Brightwell is a village and
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
East Suffolk district, in the English county of
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 ...
. It has a church called St John The Baptist. For transport there is the
A12 road This is a list of roads designated A12. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country.
* A012 road (Argentina), a road around the city of Rosario
* A12 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Kufstein and the German Autobahn A 93 to Landec ...
nearby. It is near the large town 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 ...
. Adjacent parishes include
Foxhall,
Bucklesham
Bucklesham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, a few miles east of Ipswich.
History
Bucklesham is derived from the old English meaning Buccel's homestead or village.
The villag ...
,
Martlesham
Martlesham is a village in Suffolk, England about two miles (3 km) South-West of Woodbridge and East of Ipswich. It is often referred to as "old Martlesham" by locals in order to distinguish this old village from the much more recent Martl ...
and
Newbourne. The population at the 2011 Census was only minimal and is included in the civil parish of Foxhall.
In the fifteenth century Brightwell Manor was possessed by William Curzon. His son, Sir Robert Curzon, Knt., created a Baron of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
by the Emperor Maximilian for his gallantry against the Turks, was a Yorkist conspirator and declared a traitor in 1501, although was later back in favour at the English Court. It is possible that Brightwell was forfeited by him in 1501 as he is thereafter referred to as "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 ...
".
Brightwell Hall was extensively remodelled about 1663 by
Sir Samuel Barnardiston MP, leader of the Suffolk
Whigs and a deputy Governor of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. It was demolished in about 1755 but traces of the park's parterres and garden walks still remain.
John Constable
John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
painted a landscape in oil in 1815 of Brightwell.
References
Villages in Suffolk
Civil parishes in Suffolk
Suffolk Coastal
{{Suffolk-geo-stub