England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bramerton St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Bramerton lies in southeastern Norfolk roughly 4 miles southeast of the city of Norwich. Bramerton sits around 1 1/2 miles north of the A146 road which links Norwich with Loddon & the Suffolk market town of Beccles. Bramerton is a long strip of a village, a loose straggle of properties line a north to south running lane, The Street, for almost 1 1/2 miles from the southern banks of the River Yare southwards. On the river itself is a small staithe, a local word for a wharf or jetty, where river transport would have taken the parish's produce to the nearby city. Like most of Norfolk's parishes Bramerton would have been largely arable, and today little has changed. Nowadays most visitors to the parish come as a result of the leisure boating trade, the village's riverside inn being a popular stop off point for Broad's cruisers. Bramerton is drained eastwards by the River Yare which makes its way the relatively short distance to the North Sea arriving through the port of Great Yarmouth. Bramerton occupies a rising site, riverside properties being at 10 metres whilst the southernmost properties are at 30 metres, in the area's gentle terrain that represents something of a local high spot. Bramerton parish was one of the smaller in a county with many small parishes, covering a mere 728 acres it would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners, In Domesday times Bramerton was shared multiple ways between 4 landowners which included a modest stake by the King, himself. The combined assets amounted to a modest 7 ploughs and many meadows.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the western side of The Street towards the southern end of the village. The church has its origins in the late 13th century with the oldest fabric represented by the western tower, Pevsner is ensure whether it is 13th century or 14th century and it is best to call it as being from the short Transitional period between Early English Gothic and Decorated styles. The main body of the church falls more definitively into the latter period, the Decorated style which flourished in the first half of the 14th century. The curious short transepts that puzzle Pevsner are perhaps the result of work described in wills as being ongoing in 1463, the later part of the Perpendicular period and the only time such a common style is found in the church. Later addition came in the 17th century when the brick priest's doorway was added and during the typical Victorian restorations. The first of these came in 1857 when a false hammerbeam roof was inserted and a northern transept built, this was followed by a more general restoration of 1866 which addressed the remainder of the roofs as well as the internal fittings. The Street is quite narrow so on-street parking needs to be careful & considerate, the churchyard has a nice lychgate for entry but has a prominent evergreen tree dominating the southern aspects which does limit the angles available to the photographer especially on a sunny day.