Broughton is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

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 ...

to the east of

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. Broughton is also the name of a nearby

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

itself. Early recordings of Broughton are:
- the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

where it appears as "22 households (quite large)"
- as being part of the manor of

Bierton Bierton is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, about half a mile northeast of the town of Aylesbury. It is mainly a farming parish. Together with the hamlets of Broughton, Kingsbrook, Broughton Crossing and Burcott it hi ...

in the late 13th century. The hamlet name is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

and means ''

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

by a brook''. The brook in this case is the Bearbrook that rises near Bedgrove, flows through Broughton then back into Aylesbury before joining the

River Thame The River Thame is a river in Southern England. A tributary of the River Thames, the river runs generally south-westward for about from its source above the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury to the Thames in south-east Oxfordshire. Course Thr ...

near

Quarrendon Quarrendon or Quarrendon Leas is a medieval English village near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, which has been depopulated since the 16th century and is now a scheduled monument. Description Quarrendon's site is now a large area of field ...

. In the 1840s, a new branch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

was constructed linking Aylesbury to the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

that crossed the road that linked Broughton with Bierton. A

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and signalmen's cottages were constructed at the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

and the area became known as Broughton Crossing. Today, this is considered a separate hamlet from Broughton itself. In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson described Bierton With Broughton like this: ''BIERTON-WITH-BROUGHTON, a parish in Aylesbury district, Bucks; on the Aylesbury railway, near the Aylesbury canal, 1½ mile NE of Aylesbury. It has a post office, of the name of Bierton, under Aylesbury. Acres, 2,470. Real property, £5,312. Pop., 691. Houses, 149. The property is divided among a few. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Quarrendon, in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £310.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. The church is a structure of the 12th century, with tower and spire; was recently well repaired; and contains a piscina, and a curious monument of 1616 to Samuel Pope and his thirteen children. There are chapels for Baptists and Methodists, a national school, and charities £40.'' In the 1960s British

housing boom Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

, land that belonged to the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Bierton was sold to developers who constructed the housing estate of Broughton. Many local people immediately think of the estate when they hear the word 'Broughton,' as it is a very popular estate on which to live. This was one of several developments in

. All that separates Broughton hamlet from Broughton estate today is the brook from which the hamlet first took its name. Broughton is served by New Millside Pre-School for children aged from two to five, Broughton Infant School for children aged from four to seven, and Broughton Junior School for children aged from seven to eleven. Both schools are community schools, which each take approximately 180 pupils. In the same building as the pre-school, there is the Sure Start Children's Centre which serves the Broughton and immediately surrounding areas. There is an Anglican (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

) Church that meets at Circus Fields Canal Basin HP20 1AP) The church was established in 1989. Originally it was a daughter church of Holy Trinity, Walton. In August 2009 the

Church Commissioners The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

changed the parish boundaries in this part of

and Broughton Church became a parish in its own right. In July 2014 a community coffee shop called more⁺ was opened in Parton Road. It is operated by Broughton Community Action which is a Registered Charity. The aim is to provide a place where residents can meet and enhance community on the estate. Arriva the Shires & Essex 'Pink Route' 8 to

bus station serves Broughton housing estate Monday-Saturday, at a frequency of up to every 20 minutes. The service runs via the nearby housing estate of Bedgrove.

Civil parish

Historically Broughton formed part of the

Bierton with Broughton Bierton is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, about half a mile northeast of the town of Aylesbury. It is mainly a farming parish. Together with the hamlets of Broughton, Kingsbrook, Broughton Crossing and Burcott it his ...

with

and other neighbouring hamlets. The development of the new village of Kingsbrook and the subsequent desire for a new parish council there to be separated from that of Bierton. As this proposal would result in the land around Broughton to the south of Kingsbrook becoming separated from Bierton, it was decided to divide the parish of Bierton with Broughton into three, and the new parish of Broughton Hamlet came into existence on 7 May 2020.

External links

New Millside Pre-School website

Broughton Community Infant School website

Broughton Junior School website

Broughton Church website

Broughton Community Action website

References

{{Aylesbury Vale Hamlets in Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire