| St James' Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Bramley, Hampshire England |
| Coordinates | 51°19′33″N1°04′33″W / 51.3259°N 1.0759°W |
| Architectural style(s) | Norman |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Church of St James |
| Designated | 26 April 1957 [1] |
| Reference no. | 1093029 |
  Location of St James' Church in Hampshire | |
The Church of St James in Bramley, Hampshire, England was built in the Norman period and has been added to since. It is a Grade I listed building. [1]
The Norman church had a west tower added in 1636, replacing a previous wooden tower. [2] Part of the nave was added by John Soane in 1802. [1] [3]
The parish is part of the benefice of Sherfield on Loddon, Stratfield Saye and Hartley Wespall with Stratfield Turgis, Bramley and Little London within the Diocese of Winchester. [4] [5]
The flint building has stone dressings and a tiled roof. The walls are supported by buttresses. The south porch and three-stage tower are of red brickwork. Some of the windows in the north wall remain from the original Norman structure. [1]
The interior includes a 13th-century piscina while the screen, benches, pulpit and communion rail are from the 16th to 18th centuries. [1]
In the 1870s, Charles Eddy, vicar of the church, uncovered a large number of wall paintings and painted scriptural texts dating to the 13th through 16th centuries which had been whitewashed over in 1550–1551 during the Reformation. [6] The earliest paintings are on the south wall, and depict a series of martyrdoms, the best preserved being a depiction of the murder of Thomas Becket by four knights in 1170. On the north wall is 16th-century depiction of St Christopher which bears a remarkable likeness to contemporary portraits of King Henry VIII. The north wall also has paintings of scriptural texts (John 3:5, Psalm 26 verse 6, and Psalm 95), as well as two consecration crosses. There are also elaborate decorative painted designs in the chancel, around the north and south windows, and on the east wall, with paintings of saints on either side of the east window. [7]
The Brocas chapel is an aisle added to the church of St James by the architect John Soane around 1800. [1] This chapel was built to house the tomb of Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire, which had previously been outside, exposed to the weather. The white marble tomb was the work of John Bacon the Elder. [8] Brocas, who died 8 November 1777, was Lord of Beaurepaire, Hampshire and a magistrate and colonel of the militia. He was a descendant of Bernard Brocas, who was executed in 1400, the son of the MP Bernard Brocas, died 1395, an Anglo-Gascon family of the 13th and 14th centuries.
The physicist Lise Meitner is buried in the burial ground next to the church, near the grave of her brother Walter. [9]
Baron Sherfield, of Sherfield-on-Loddon in the County of Southampton, Is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the diplomat Sir Roger Makins. He had previously served as British Ambassador to the United States. His eldest son, the second Baron, was a leading expert on national security and defence issues. As of 2010 the title is held by the latter's younger brother, the third Baron, who succeeded in 2006.
Stratfield Saye House is a large stately home at Stratfield Saye in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire. It has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since 1817.
Bramley is a village and parish in Hampshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 3,348. It has a village shop, bakery, estate agency, pub – The Bramley Inn – and a railway station. Also, Bramley Camp houses an Army facility where military training and manoeuvres take place.
The River Loddon is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises at Basingstoke in Hampshire and flows northwards for 28 miles (45 km) to meet the Thames at Wargrave in Berkshire. Together, the Loddon and its tributaries drain an area of 400 square miles (1,036 km2).
Clewer is an ecclesiastical parish and an area of Windsor in the county of Berkshire, England. Clewer makes up three wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, namely Clewer North, Clewer South and Clewer East.
Sherfield on Loddon—formerly Sherfield upon Loddon—is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It is located at grid reference SU680580, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Reading and 6 miles (10 km) north of Basingstoke.
Stratfield Turgis is a small village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire.
Stratfield Saye is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane and the English county of Hampshire. The parish includes the hamlets of West End Green, Fair Oak Green and Fair Cross.
Sherborne St John is a village and civil parish near Basingstoke in the English county of Hampshire.
Sir Bernard Brocas, also Barnard Brocas Senior (1330–1395) was a prominent commander in the English army during King Edward III's French campaigns of the Hundred Years War. He was also a close friend of the Black Prince and William of Wykeham.
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty is a medieval almshouse in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It has been described as "England's oldest and most perfect almshouse". Most of the buildings and grounds are open to the public at certain times. It is a Grade I listed building.
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Hampshire. This title was often given as High Sheriff of the County of Southampton until 1959.
George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers was an English diplomat, politician, military officer and peer who served as the British ambassador to Spain from 1770 to 1771.
Beaurepaire is a country estate at Sherborne St John in the English county of Hampshire.
Sir William Gardiner, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.
Sir Bernard Brocas was an English knight, landowner and administrator who was executed for his part in the Epiphany Rising.
Sir William Pitt of Old Palace Yard, Westminster, and of Hartley Wespall and Stratfield Saye, both in Hampshire, and of Iwerne Stepleton in Dorset, was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1625.
George Pitt, of Strathfield Saye, Hampshire, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1694 and 1727.
Bow Brook is a small river in the English county of Hampshire, which is a tributary of the River Loddon. Contributary streams rise near Ramsdell and Sherborne St John, and after flowing through rural countryside, it joins the Loddon near Sherfield on Loddon. Historically it has powered at least two watermills.
