Brandon, Suffolk
Historical Description
Brandon, a small market-town and a parish partly in Norfolk, but chiefly in Suffolk. The town stands on the Little Ouse river, adjacent to the G.E.R., 6 miles by road, and 7¼ by railway, NW by W of Thetford. It has a head post, money order, and telegraph office, a railway station, a bank, several good inns, and eight almshouses. The church stands about a quarter of a mile distant, is an ancient quadrangular edifice of flint and stone, and has a porch, a fine tower, and two cupolas. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely, with the rectory of Wangford annexed; joint net yearly value, £462 with residence. There arc also Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and an endowed grammar school. A weekly market is held on Thursday, and a fair on 7 July. A good grain trade is carried on, and a manufactory of gun flints formed the sole source for the supply of these to government prior to the use of percussion-caps. Gun and tinder-box flints are still made for export, and flints for building purposes are manufactured. There is also some trade in coal, malt, timber, and fur and skin dressing, a steam saw mill, and some whiting works. The town gave name to the Dukes of Suffolk, and the title of Baron to the Earls of Macclesfield, and it gives the title of Duke to the Dukes of Hamilton. Lord Mayor Eyre of London, who built Leaden-hall market, was a native. The parish comprises 6783 acres, 23 being in Norfolk; population of the civil parish, 2334; of the ecclesiastical, including Wangford, 2384. Brandon Park, Brandon House, Brandon Hall, and North Court Lodge are chief residences. There are extensive warrens in the neighbourhood, one of which is said to send 40,000 rabbits annually to London.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Suffolk is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Brandon are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Suffolk papers online: