Bradenham 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 authorit ...

, a conglomeration of East and West Bradenham, in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It is situated some south-west of the town of East Dereham and west of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 237 – Norwich''. .

Geography

The civil parish has an area of 16.55 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 722 in 301 households, the population decreasing to 700 in 293 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the

Breckland district Breckland is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Dereham. The district had a population of 130,491 at the 2011 Census. The district derives its name from the Breckland landscape region, a gorse-covered sandy ...

.Office for National Statistics and Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
'. Retrieved 2 December 2005. The

River Wissey The River Wissey is a river in Norfolk, eastern England. It rises near Bradenham, and flows for nearly to join the River Great Ouse at Fordham. The lower are navigable. The upper reaches are notable for a number of buildings of historic int ...

rises in Bradenham and flows to the west whilst the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the vil ...

rises to the east of Bradenham and flows to the east.

History

Bradenham derives from the Anglo-Saxon for a broad (meaning large)

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 ...

. Bradenham is home to St. Mary's Church, a Grade 1 listed building dating back to the Fourteenth Century. Bradenham Hall was home to the

Haggard family The Haggard family is an English familyBurke, B. ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland'', 14th ed. (1925). Haggard of Bradenham, pp. 804-806. associated with Bradenham Hall in Norfolk that was invol ...

for many years and the birthplace of the writer Sir

Henry Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

.Burke, B. (1925). (14th ed.). ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland''. London: Henry Colborn, pp. 804-806.

References

External links

* *Information from Genuki Norfolk o
East Bradenham
an
West Bradenham
Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub