Bramham, Yorkshire

Bramham
Yorkshire West Riding
Low Way
Location
Grid reference:	SE425430
Location:	53°52’48"N, 1°21’6"W
Data
Population:	1,650
Post town:	Wetherby
Postcode:	LS23
Dialling code:	01937
Local Government
Council:	Leeds
Parliamentary constituency:	Elmet and Rothwell

Bramham is a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

To the south-west of the village is Bramham Park (at SE410417), where the Leeds Festival, an annual music and arts festival, is held over the August Bank Holiday weekend each year.

Name

The name Bramham is first attested in the Domesday Book in the forms Bramha’, Brameha’, and Braham. It comes from the Old English words brom ('broom') and ham ('village, homestead'), and thus once meant 'homestead characterised by broom'.

History

Bramham is at the crossroads of the east-west Roman road from York through Tadcaster to Ilkley and the north-south Great North Road, now the A1 road, giving it a history that goes back to the Romans.

All Saints' Church

Bramham is recorded in the Domesday Book as the Manor of Bramham and the Holder in 1066 was Ligulfr. The amount of land to be taxed (geld) was 12 carucates and there were eight ploughs in the village. By 1086, Bramham was held by Nigel from Count Robert of Mortain and Demesne ploughs (for lord's needs) were three. There were 15 villeins or tenant farmers holding a total of 5.5 ploughs between them. An estimate of the total population of Bramham in 1086 was 68. Bramham's value in 1066 was 160 shillings but only 50 shillings in 1086 after the Harrying of the North, indicating severe levels of destruction. Bramham was a mill site in 1086. In comparison, Wetherby had a population of 41 and was valued at only 20 shillings in both 1066 and 1086.

The oldest part of All Saints Parish Church in Bramham was built in about 1150 by the Normans. The church consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and short spire; and has a fine pointed doorway. The churchyard is oval in shape and therefore Anglian in origin.

Older houses in the centre of the village are constructed of Magnesian Limestone quarried in the parish. Stone from Bramham was used for the pendants and hanging ornaments on the vaults and ceilings of York Minster, and in records of the building of the Minster, Bramham stone is noted as used for this purpose. The Bramham limestone was transported to York by water from Tadcaster or Cawood.

Memorial Stone at the site of the Battle of Bramham

The Battle of Bramham Moor was fought, in the snow, on 19 February 1408. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, who with other nobles had rebelled against King Henry IV, was met here by Sir Thomas Rokeby; the rebels were cut to pieces and Percy was killed, his head, with its silver locks, being carried off and set on a stake on London Bridge.

There is a memorial stone marking where the Earl of Northumberland fell and was killed at Blackfen Wood, Bramham, but the stone was moved from the actual site of the battle some years ago. A plaque erected to denote the significance of the stone has been vandalised and nowadays is difficult to find or decipher. In 2008, to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the battle, an information board and a two-sided limestone memorial stone bearing "Bramham" and "Site of Battle" signs was erected on Paradise Way, the new local access road, which crosses the battlefield site.

Soldiers who died during the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, a few miles to the north-east, are buried in the churchyard at Bramham. Records show that three soldiers rest there: Samuell Allan, Robert Johnson and Thomas Mirole. Prior to the battle, Cromwell is reputed to have trained his Ironsides on Bramham Moor, and to have recruited local young farmers whose riding skills made them ideal cavalry soldiers.

By 1686, Bramham was a staging post on the London to Edinburgh coaching route and had a population of 291, which was higher than that of Wetherby at only 279. In 1801, the population of Bramham was around 800, reaching 1,300 by 1861. However, a significant decline led to the population falling back to 950 in 1901. The population has gradually been increasing since then, although the 1861 peak was only overtaken in 1981. By 2001, the village had a population of about 1,750, about a quarter of whom were under the age of 19 and well over half (62%) were under the age of 44, making it a village of young people. There were 674 households, a growth of 20% on the 1991 census.

Arthur Mee's The King's England: Yorkshire West Riding, first printed in 1941, describes Bramham:

The Great North Road and a stream flowing to the River Wharfe are crossed by one of many Roman roads hereabouts. It has a fine bridge, an imposing peace memorial, an old windmill looking down, and houses great and small in a lovely green setting. South of the village, where the hillside road is bowered with stately beeches, are four fine houses not far apart; Bramham House, Bramham Lodge, Bramham Biggin (which began as a chantry to Nostell Priory), and Bramham Hall, a house in classic style with an entrance crowned by a pediment on six pillars. Shading its beautiful gardens are cedars, beeches, chestnuts, and ancient yews; and a great whitebeam here is said to be the biggest in England. Off the Roman road running through rich woodland west of the village is Hope Hall, where Sir Thomas Fairfax lived; it was the kennels of the Bramham Moor Hunt when we called.

During the First World War there was an aerodrome at Bramham Moor at Headley Bar, which opened on 18 March 1916. The aerodrome was set in 198 acres of land of which 40 acres were occupied by station buildings. Initially, "B" and "C" flights, 33 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps were based at the new aerodrome with "A" flight detached to nearby York Racecourse. Following a bombing raid on York on 2 May 1916 by Zeppelin airships, the airfield on York Racecourse was closed, and 33 Squadron at RFC Bramham Moor became responsible for the air defence of Leeds, Sheffield and York against further Zeppelin attack. 33 Squadron's aircraft were the RAF BE 2c and BE 2d biplanes, these later being replaced by the much better FE 2b biplane. In early 1918, after the RAF was formed, RFC Bramham Moor became known as RAF Tadcaster. In July 1918, a group of American pilots and ground staff were based at Bramham Moor for training. When the USA had entered the First First World Warn 1917, their pilots had gone straight into action with a lack of combat experience and had suffered heavy losses. It was subsequently decided that all American pilots should pass through the British training schools such as the one at Bramham. After the First World War, with a reduced need for warplanes, the aerodrome was closed down in December 1919. One large hangar remains, as a listed building, among the barns of Headley Hall Farm. During the Second World War, vehicles were left on the old grassed areas, to deter the site being used as a landing ground in the event of an invasion.

Sport

• Football: Bramham Football Club, founded in 1907
• Cricket: Bramham and Clifford Cricket Club
• Hunting: The Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt

The Bramham Horse Trials are held at Bramham Park every June and form one of Britain's 3-day horse riding events, attracting international competitors. In 2006, over 35,000 visitors attended the event.

The Bramham Moor Hunt was founded in the 1740s by George Fox Lane, the son-in-law of Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley (1676–1731) who had built Bramham Park in the late 17th century. George Fox Lane was Member of Parliament for |York from 1742 to 1761 and was created Lord Bingley in 1762. His only son Robert Fox Lane pre-deceased him and, in 1792, the Bramham Park estate came to James Fox (1758–1821), the nephew of George Fox Lane. James 'Jemmy' Fox was a scholar, a raconteur and, for a time, Member of Parliament for Horsham. He was a horseman who devoted himself to the estate and organised the Bramham Moor Hunt, collecting the hounds into a pack and hunting on set days over recognised hunting country. The hunting man's toast, "The Bramham Moor and five-and-twenty couple", was initiated by Jemmy Fox.^{[citation needed]} It was Fox's idea to reverse the 'Fox Lane' name he had adopted to 'Lane Fox'.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, the Bramham Moor Hunt merged with the Badsworth Hunt to become the Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt. The Bramham fox hounds, which for many years had been kennelled at Hope Hall, Bramham moved to Thorpe Audlin, near Pontefract. The Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt is active in areas that the two separate hunts covered previously.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bramham, Yorkshire)

• Bramham Parish Council and Online Magazine
• Bramham Village
• Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt
• Information on Bramham, Yorkshire  from GENUKI

References

• Delve, Ken (2006). The military airfields of Britain – Northern England. Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-809-2. 
• Speight, Harry (1902). Lower Wharfedale. Being a complete account of the history, antiquities and scenery of the picturesque valley of the Wharfe, from Cawood to Arthington. London: Elliott Stock. OCLC 7225986. 

Further reading

• Mee, Arthur: The King's England (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Lamplough, Edward (1891); Yorkshire Battles – The Battle of Bramham Moor
• The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868
• Unwin, Robert (1986); Wetherby – The History of a Yorkshire Market Town.ISBN 0-9511968-0-4
• Kirk, George (1936); The Parish Church of All Saints, Bramham
• Taylor, David (2004); RFC Bramham Moor, RAF Tadcaster
• Speight, Harry (1902); Lower Wharfedale
• Bogg, Edmund (1904); Lower Wharfeland