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Bramley, Surrey history

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Pre 1600

The name Bramley is of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) origin; like “Bromley”, one of its earlier forms, it means a clearing or lea in the broom). In 1086 its wide definition and well-cultivated, fertile area made Bramley the largest and most valuable manor in Surrey by yearly income.

Holy Trinity Church

Bramley Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, dates from the 12th century with further additions in the 13th century. Holy Trinity was a daughter church of Shalford; Bramley only became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1847.

Post 1600

The village would have been growing in the 17th century; many of the houses on the west side of the High Street date from this period. Bramley Manor, opposite East Manor and originally the farm for Bramley Manor, was built in the middle of this century. The 18th century brought more changes with the road through the village becoming part of the turnpike road from Guildford to Arundel, following an Act of Parliament of 1757; there is still a milestone in Birtley Road. A bridge and causeway were built on the road to Wonersh in the 1770s; the river was then diverted from its original course close to the bottom of Wonersh Hollow into a new straight course to align with the new bridge. Most villagers would have made their living from agriculture. A house The Nunnery was purchased for the poor of the parish in 1735. This was at the far end of the Bramley millpond; it was sold a century later when the poor had to go to Hambledon Workhouse, in the early part of which century the Jolly Farmer public house was established. The Napoleonic Wars brought concerns for shipping in the English Channel and plans to create an inland waterway between London and Portsmouth led to the building of a canal to connect Guildford to West Sussex and the now traditional port of Littlehampton. This finally opened in 1816. James Stanton was appointed Superintendent of the canal in 1819; by the time of his death in 1857 he had five barges of his own, but by now use of the canal was declining and it finally closed in 1871. Stanton’s cottage on the wharf still survives. In 1825 the Earl of Egremont, a great supporter of the canal, had purchased a property in Bramley on the site of the present Park Drive which was soon demolished. He diverted some of the water from the millpond to the canal in an attempt to improve the canal’s water supply; this had a lasting effect as the watercourse would define the boundary between the later school and cemetery. The Earl redirected the lane to the mill, roughly to the present Park Drive, and his nephew built Bramley House, now almost completely demolished. This house was later leased by Captain Jekyll and was the childhood home of Gertrude Jekyll. After the Jekyll family left in 1868 the house was considerably extended and the lane to the mill now became a driveway to the house with a third Mill Lane (the present one) put through in 1871. Development in the village was also influenced by Mrs Charlotte Sutherland, who leased Church House in 1848. She largely financed the building of the north aisle of the Church in 1851, the new Vicarage (now demolished and replaced by Old Rectory Close), the Village School, the cemetery and its chapel (also demolished); her brother, Richard Charles Hussey, was the architect for all these developments. Various railway companies had built lines in the vicinity and there were stations at Guildford in 1845, Godalming soon after, and Shalford in 1849. Then in 1865 the Cranleigh Line linking Guildford with Horsham opened, and “Bramley & Wonersh station” (initially known as “Bramley”) was the last stop on the line before Guildford. This was perhaps the main reason for the increase in population that followed, and there were housing developments including Station Road, Birtley Road and Eastwood Road; the south aisle, incorporating the south transept, was added to the Church in 1875. There were several shops in the village by the 1850s but at the end of the century William Lawn Head re-fronted several of the houses on the west side of the High Street to provide Head’s Stores. The Stores have since been split into various premises but Head’s elegant shop-fronts remain. The oldest existing school in the village, now called Bramley Infants School (previously Bramley C of E Primary School) was established in 1850 and at that time consisted of only two classrooms and a clock tower. Two more classrooms were added in 1874 and a further classroom and hall were built in 1894. Architecturally, its clock tower has been well maintained. An extension in 1957 provided indoor toilets and office accommodation. The school has recently been entirely refurbished out of doors and decorated throughout indoors. Originally the school catered for four- to fourteen-year-olds but in 1973 it became a First School and caters for girls and boys from four to seven years old. St Catherine’s School was established in 1885, and has grown to have a significant physical presence in the village. Building of the Chapel began in 1893 and it was dedicated in the following year. It is a notable example of the work of Charles Eamer Kempe, who was responsible for much of the interior decoration, especially the stained glass windows. By the end of the 19th century the local government of the village changed with the establishment of a Parish Council in 1894. This met, as it still does, in the Village Hall whose Victorian exterior and modern additions conceal a barn with timbers dating back to c.1400. The gardener Gertrude Jekyll retained an interest in the area, and her friend, leading Arts and Crafts movement architect Edwin Lutyens designed Millmead House in Snowdenham Lane as a speculative development for her in 1904; she designed the garden. This has coursed and part snecked Bargate sandstone/red brick quoins and dressings and is Grade II listed. Grange Cottages were also built at the beginning of the century as staff cottages for Bramley Grange. World War I brought deaths and wounded men from the front were also seen in the village as Thorncombe Park was used as a hospital. In 1921 the war memorial at the crossroads was built, designed by architect and local resident Frederick Hodgson. In 1887 Bramley Grange was built on the site of the earlier White House for Colonel Webster (who would later develop Bramley Golf course). After the Great War it was converted to a popular hotel and remained a hotel until burnt down in 1996. Between the wars there was more housing development, including the start of Linersh Wood. In the years since World War II there has been considerable development in the centre of the village, much of it on the east side, including shops, Windrush Close, the Catholic Church, the public library, Blunden Court and Old Rectory Close. On the opposite side houses were built in Mill Lane and Home Park Close was built on the old kitchen garden of Bramley House, which had once contained ‘ a long range of greenhouses and an abundance of peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries and pears.’ As one of the Beeching closures the Cranleigh Line to Horsham, including Bramley & Wonersh railway station, closed in 1965 after serving the village for almost a century. The Bramley Grange Hotel was replaced in 2004 by apartments built in a similar style, after the original building was destroyed by fire.

  

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Tourist Guide to Bramley, Surrey Map

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