical writer. *

Alan Greene Alan Greene (August 29, 1911 – March 12, 2001) was an American diver who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1936 he won the bronze medal in the 3 m springboard event. References 1911 births 2001 deaths Divers at the 1936 ...

(1856–1928),

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. *

William Verner Longe William Verner Longe (31 May 1857 - 19 September 1924) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Biography Longe was born the son of Revd John Longe (1832–1916) and his wife Maria Elizabeth Verner née Martin. Longe wa ...

(1857-1924), painter, best known for his paintings of horses. * Ghillean Prance (1937- ),

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, ecologist, and Director of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

between 1988 and 1999.

Gallery

File:'The Queens Head Inn' at Brandeston - geograph.org.uk - 340411.jpg , The Queens Head Inn, Brandeston File:Brandeston.png , 20th century map of Brandeston, Suffolk File:Brandeston Hall - geograph.org.uk - 339603.jpg ,

References

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Carlford Division, Suffolk