England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
East Bradenham St Mary

The Parish

The parish of East Bradenham lies in central Norfolk roughly 5 miles southwest of the market town of East Dereham. East Bradenham sits a little over 2 miles west of the A1075 road which connects East Dereham with Thetford. Formerly two distinct parishes, today East Bradenham is merely the eastern extension of a larger single village of Bradenham on modern Ordnance Survey maps. Bradenham sits largely along and north of a broad lane running between Shipdham and Holme Hale with most properties lying between the twin parish churches. Like most Norfolk parishes East Bradenham was extensively arable in its farming, a situation which still applies today. East Bradenham is drained westwards by the headwaters of the River Wissey which rises in this area, the Wissey eventually heads out into Norfolk's Fens to join the Great Ouse and reach the North Sea through the port of King's Lynn and The Wash. East Bradenham is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in a broad and plateau-like area of the county where local heights rise to just below 90 metres in a few places. East Bradenham parish was fairly typical sized for mid-Norfolk covering a little over 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of just over 350 parishioners. In Domesday times, like today, the two Bradenhams were recorded as a single entity, held by 3 landholders their twin assets totalled 11 ploughs plus the usual meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church marks the eastern end of Bradenham sitting on the southern side of Church Street at a complex crossroads of minor lanes. Whilst the church has origins in the 12th century only the jambs of Norman-style windows remain in the chancel following a major rebuild in the 14th & 15th centuries. This era was the great church-building period in Norfolk and was financed by the wealth of the cloth traders of the county. Whilst the earlier Decorated style is represented by the four-bay arcades and by the clerestory, an early edition of this typically later feature, most of the church fabric is in the later Perpendicular style. The western tower is very typical of this style and one repeated throughout the county. Also like most churches St Mary received Victorian restoration, in this case in two distinct phases, a thorough restoration of 1853 was followed by one targeted at that western tower in 1893 to arrive at today's church. Parking is best sought to the west of the immediate site as there is no verge outside the churchyard. The churchyard is raised above road height and has a rising grassy bank separating it from Church Street, a shady entrance can be found at the eastern end. Once through the sheltering trees the churchyard is one forming something of a challenge to the photographer, trees close by take away the favoured southeastern aspect and leave only a subset of angles available.