England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bramely St James

The Parish

The parish of Bramley lies in the extreme north of Hampshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Berkshire. Bramley is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the market town of Basingstoke and sits a little over 2 miles east of the A340 road which links Basingstoke with the A4 to the west of Reading. Bramley is a place of two distinct halves, the old village clustered around the church and a more modern settlement which has grown up following the arrival of the railway connecting Reading with Basingstoke. The latter settlement, together with Bramley Green today forms the greater settlement with the original village a sleepy backwater by comparison. At the time of this transcript this was a definitely rural area, arable farming in the main providing an income for the villagers, today Bramley is very much a small town and commuting centre for its two near neighbours. Bramley is drained northeastwards by a small tributary of the River Loddon which is soon joined, the Loddon meets the Thames to the east of Reading and thence through the capital to the North Sea. Bramley is sited at around 70 metres above the sea, with the newer element some 10 metres lower, the terrain is gentle reaching just under 100 metres to the northwest by Pember Forest. Bramley parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just under 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of around 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Bramley was a moderately sized holding of one Hugh de Port, its assets were 13 ploughs, the usual meadows and woodland and there were 2 mills.

The Church

St James' church is tucked away within the old village accessed by the short spur of The Street from the lane heading towards the railway station. Whilst St James certainly has medieval origins it is much later work which dominates. Pevsner finds traces of the Norman Romanesque in the windows which he tentatively assigns the date of c1180. Other 13th century work can be found in the arch linking the Brocas chapel whilst the brick western tower carries an Elizabethan date, an unusual church-building era and dates from the late 1630s. It is the prominent Brocas Chapel of 1803 which dominates, sitting in place of a transept it certainly catches the eye and is renowned for the neo-Classical memorial to Bernard Brocas. Further restorations of both 1870s and 1880s have since modified and renewed the church to its present form. The Street is just a short lane and widens outside the churchyard to enable some parking, the churchyard is open to the lane and has few obstacles restricting the photographer.