Brandeston is a village in Suffolk, England on the

River Deben The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at F ...

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 ...

. Brandeston is west of

Kettleburgh Kettleburgh is a small village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk. The population of this Civil Parish at the 2011 Census was 231. It is near the small towns of Wickham Market and Framlingham in the valley of ...

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 Earl Soham is a small settlement in Suffolk, England. It is on the A1120 road and is west of the town of Framlingham. Earl Soham once belonged to the Earls of Norfolk, the Bigod family (sometimes spelt "Bigot" in old texts), who also owned near ...

. 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 Framlingham College is a public school (independent day and boarding school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 ye ...

. 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 ...

by the self-styled 'Witchfinder General'

Matthew Hopkins Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament, a ...

, and was tried at the 1645 Bury St Edmunds witch trial where he was hanged. Lowes story was dramatised as part of Ronald Bassett'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 Ronald Bassett '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 William Clubbe (or Clubb) (1745–1814) was an English clergyman and poetical writer. Life He was seventh son of John Clubbe, rector of Whatfield in Suffolk, baptised at Whatfield on 16 April 1745. He was educated at Newcome's School and Caius ...

(1745–1814), clergyman and poetical writer. * Alan Greene (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 str ...

er. * William Verner Longe (1857-1924), painter, best known for his paintings of horses. *

Ghillean Prance Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (born 13 July 1937) is a prominent British botanist and ecologist who has published extensively on the taxonomy of families such as Chrysobalanaceae and Lecythidaceae, but drew particular attention in documenting the ...

(1937- ), botanist, 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 1,10 ...

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