Brampton Bryan

Last updated

Brampton Bryan
Fight, Brampton Bryan - geograph.org.uk - 910039.jpg
Herefordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Brampton Bryan
Location within Herefordshire
OS grid reference SO375725
Civil parish
  • Brampton Bryan
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BUCKNELL
Postcode district SY7
Dialling code 01547
Police West Mercia
Fire Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance West Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Herefordshire
52°20′49″N2°55′08″W / 52.3469°N 2.9189°W / 52.3469; -2.9189
Brampton Bryan Hall; c. 1930s Brampton Bryan Hall (3450662830).jpg
Brampton Bryan Hall; c. 1930s

Brampton Bryan is a small village and civil parish situated in north Herefordshire, England close to the Shropshire and Welsh borders.

Contents

Brampton Bryan lies midway between Leintwardine and Knighton on the A4113 road. The nearest station is Bucknell railway station on the Heart of Wales Line. The village has had a complex history and its buildings reflect this. Much of Brampton Bryan is owned by the estate of the Harley family who have controlled the area since the early fourteenth century. They succeeded the powerful Mortimer family.

As well as the main village, the parish contains the hamlets of Boresford and Pedwardine.

Buildings

The ruins of Brampton Bryan Castle are on a floodplain south of the River Teme, 50 metres (160 ft) north of the church. From this site the castle guarded an important route from Ludlow along the Teme Valley to Knighton and on into Central Wales. The area has been important since Roman times and the village is a few miles west of Leintwardine - an important Roman site.

The current buildings include the ruined earthwork and buried remains of the quadrangular castle. The medieval layout consisted of four ranges built around a courtyard, with a gatehouse contained within the southern curtain wall, to which a large outer gatehouse was added. The whole was constructed on a motte and surrounded by a moat, with the approach to the castle being from the south across a bridge to the gatehouse.

The north range contained the hall and service bay, both at first floor level, with the kitchen to the east. Private accommodation was found in the other ranges, with further chambers above the gate passage of the inner gatehouse and on the first floor of the outer gatehouse. The current house was built following the English Civil War and is largely eighteenth century.

St Barnabas Church was built in 1656, during the period of the Commonwealth. It replaces an earlier building that was destroyed during the siege of Brampton Bryan castle in 1643. Whilst from the outside the church has a considerable appeal, once entered the effect is unnerving due to its breadth being entirely out of proportion to its length. Its nave and chancel are one and covered by a very fine double hammerbeam roof. It was thought that the roof may well have been constructed from the ruins of the castle, but recent research as part of the Heritage Lottery bid has tended to rule that possibility out. It contains an early 14th-century monument to Lady Margaret de Brampton, who is shown holding her heart in her hands. It is a Grade I listed building. [1] For more details see the Wigmore Abbey site. [2] Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, statesman of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods, is buried in the churchyard. The church is on Historic England's list of buildings at risk. [3]

Other buildings within the village include a number of fine Georgian houses and some earlier timber-framed buildings situated around the small triangular green. Parson's Pole Bridge is situated in the civil parish and takes the lane from Brampton Bryan to the hamlets of Buckton and Coxall across the River Teme.

History

'A country lane' Brampton Bryan 'A country lane' Brampton Brian (3450594264).jpg
'A country lane' Brampton Bryan

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Survey when it formed part of the estate of Ralph de Mortimer although evidence of occupation extends back to at least Roman times, as the remains of a temporary marching camp lie near the village. [4]

The name means 'Broom farm/settlement'. 'Bryan' probably refers to one Brian Unspac. [5] [6]

During the First English Civil War, Brampton Bryan Castle was held for Parliament by Lady Brilliana Harley during the first of two sieges. The first siege started on 26 July 1643 when Royalists surrounded Brampton Bryan. Although the village was put to the torch (the church, the parsonage, 40 houses and the castle mills were all burnt down), and the castle left without a roof, the Royalists failed to capture the castle, ending the siege on 9 September. Lady Brilliana died later that year, probably due to ill health brought on by the siege. [7] [8] In the spring of 1644, the Royalists began a new siege that lasted for three weeks. This time the castle defences were so weakened by undermining and battering by artillery, that the Parliamentary governor surrendered the castle. It was then sacked and burnt, while the garrison was sent to be imprisoned in Royalist-controlled Shrewsbury. [9]

There was also a castle in Pedwardine, south of the main village, that belonged to the Hay family. [10]

Today

Today the village in addition to its church possesses a tearoom and a large bookshop, "Aardvark Books", which sells over 50,000 titles, and a remarkable and ancient yew hedge.

The Herefordshire Trail long-distance footpath passes through the village.

Notes

  1. ↑ Historic England. "CHURCH OF ST BARNABAS (1179943)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Wigmore Abbey". Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
  3. ↑ "Heritage at Risk". Historic England.
  4. ↑ "Temporary Marching Camp, Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire".
  5. ↑ Institute for Name Studies. "A Key to English Place-Names" . Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Some Fabulous Pedigrees. "Pedigree of Brian de Brampton Unspac, Lord of Kinlet" . Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  7. ↑ BBC staff 2010.
  8. ↑ HCC staff 2013.
  9. ↑ Forsyth-Moser 2003.
  10. ↑ GENUKI Brampton Bryan

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Teme</span> River in Wales and England

The River Teme rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of Bucknell and continuing east to Ludlow in Shropshire. From there, it flows to the north of Tenbury Wells on the Shropshire/Worcestershire border on its way to join the River Severn south of Worcester. The whole of the River Teme was designated as an SSSI by English Nature in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Harley (1579–1656)</span> English statesman

Sir Robert Harley was an English statesman who served as Master of the Mint for Charles I. A devout Puritan, he supported Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Radnor</span> Human settlement in Wales

New Radnor is a village in Powys, Wales, to the south of Radnor Forest, and was the county town of Radnorshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leintwardine</span> Human settlement in England

Leintwardine is a small to mid-size village and civil parish in north Herefordshire, England, close to the border with Shropshire.

Sir Henry Lingen, Lord of Sutton, Lingen and Stoke Edith, was a Royalist military commander in Herefordshire during the English Civil War, and later a member of parliament. He was the son of Edward Lingen and Blanche Bodenham. He fathered 2 sons, Henry and William and 7 daughters, Elizabeth, Joan, Blanch, Mary (Dobbyns), Cecilia, Frances (Unett), and Alice (Herring). Both sons died without issue but the daughters left considerable posterity.

Brilliana, Lady Harley, néeBrilliana Conway, was an English letter writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucknell, Shropshire</span> Human settlement in England

Bucknell is a village and civil parish in south Shropshire, England. The village lies on the River Redlake, within 660 yards (600 m) of the River Teme and close to the border of Wales and Herefordshire. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Knighton and is set within the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckton and Coxall</span>

Buckton and Coxall is a civil parish in north Herefordshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigmore, Herefordshire</span> Village in Herefordshire, England

Wigmore is a village and civil parish in the northwest part of the county of Herefordshire, England. It is located on the A4110 road, about 8 miles (13 km) west of the town of Ludlow, in the Welsh Marches. In earlier times, it was also an administrative district, called a hundred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigmore Castle</span> Castle in Herefordshire, England

Wigmore Castle is a ruined castle about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the village of Wigmore in the northwest region of Herefordshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigmore Abbey</span> Former religious house in Herefordshire

Wigmore Abbey was an abbey of Canons Regular with a grange, from 1179 to 1530, situated about a mile (2 km) north of the village of Wigmore, Herefordshire, England: grid reference SO 410713. Only ruins of the abbey now remain and on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register their condition is listed as 'very bad'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludford, Shropshire</span> Village in Shropshire, England

Ludford is a small village and civil parish in south Shropshire, England. The parish is situated adjacent to the market town of Ludlow and was, until 1895, partly in Herefordshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brampton Bryan Castle</span>

Brampton Bryan Castle is a ruined medieval castle in the small village of Brampton Bryan in north-western Herefordshire, England, 50m south of the River Teme. The castle guarded an important route from Ludlow along the Teme Valley to Knighton and on into Central Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A4113 road</span> Road in Eastern Wales, Herefordshire and Shropshire

The A4113 road is a single-carriageway road that runs from Knighton in Powys to Bromfield in Shropshire, United Kingdom, passing through north Herefordshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Harley (Parliamentarian)</span> English Parliamentarian soldier and politician

Sir Edward Harley was an English politician from Herefordshire. A devout Puritan who fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, Harley belonged to the moderate Presbyterian faction, which opposed the involvement of the New Model Army in the peace negotiations that followed victory in 1646. Elected MP for Herefordshire in 1646, he was one of the Eleven Members forced into temporary exile by the army in 1647.

Lingen is a village and civil parish, situated in the wooded hills of Herefordshire, England in the Welsh Marches near to the border with Wales and close to the larger village of Wigmore. Situated in the north-west corner of the county, Lingen parish includes the hamlets of Deerfold, Limebrook, Birtley and Willey. It lies on the Limebrook which runs into the River Lugg south of the village. It lies at a height of between 145 and 283 metres above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinsham</span> Human settlement in England

Kinsham is a civil parish which lies in the wooded hills of Herefordshire, England in the Marches near to the border with Wales, about 3 miles (5 km) east of the Welsh town of Presteigne. The parish has two small settlements, Upper Kinsham and Lower Kinsham, in the east overlooking the valley of the River Lugg, which marks the parish boundary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herefordshire Trail</span>

The Herefordshire Trail is a long distance footpath in Herefordshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer</span> Earldom in the Peerage of Great Britain

Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for the statesman Robert Harley, with remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to those of his grandfather, Sir Robert Harley. He was made Baron Harley, of Wigmore in the County of Hereford, at the same time, also in the Peerage of Great Britain and with similar remainder as for the earldom. Harley was the eldest son of Sir Edward Harley and the grandson of the aforementioned Sir Robert Harley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brampton Bryan Hall</span> Building in Herefordshire, England

Brampton Bryan Hall is a 17th-century English country house in the village of Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire. It is still owned by the descendants of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, chief minister under Queen Anne and is a Grade II* listed building.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.