Bramley, Hampshire

Evidence of Bramley's first inhabitants can be found in Bullsdown Camp, a prehistoric settlement, where remnants of flint-scrapers, a spear-head, a core and flint-flakes have been found. This is thought to be a late Celtic "triple-walled dun". This fortification can still be seen today, situated to the east of the village south of the Bramley to Sherfield road.{{Cite web|url=https://www.inspirock.com/united-kingdom/bramley/d262758255|title = Bramley Trip Planner • Plan your Bramley vacation itinerary|website=Inspirock.com}}

The Romans occupied Calleva Atrebatum and built a walled city known today as Silchester. Bramley is on the Chichester to Silchester Way Roman road and has remains of a Romano-British villa nearby.

Bramley is listed as a significant settlement in the 1086 Domesday Survey, with 39 households, in the hundred of Basingstoke. Included in its resources were two mills, a church and woodlands, ploughlands and meadows with a total value of £9.{{cite web|title=Open Domesday: Bramley|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SU6458/bramley/|access-date=4 September 2023}}

The Reverend Robert Toogood wrote a history of the village and church. It includes some anecdotes about King Henry VIII's connections with the village and Cufaude Manor.{{cite web|url=http://www.bhrs.org.uk/page7.htm |title=Bramley Historical Research Society - Bullsdown Camp |access-date=12 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905130521/http://www.bhrs.org.uk/page7.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2011}}

File:Image of St Christopher in St James Church, Bramley, Hants (geograph 5515448).jpgThe Church of St James stands at the west of the village and originally dates from 1160, however it features many historical alterations and additions up to the 20th Century. It is a Grade I listed building.{{cite web |title=Church of St. James |url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101093029-church-of-st-james-bramley#.W7I0my-ZNGw |website=British Listed Buildings |access-date=1 October 2018}} St James' church, Bramley, Hampshire. Within the church, images were uncovered which dated back to the pre-Reformation.{{cite web |last1=Anon |title=Hampshire church wall paintings |url=http://www.hampshire-history.com/series/hampshire-church-wall-paintings/ |website=Hampshire History |access-date=1 October 2018}} The famous physicist Lise Meitner is buried in the burial ground next to the church, near the grave of her brother Walter.{{Cite web | url=https://www.newscientist.com/people/lise-meitner/ | title=Lise Meitner }}

The railway line between Reading and Basingstoke was built through the village in 1848. The village had to wait another 47 years until on 1 May 1895 a station in the village opened, at the insistence of the then Duke of Wellington, a prominent landowner in the area.http://bramleyndp.org.uk/download/documents/supporting_documents/Bramley_NP_May2014.pdf {{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} During 1935 parts of the film 'The Last Journey'{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026606/|title = The Last Journey|website = IMDb}} were shot on the railway within the village.{{cite web|title=Bramley Historical Research Society - How Bramley got its station |url=http://www.bhrs.org.uk/HowBramleygotitsstation.pdf |access-date=22 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905130258/http://www.bhrs.org.uk/HowBramleygotitsstation.pdf |archive-date=5 September 2011 }}

Bramley is located {{Convert | 10 | mi | spell = in}} south of the large town of Reading, and {{Convert | 5 | mi | 0 | spell = in}} north of Basingstoke. The village is the site of Bramley (Hants) railway station, on the line between Reading and Basingstoke, and is served by Great Western Railway's local services. The station is {{Convert | 5 | mi |0}} north of Basingstoke.

The civil parish of Bramley includes the village of Bramley and the neighbouring settlements of Bramley Green and Bramley Corner.{{cite web |url=http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/row/maps/1624.pdf |title=Hampshire County Council's legal record of public rights of way in Hampshire|website=Hants.gov.uk |year=2008 |access-date=28 October 2010}} The village is also part of the Bramley and Sherfield ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough council.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/rte.aspx?id=401|title=Ward and Parish boundaries|website=Basingstoke.gov.uk|accessdate=31 January 2022}} The borough council is a Non-metropolitan district of Hampshire County Council. All three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government.

At Borough level, Bramley is represented by Councillors Nicholas Robinson and Venitia Rowland who, together, represent the Bramley and Sherfield Ward.{{cite web |url=https://democracy.basingstoke.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx?XXR=0&AC=WARD&WID=13106&sPC=Enter%20postcode |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509032843/https://democracy.basingstoke.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx?XXR=0&AC=WARD&WID=13106&sPC=Enter%20postcode |archive-date=9 May 2016 |title=Find Councillor - Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council}}

At County level, Bramley is represented by Keith Chapman,{{Cite web |url=http://www3.hants.gov.uk/KeithChapman,%20MBE/aboutme.htm?memid=ymcokc |title=About your Hampshire County Councillor |access-date=2016-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604174533/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/KeithChapman,%20MBE/aboutme.htm?memid=ymcokc |archive-date=2016-06-04 |url-status=dead }} who represents the Calleva and Kingsclere Division.

{{main|Bramley Camp}}

Bramley Camp is a military training area south of the village, used mainly by 21 SAS (reserves).{{cite web|url=https://www.riftrefunds.co.uk/media/2897/37104-serfca-area-map.pdf|title=RESERVE FORCES IN THE SOUTH EAST|website=Riftrefunds.co.uk|access-date=31 January 2022}} The camp has also been used to shoot parts of the Channel 4 television series Scrapheap Challenge, and the ITV1 series Midsomer Murders. Because the {{Convert | 900 | acre | adj = on}} site is not open to the public and in many ways is undisturbed; it is a valuable haven for wildlife, being home to badgers, deer and pheasant.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bramleypc.co.uk/en/about-the-village |title=About the Village - Bramley Parish Council (Hampshire) |access-date=8 May 2016 |archive-date=1 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601212602/http://www.bramleypc.co.uk/en/about-the-village |url-status=dead }}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Bramley

|North = West End Green

|Northeast = Stratfield Mortimer

|East = Bramley Green

|Southeast = River Loddon, Sherfield on Loddon

|South = Chineham

|Southwest = Sherbourne St. John

|West = Little London

|Northwest = Silchester

}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Bramley, Hampshire}}

• [https://www.bramley-pc.gov.uk/ Bramley Parish Council]
• [http://bramleyshow.org.uk/ Bramley Show]

{{Basingstoke and Deane}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Villages in Hampshire

Category:Civil parishes in Basingstoke and Deane