Brampton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England,[1] about 2 miles (3 km) south-west of Huntingdon. It lies within Huntingdonshire, a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. According to the 2011 UK census Brampton had a population of 4,862 (slightly down on the 2001 UK census figure of 5,030) A 2019 estimate puts it at 5,462.[2][3]
| Brampton | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
  Brampton Location within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 5,462 (2019) |
| OS grid reference | TL205705 |
| • London | 54 miles (87 km) |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HUNTINGDON |
| Postcode district | PE28, PE19 |
| Dialling code | 01480 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
History
editHistorically Brampton was variously known as Brantune (11th century), Brantone or Bramptone (12th–13th centuries), and Brauntone or Brampton (13th century). Scattered human remains dating back 1600–2000 years have been found in one or more gardens of houses near the local primary school. The origin of these has yet to identified.
In the Domesday Book survey of 1086, Brampton was listed as Brantune in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire.[4] It had two manors, yielding aggregate rents to their lords of the manors in 1066 of £20, which had increased to £21.5 by 1086.[5] Domesday recorded a total of 42 households, which suggests a population of 125–200.[5][6] The area expressed in hides (variously defined as the area a team of eight oxen could plough in a season) – 120 acres (49 hectares), thought to support a household – or as the area that could be assessed as £1 for tax purposes. Brampton was put down for 18 ploughlands in 1086.,[5] plus 100 acres (40 hectares) of meadows, 194 acres (79 hectares) of woodland, and two water mills.[5] The tax assessment was expressed in geld or danegeld and by 1130 it was being collected annually at rates varying between two and six shillings in the pound. For the Brampton manors the tax liability was 16.3 geld in 1068.[5]
The church and its priest antedate Domesday. The Church of St Mary Magdalene (earlier St Mary the Virgin) consists of a chancel with a north vestry, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower, and north and south porches. Its existence is mentioned in Domesday, but very few features today date from before the 14th century.[7]
Brampton has associations with the diarist Samuel Pepys.[8] Legend has it that his fortune is buried somewhere in the village: during the panic caused by the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667 he buried his gold in the garden of Brampton House and was never sure how much of it he had succeeded in recovering.[8] Brampton was the home of his uncle, Robert Pepys, elder brother of the diarist's father, whose house still stands. Samuel Pepys is known to have stayed there and at the Black Bull Inn in the village. After Robert's death in 1661, a bitter legal dispute arose over the Brampton inheritance, involving Samuel, his father and several other claimants. It was ultimately settled out of court.
Government
editBrampton has an elected parish council of 15 members meeting on the third Wednesday of the month.[9][10] Its second local-government tier is Huntingdonshire District Council based in Huntingdon. Brampton as a district ward has two councillors.[11][12]
Brampton's highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council based in Cambridge. (It belonged to the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965, then to the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough, and since 1974 to the county of Cambridgeshire.) Brampton has one county councillor in the electoral division of Brampton and Kimbolton.[11][13]
At Westminster, Brampton is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon, represented in the House of Commons by Ben Obese Jecty (Conservative) since 2024. A previous member was John Major (Conservative, 1983–2001).
Geography
editAt one time the higher part of Brampton parish was forested as Brampton Wood, but it now has less than 300 acres (1.2 km2) of woodland. It is generally low-lying, about 33 feet (10 m) above sea level, but it rises to 164 feet (50 m) towards the south-west boundary.[citation needed]
Most of Portholme, the UK's largest meadow [14] falls within the parish of Brampton.
Climate
editBrampton, like most of the United Kingdom, has a temperate and oceanic, or Cfb under the Köppen climate classification Eastern areas such as East Anglia are drier, cooler and less windy, with greater daily and seasonal temperature variations than the rest of England. Cambridgeshire has cool onshore coastal breezes further to the east, keeping it warm in summer and cold and frosty in winter.
The nearest weather station for long-term data is at RAF Wyton, 3 mi (5 km) north-east of Huntingdon town centre. More recently Monks Wood, 8 mi (13 km) to the north of Brampton, has also provided data.
Typically 43.2 nights of the year report an air frost.[citation needed] The absolute minimum at Wyton was −16.1 °C (3.0 °F) in January 1982.[citation needed] The mean for the annual coldest night of the year is −7.7 °C (18.1 °F).[citation needed]
| Climate data for Monks Wood, elevation 41m, (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.5 (56.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.7 (67.5) |
23.4 (74.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
19.2 (66.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
10.3 (50.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
14.52 (58.14) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
0.8 (33.4) |
2.6 (36.7) |
3.8 (38.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
12.8 (55.0) |
11.7 (53.1) |
9.9 (49.8) |
7.0 (44.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
1.9 (35.4) |
6.0 (42.8) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 47.0 (1.85) |
35.0 (1.38) |
40.1 (1.58) |
47.0 (1.85) |
47.9 (1.89) |
54.1 (2.13) |
48.3 (1.90) |
51.7 (2.04) |
53.3 (2.10) |
60.2 (2.37) |
54.2 (2.13) |
47.1 (1.85) |
585.8 (23.06) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 58.0 | 77.4 | 109.9 | 152.3 | 186.2 | 193.6 | 212.3 | 202.1 | 176.5 | 114.6 | 67.0 | 52.4 | 1,601.9 |
| Source: Met Office Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire | |||||||||||||
With annual rainfall at under 550 millimetres (22 in) a year,[citation needed] the Huntingdon area is among the driest in the UK – 103.4 days on average record at least 1 mm of rain.[citation needed] All averages mentioned refer to the period 1971–2000.
Demography
editPopulation
editThe earliest census data, from 1801, gives the lowest population figure for Brampton: 1801. The highest 19th-century count of 1,281, came in 1851.[2]
| Parish | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brampton | 895 | 930 | 1,031 | 1,718 | 3,068 | 4,494 | 4,363 | 4,508 | 5,030 | 4,862 |
All population census figures are from the report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[2]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 3,558 acres (1,440 hectares),[2] making the density of population 874.6 per square mile (337.6 per square km).
Amenities
editThe village has retail, medical, dental and veterinary services. Brampton Garden Centre is run by Notcutts,[15] and won an award in 2008 as the best Garden Centre Restaurant in the North Thames area.[16]
Four places offer bar drinking: The Dragoon (currently closed), The Old Mill, The Black Bull, and the Hare on the Green gastro pub, which reopened in October 2018.[17] The last was formerly the Montaz Tandoori restaurant, and before that The Harrier, in honour of the RAF base located in the village. Drinks are also served to members at The Institute and the Bowls Club. The Grange Hotel, Brampton, once a private residence, closed in 2013 for conversion into housing. A large 18th-century brick building, it had been requisitioned in the Second World War for the American Eighth Air Force.[18][19] RAF Brampton closed in 2013. Its land was sold for development, with plans submitted for up to 402 new houses.
Brampton has regular buses (route 66) to St Neots, Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdon and Tesco, run by Whippet (bus company). The nearest rail service is at Huntingdon railway station, 11⁄2 miles (2.5 km) to the east.
Brampton Park has an 18-hole golf course featuring the par-3 4th, a signature hole with a green almost completely surrounded by water, often claimed as England's hardest par-3.[citation needed] The village has a large skate park on the Memorial Playing Fields, alongside the Memorial Hall, and in 2013 a Multi Users Games Area (MUGA) was opened. There are also pitches for Association Football and cricket. Huntingdon Racecourse lies within the parish.
Education
editBrampton has one school: Brampton Village Primary School.[20] It was classed as good in all main criteria at the most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2012.[21] The previous infants' and junior schools merged in 2007.
The village falls within the catchment area of Hinchingbrooke School
Religious sites
editThe Anglican church of St Mary Magdalene shares clergy with the parishes of Ellington and Grafham. The Methodist Church on The Green belongs to the St Neots and Huntingdon circuit.
Notable people
edit- Geoff Capes, the Commonwealth shot-put champion and twice winner of the title World's Strongest Man, served as a police officer in Brampton in the 1970s.[22]
- Samuel Pepys, diarist famous for his written accounts of historical events during the Stuart period, lived in his uncle, Robert Pepys’ house in Brampton while attending Huntingdon Grammar School in 1644. He was due to inherit the house and is reported to have wanted to retire there.[23]
- Carla Humphrey, women's footballer who plays for Liverpool FC.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 153 Bedford & Huntingdon (St Neots & Biggleswade) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2013. ISBN 9780319231722.
- ^ a b c d "Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011". www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk. Cambridgeshire Insight. Archived from the original (xlsx – download) on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- ^ City Population. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ Ann Williams; G.H. Martin, eds. (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. p. 1318. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
- ^ a b c d e Professor J. J. N. Palmer, University of Hull. "Open Domesday: Place – Brampton". www.opendomesday.org. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
- ^ Goose, Nigel; Hinde, Andrew. "Estimating Local Population Sizes" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ^ Statement of significance Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ a b Pepys site.
- ^ "Brampton Parish Council: Councillors". Brampton Parish Council. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ^ "Brampton Parish Council:Calendar" (PDF). Brampton Parish Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ^ a b "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ^ "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www.huntsdc.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ^ "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors". www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Archived from the original (pdf) on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ^ "Huntingdon and Godmanchester walk, Houghton Mill, Cambridgeshire".
- ^ "Birketts advises Notcutts on the acquisition of Frosts' Brampton garden centre". 31 October 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ "News - GCA names best North and South Thames winners". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
- ^ Hare on the Green site.
- ^ "Eighth Air Force Historical Society". Archived from the original on 25 June 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ "HyperWar: The Army Air Forces in WWII: Vol. I—Plans & Early Operations [Chapter 17]".
- ^ School site. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ Ofsted report Retrieved 14 October 2015. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "A Long Shot Right on Target". CNN. 26 January 1976. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ "Brampton, Cambridgeshire (The Diary of Samuel Pepys)". March 2004.
External links
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