Branxton, Northumberland

Branxton
Northumberland
Flodden Field
Location
Grid reference:	NT895375
Location:	55°37’51"N, 2°10’6"W
Data
Population:	123  (2011)
Post town:	Berwick upon Tweed
Postcode:	TD12
Local Government
Council:	Northumberland

Branxton is a village in northern Northumberland. It lies about three miles from the bounds of Berwickshire: the town of Coldstream on the Tweedbank is four miles away. Braxton is to be found in the Tweed Valley, in a narrowed gap between the river and the Cheviot Hills, making it a strategic location. Today it is just off the A697 Newcastle-Edinburgh road.

Branxton had a recorded population of 123 at the 2011 Census.

Parish church

The parish church, dedicated to St Paul, occupies the site of an ancient church which was taken down and replaced by the present structure in 1849.

About the village

Branxton is very close to the site of the Battle of Flodden Field, fought on 9 September 1513, when King James IV of Scotland marched south against his brother in law King Henry VIII and died in the field along with the flower of the Scottish nobility. A granite cross on the nearby Piper Hill commemorates the battle.

Pallinsburn House, an 18th-century country mansion, stands nearby.

There is a painted concrete menagerie in the garden of one of the houses in the village. The sculptures were made, starting in 1962, by James Beveridge to designs by retired joiner John Fairnington (d. 1981) to amuse his disabled son, Edwin. As well as animals, there are statues of Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Robert Burns, and many texts set into the plinths and pathways. It has been a popular tourist attraction, with its own tea room, and may still be accessible by the public for free (although with a coin box for voluntary donations).

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Branxton, Northumberland)

• Information on Branxton, Northumberland  from GENUKI