Brampton, Cambridgeshire

"Brampton Park" redirects here. For the park in Newcastle-under-Lyne, see Newcastle-under-Lyne § Parks and gardens.
Brampton
Brampton
 Brampton shown within Cambridgeshire
OS grid referenceTL205705
Civil parishBrampton
DistrictHuntingdonshire
Shire countyCambridgeshire
RegionEast
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town HUNTINGDON
Postcode district PE28
Dialling code 01480
Police Cambridgeshire
Fire Cambridgeshire
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK ParliamentHuntingdon
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°19′10″N 0°14′01″W / 52.319384°N 0.233529°W / 52.319384; -0.233529

Brampton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England.[1] Brampton lies approximately 2 miles (3 km) south-west of Huntingdon. Brampton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England. According to the 2001 UK census, Brampton had a population of 5,030 but this had reduced slightly by the 2011 UK census when the population was recorded at 4,862.[2]

History

Brampton has been variously known as: Brantune (11th century), Brantone, Bramptone (12th–13th century), Brauntone, Brampton (13th century). Scattered human remains dating back 1600–2000 years have been found in one or more gardens of houses near the local primary school. The exact origin of these has yet to be determined.

In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value. [3]

Brampton was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Brantune in the Domesday Book.[4] In 1086 there were two manors at Brampton; the annual rent paid to the lords of the manors in 1066 had been £20 and the rent had increased to £21.5 in 1086.[5]

The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there was 42 households at Brampton.[5] There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3.5 to 5.0 people per household.[6] Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Brampton in 1086 is that it was within the range of 147 and 210 people.

The Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. In different parts of the country, these were terms for the area of land that a team of eight oxen could plough in a single season and are equivalent to 120 acres (49 hectares); this was the amount of land that was considered to be sufficient to support a single family. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than an actual land area; a hide was the amount of land that could be assessed as £1 for tax purposes. The survey records that there was 18 ploughlands at Brampton in 1086.[5] In addition to the arable land, there was 100 acres (40 hectares) of meadows and 194 acres (79 hectares) of woodland and two water mills at Brampton.[5]

The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland. It was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars; by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a manor's land and other assets, a tax of so many shillings and pence per pound of value would be levied on the land holder. While this was typically two shillings in the pound the amount did vary; for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manors at Brampton the total tax assessed was 16.3 geld.[5]

By 1086 there was already a church and a priest at Brampton. The Church of St Mary Magdalene or St Mary the Virgin (as it was once called), consists of a chancel with a north vestry, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and north and south porches. This church is mentioned in Domesday, but with the exception of a few features dating from the 12th century, no part of the current structure is earlier than the 14th century.[7]

Brampton is associated with the diarist Samuel Pepys.[8] Legend has it that his fortune is buried somewhere in the village.[9] Brampton was the home of his uncle, Robert Pepys, elder brother of the diarist's father, whose house still stands in the village. Samuel Pepys is known to have stayed there and at the Black Bull Inn in the village.

Government

As a civil parish, Brampton has a parish council. The parish council is elected by the residents of the parish who have registered on the electoral roll; the parish council is the lowest tier of government in England. A parish council is responsible for providing and maintaining a variety of local services including allotments and a cemetery; grass cutting and tree planting within public open spaces such as a village green or playing fields. The parish council reviews all planning applications that might affect the parish and makes recommendations to Huntingdonshire District Council, which is the local planning authority for the parish. The parish council also represents the views of the parish on issues such as local transport, policing and the environment. The parish council raises its own tax to pay for these services, known as the parish precept, which is collected as part of the Council Tax. The Brampton parish council has fifteen members and normally meets on the third Wednesday of every month.[10][11]

Brampton was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Brampton became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.

The second tier of local government is Huntingdonshire District Council which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and has its headquarters in Huntingdon. Huntingdonshire District Council has 52 councillors representing 29 district wards.[12] Huntingdonshire District Council collects the council tax, and provides services such as building regulations, local planning, environmental health, leisure and tourism.[13] Brampton is a district ward and is represented on the district council by two councillors.[14][15] District councillors serve for four year terms following elections to Huntingdonshire District Council.

For Brampton the highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council which has administration buildings in Cambridge. The county council provides county-wide services such as major road infrastructure, fire and rescue, education, social services, libraries and heritage services.[16] Cambridgeshire County Council consists of 69 councillors representing 60 electoral divisions.[17] Brampton is a part of the electoral division of Brampton and Kimbolton and is represented on the county council by one councillor.[14] [18] County councillors serve for four year terms following elections to Cambridgeshire County Council.

At Westminster, Brampton is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon and elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.[14] Brampton is represented in the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative). Jonathan Djanogly has represented the constituency since 2001. The previous member of parliament was John Major (Conservative) who represented the constituency between 1983 and 2001. For the European Parliament Brampton is part of the East of England constituency which elects seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Geography

At one time the higher part of Brampton parish was forest but there are now less than 300 acres (1.2 km2) of woodland. (See Brampton Wood.) Brampton is generally low-lying, mostly being about 33 feet (10 m) above sea-level, although the ground rises towards the south west boundary where it reaches 164 feet (50 m).

Demography

Population

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Brampton was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 780 (the lowest in 1801) and 1281 (the highest in 1851).[2]

From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).

Parish
 1911
 1921
 1931
 1951
 1961
 1971
 1981
 1991
 2001
 2011
Brampton 895 930 1031 1718 3068 4494 4363 4508 5030 4862

All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[2]

In 2011, the parish covered an area of 3,558 acres (1,440 hectares)[2] and so the population density for Brampton in 2011 was 874.6 persons per square mile (337.6 per square kilometre).

Culture and community

The village has retail, medical, dental and veterinary services. There are two horticultural nurseries.[19] Brampton Garden Centre, run by East Anglian company Frosts, also has a restaurant which recently won an award for the best Garden Centre Restaurant in the North Thames area,[20] despite it being nowhere near the Thames.

Brampton offers three more drinking establishments, The Dragoon, The Old Mill and the Montaz Tandoori restaurant[19] (formerly The Harrier pub, named in honour of the RAF base located in the village). Other less accessible places to drink include The Institute, a private members club, and the Bowls Club. The Grange Hotel, Brampton used to be a hotel and restaurant but is now shut down. In 2013 work started on converting the hotel into flats. It is a large 18th-century brick building, once a private residence, but during the Second World War requisitioned as the headquarters of the American Eighth Air Force.[21][22] RAF Brampton closed in 2013 and the land was sold for development – plans have been submitted for up to 402 new houses on the site.

Brampton is on a regular bus route to St Neots, Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdon and Tesco – routes 65/66 are operated by Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire.

Brampton Park Golf Club is an 18-hole course featuring the par-3 4th, a signature hole with a green almost completely surrounded by water, often referred to as England's hardest par-3. The village has a large skate park on the Memorial Playing Fields, alongside the Memorial Hall, and in 2013 the Multi Users Games Area (MUGA) was opened. There are also fields for football and cricket.

Education

Brampton has one recently merged (September 2007) school named Brampton Village Primary School.[23] It was classified as good according to all the main criteria at the most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2012.[24] Previously there were two separate schools on the same site: an infants school and a junior school.

Religious sites

The Anglican church of St Mary Magdalene shares its clergy with the parishes of Ellington and Grafham. There is a Methodist church belonging to the St Neots and Huntingdon circuit on The Green.

Notable person

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 153 Bedford & Huntingdon (St Neots & Biggleswade) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2013. ISBN 9780319231722.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011" (xlsx - download). www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk. Cambridgeshire Insight. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Dr Ann Williams, Professor G.H. Martin, eds. (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. pp. 551–561. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
  4. ↑ Dr Ann Williams, Professor G.H. Martin, eds. (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. p. 1318. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Professor J.J.N. Palmer, University of Hull. "Open Domesday: Place - Brampton". www.opendomesday.org. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Goose, Nigel; Hinde, Andrew. "Estimating Local Population Sizes" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Statement of significance Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  8. ↑ http://www.pepys.info/bramho.html
  9. ↑ http://www.pepys.info/1667/1667oct.html#digupmygold
  10. ↑ "Brampton Parish Council: Councillors". Brampton Parish Council. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Brampton Parish Council:Calendar" (pdf). Brampton Parish Council. Brampton Parish Council. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Huntingdonshire District Council". www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  15. ↑ "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www.huntsdc.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "Cambridgeshire County Council". www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors". www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors" (pdf). www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  19. 1 2 Parish site. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  20. ↑ http://www.diyweek.net/news/news.asp?id=11483
  21. ↑ http://www.8thafhs.org/combat1943.htm
  22. ↑ http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-17.html
  23. ↑ School site. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  24. ↑ Ofsted report.Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  25. ↑ "A Long Shot Right On Target". CNN. 26 January 1976. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

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