Bromham 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 ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England, west of the town of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

. It is within commuting distance of London via

Bedford railway station Bedford railway station (formerly Bedford Midland Road and historically referred to on some signage as Bedford Midland) is the larger of two railway stations in the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the Midland Main Line fro ...

Name

Bromham (Bruneham in Domesday) is probably the enclosed meadow on which the broom or the dyers' weed grew (at present no such flora can be found at that location). Another theory as to the origin of the village's name is Bruna's homestead and was first recorded as Bruneham in 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 ...

of 1086. Other variants including Bruham (1164–1302), Braham (1227), Bramham (1228), Brumham (1262–87), Brunham (1276–91), Brumbham (1276), Brynham (1276), Broham (1278), Bronham (1338), Broam (1360), Brounham (1361) and Burnham (1361). The modern spelling is first recorded in 1227.

History

The land formed part of the

Barony of Bedford Barony of England, Bedford, England. First creation *Created for Paine de Beauchamp, by William Rufus * William de Beauchamp - forfeit for rebelling in the First Barons' War * Faukes de Brent - sent by King John of England to enforce Willi ...

held by the Beauchamps. After the

Battle of Evesham The Battle of Evesham (4 August 1265) was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by the future King Edward I, who led t ...

, in which John de Beauchamp fell fighting on the side of the barons, the manor was held for a time by Prince Edward, but afterward divided among the Beauchamp female heirs. Bromham afterward passed successively into the hands of the Mowbrays, the Latimers, the Nevilles, the Passelowes, the Wildes and the Dyves. Early in the 18th century, the manor was bought by Sir Thomas Trevor, who was afterward created Lord Trevor, and whose mother was a daughter of

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of t ...

, the patriot. Three of his sons succeeded to the title. One of them – the third Lord Trevor – married

Sir Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...

's (Dick Steele) daughter; and another – the fourth Lord Trevor – inherited the Great Hampden Estate in Bucks, through his grandmother, and was created

Viscount Hampden Viscount Hampden is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the Peerage of Great Britain when the diplomat and politician Robert Hampde ...

. The Trevors became connected through marriage with the Rice family (the Dynevor Rices) and at the death of the late Miss Rice Trevor the estate passed to the Wingfields.

Social

Bromham plays host to several social events through the year, Bromfest, The Duck Race and many other well organised events.

Notable features

It has a number of notable features including a

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

(Bromham Mill, now open to the public), the Church of St Owen, and a medieval bridge over the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

that, until 1986, carried the main

A428 road The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It runs between the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford. Together with the A421, (and the A43, M40 and the A34), the eastern ...

over the river on 26 arches. The watermill is referred to in the

of 1086 and the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

navigated the Great Ouse a long time ago. The mill was extensively restored in 1980 by

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

s Gormley and Goodman to the extent that it was able to grind wheat for flour again for the first time that year since it ceased work in 1939. Alterations to the weir below the mill's

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Othe ...

shortly afterwards caused a reduction to the height of the head-race, resulting in poorer performance from the mill's impulse water-wheel.

Location

The parish is for the greater part enclosed in a bend in the Great Ouse, and it touches the parishes of Oakley,

Biddenham Biddenham is a large village and a civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, located to the west of Bedford near the A428 road. The village largely serves as a dormitory settlement for Bedford, and also for commuters to London, being on the same s ...

Kempston Kempston is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. It had a population of 19,330 in the 2011 census. Kempston is part of Bedford's built-up area and is situated directly south-west of Bedford proper. The Riv ...

Stagsden Stagsden is a small but historic village and civil parish located in northwest Bedfordshire, near the Buckinghamshire border. Situated on the main route between nearby Bedford and Milton Keynes, the village was bypassed by the A422 in April 19 ...

, Stevington and at its western point, Turvey. It is to the west of Bedford.

References

External links

St Owen's Church websiteVillage websiteBromham section of the Victoria County History of Bedfordshire onlineBromham Baptist Church website
{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Populated places on the River Great Ouse Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford