A potted history of the Village
Patricia Pratt
Bramley is a Saxon name meaning a clearing
in the broom. Birtley to the south is also Saxon and means a
clearing in the birch.
The wider area had been settled before the
Saxons arrived. The builders of the Iron Age fort at Hascombe
(in use from c.200 to 50BC) probably included farmers from the
Wintershall and Thorncombe Street areas of present day Bramley,
but there is no evidence for early settlement in the village
area and no evidence of any Roman settlement.
The Anglo-Saxon settlers of Wonersh - the
name means a crooked field - may have been the people who
developed the Linish Bramley. This name means a flax-stubble
field and in 1843, when the Tithe Assessment map was drawn, it
covered the area now occupied by the Library, Blunden Court and
Old Rectory Close. Flax was used to make linen but before
spinning and weaving the stems were "retted"; this meant soaking
them in running water, a procedure which could have used the
stream which also powered the mills.
There were two mills - probably both here
at the time of Domesday - Bramley Mill and Snowdenham Mill to
the latter of which Emply Lane (now a bridleway) led from the
higher land around Wintershall.
At the time of Domesday (1086) the Manor
of Bramley was far larger than present day Bramley and comprised
most of the western half of Blackheath Hundred, extending to the
Sussex border and including Shalford, Wonersh, Hascombe and West
Cranleigh.
Coronation Oak green today is all that
remains of the original village green at the centre of the
village. It was once the crossroads where Linersh-lane, the road
from Wonersh, met Deep Lane, the original route from Wintershall,
and the first Mill Lane (moved in the 1820's), which started
from the north side of the house now called 'Saddlers', which
was previously known as 'Corners' or 'Old Corners'. There is a
reference to a moated manor house near the village green, which
would probably have dated from the 1300's; it survived to the
early 1800's.
At some date during the Middle Ages the
road from the village to Birtley around the east slope of Hurst
Hill was established, as was the road from Thorncombe Street to
Bramley and Wonersh (later to be Snowdenham Lane and Station
Road).
Bramley Church, dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, was probably first built in the 1100's. The Tower and
Chancel date from the early 1200's with the south transept (now
part of the south aisle) added later in the century. It was not
until 1676 that boundary walls were built and the burial ground
was licensed. Holy Trinity was a daughter church of Shalford;
Bramley only became a separate parish in 1847.
By the mid 16th century there were 63
houses in what was called Bramley township, 22 of them within
half a mile of the church. The most important house in the
village was probably the present East Manor; its external
staircase was added in the 1580's, when it would have been seen
from the village green, demonstrating the importance of the
owners at a time when domestic staircases were still rare.
The village would have been growing in the
17th century - many of the houses on the west side of the High
Street date from this period. Bramley Manor, opposite East Manor
and originally the farm for Bramley Manor, was built in the
middle of this century.
The 18th century brought more changes with the road through the
village b
ecoming part of the Turnpike road from Guildford to
Arundel, following an Act of Parliament of 1757; there is still
a milestone in Birtley Road. A bridge and causeway were built on
the road to Wonersh in the 1770's; the river was then diverted
from its original course close to the bottom of Wonersh Hollow
into a new straight course to align with the new bridge.
Most villagers would have made their
living from agriculture, but for the poor the Parish purchased a
house called the Nunnery in 1735. This was at the far end of the Bramley millpond; it was sold a century later when the poor had
to go to Hambledon Workhouse. More happily, by the early years
of the century the Jolly Farmer was established.
The Napoleonic War brought concerns for
shipping in the Channel and plans to create an overland
connection between London and Portsmouth led to the building of
a canal to connect the rivers Wey and Arun. This finally opened
in 1816. James Stanton was appointed Superintendent of the canal
in 1819; by the time of his death in 1857 he had five barges of
his own, but by now use of the canal was declining and it
finally closed in 1871. Stanton's cottage on the wharf still
survives. In 1825 the Earl of Egremont, a great supporter of the
canal, had purchased a property in Bramley on the site of the
present Park Drive which was soon demolished. He diverted some
of the water from the millpond to the canal in an attempt to
improve the canal's water supply; this had a lasting effect as
the watercourse would define the boundary between the later
school and cemetery. The Earl of Egremont also moved the lane to
the mill, roughly to the present Park Drive, and his nephew
built Bramley House, now almost completely demolished. This
house was later leased by Captain Jekyll and was the childhood
home of Gertrude. After the Jekyll family left in 1868 the house
was considerably extended and the lane to the mill now became a
driveway to the house with a third Mill Lane (the present one)
put through in 1871.
Development in the village was also
influenced by Mrs Charlotte Sutherland, who leased Church House
in 1848. She largely financed the building of the north aisle of
the Church in 1851, the new Vicarage (now demolished and
replaced by Old Rectory Close), the Village School, the cemetery
and its chapel (also demolished); her brother, Richard Charles
Hussey, was the architect for all these developments.
Charles Smith purchased a site from
Elizabeth Street of Birtley House in 1848. Here his son William
established a brewery before 1865. This continued in operation
until 1923, when the brewery chimney was demolished. His other
son Richard established a foundry which lasted until the early
1960's; it is now the site of Bramley Motors.
By the mid 19th century the village had a
population of around 850 most of whom would have worked in the
village, mainly in agriculture.
Various railway companies had built lines in the vicinity and
there were stations at Guildford in 1845, Godalming soon after,
and Shalf
ord in 1849. Then in 1865 the line between Guildford
and Horsham was opened and Bramley (and Wonersh) had its own
station. This was perhaps the main reason for the increase in
population that followed, and there were housing developments
including Station Road, Birtley Road and Eastwood Road; the
south aisle, incorporating the south transept, was added to the
Church in 1875. There were several shops in the village by the
1850's but at the end of the century William Lawn Head
re-fronted several of the houses on the west side of the High
Street to provide Head's Stores. The Stores have since been
split into a number of individual premises but Head's elegant
shop-fronts remain.
St. Catherine's School was established in
1885, and has grown to have a significant physical presence in
the village. Building of the Chapel began in 1893 and it was
dedicated in the following year. It is a notable example of the
work of Charles Eamer Kempe, who was responsible for much of the
interior decoration, especially the stained glass windows.
By the end of the 19th century the local
government of the village changed with the establishment of a
Parish Council in 1894. This met, as it still does, in the
Village Hall whose Victorian exterior and modern additions
conceal a barn with timbers dating back to c.1400.
Gertrude Jekyll, who had spent her
childhood in Bramley, retained an interest in the area, and her
friend Edwin Lutyens designed Millmead House in Snowdenham Lane
as a speculative development for her in 1904; she, of course,
designed the garden. Grange Cottages were also built at the
beginning of the century as staff cottages for Bramley Grange.
The Great War brought tragedy to the
village with many of the young men killed. Wounded men from the
front were also seen in the village as Thorncombe Park was used
as a hospital. In 1921 the war memorial at the crossroads was
built, designed by architect and local resident Frederick
Hodgson.
In 1887 Bramley Grange was built on the
site of the earlier White House for Colonel Webster (who would
later develop Bramley Golf course). After the Great War it was
converted to a popular hotel and remained a hotel until burnt
down in 1996. Between the wars there was more housing
development, including the start of Linersh Wood.
In the years since the second world war
there has been considerable development in the centre of the
village, much of it on the east side, including shops, Windrush
Close, the Catholic Church, the public library, Blunden Court
and Old Rectory Close. On the opposite side houses were now
built in Mill Lane and Home Park Close was built on the old
kitchen garden of Bramley House, which had once contained ' a
long range of greenhouses and an abundance of peaches,
nectarines, plums, cherries and pears.'
The railway closed in 1965 after serving
the village for almost a century. The Bramley Grange Hotel has
been replaced in 2004 by flats built in a similar style.
To mark the year 2000 the Bramley History
Society organised the photographing of nearly all the buildings
in the parish to provide a record of an ever-changing scene.
Bramley is a Saxon name meaning a clearing
in the broom. Birtley to the south is also Saxon and means a
clearing in the birch.
The wider area had been settled before the
Saxons arrived. The builders of the Iron Age fort at Hascombe
(in use from c.200 to 50BC) probably included farmers from the
Wintershall and Thorncombe Street areas of present day Bramley,
but there is no evidence for early settlement in the village
area and no evidence of any Roman settlement.
The Anglo-Saxon settlers of Wonersh - the
name means a crooked field - may have been the people who
developed the Linish Bramley. This name means a flax-stubble
field and in 1843, when the Tithe Assessment map was drawn, it
covered the area now occupied by the Library, Blunden Court and
Old Rectory Close. Flax was used to make linen but before
spinning and weaving the stems were "retted"; this meant soaking
them in running water, a procedure which could have used the
stream which also powered the mills.
There were two mills - probably both here
at the time of Domesday - Bramley Mill and Snowdenham Mill to
the latter of which Emply Lane (now a bridleway) led from the
higher land around Wintershall.
At the time of Domesday (1086) the Manor
of Bramley was far larger than present day Bramley and comprised
most of the western half of Blackheath Hundred, extending to the
Sussex border and including Shalford, Wonersh, Hascombe and West
Cranleigh.
Coronation Oak green today is all that
remains of the original village green at the centre of the
village. It was once the crossroads where Linersh-lane, the road
from Wonersh, met Deep Lane, the original route from Wintershall,
and the first Mill Lane (moved in the 1820's), which started
from the north side of the house now called 'Saddlers', which
was previously known as 'Corners' or 'Old Corners'. There is a
reference to a moated manor house near the village green, which
would probably have dated from the 1300's; it survived to the
early 1800's.
At some date during the Middle Ages the
road from the village to Birtley around the east slope of Hurst
Hill was established, as was the road from Thorncombe Street to
Bramley and Wonersh (later to be Snowdenham Lane and Station
Road).
Bramley Church, dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, was probably first built in the 1100's. The Tower and
Chancel date from the early 1200's with the south transept (now
part of the south aisle) added later in the century. It was not
until 1676 that boundary walls were built and the burial ground
was licensed. Holy Trinity was a daughter church of Shalford;
Bramley only became a separate parish in 1847.
By the mid 16th century there were 63
houses in what was called Bramley township, 22 of them within
half a mile of the church. The most important house in the
village was probably the present East Manor; its external
staircase was added in the 1580's, when it would have been seen
from the village green, demonstrating the importance of the
owners at a time when domestic staircases were still rare.
The village would have been growing in the
17th century - many of the houses on the west side of the High
Street date from this period. Bramley Manor, opposite East Manor
and originally the farm for Bramley Manor, was built in the
middle of this century.
The 18th century brought more changes with the road through the
village becoming part of the Turnpike road from Guildford to
Arundel, following an Act of Parliament of 1757; there is still
a milestone in Birtley Road. A bridge and causeway were built on
the road to Wonersh in the 1770's; the river was then diverted
from its original course close to the bottom of Wonersh Hollow
into a new straight course to align with the new bridge.
Most villagers would have made their
living from agriculture, but for the poor the Parish purchased a
house called the Nunnery in 1735. This was at the far end of the Bramley millpond; it was sold a century later when the poor had
to go to Hambledon Workhouse. More happily, by the early years
of the century the Jolly Farmer was established.
The Napoleonic War brought concerns for
shipping in the Channel and plans to create an overland
connection between London and Portsmouth led to the building of
a canal to connect the rivers Wey and Arun. This finally opened
in 1816. James Stanton was appointed Superintendent of the canal
in 1819; by the time of his death in 1857 he had five barges of
his own, but by now use of the canal was declining and it
finally closed in 1871. Stanton's cottage on the wharf still
survives. In 1825 the Earl of Egremont, a great supporter of the
canal, had purchased a property in Bramley on the site of the
present Park Drive which was soon demolished. He diverted some
of the water from the millpond to the canal in an attempt to
improve the canal's water supply; this had a lasting effect as
the watercourse would define the boundary between the later
school and cemetery. The Earl of Egremont also moved the lane to
the mill, roughly to the present Park Drive, and his nephew
built Bramley House, now almost completely demolished. This
house was later leased by Captain Jekyll and was the childhood
home of Gertrude. After the Jekyll family left in 1868 the house
was considerably extended and the lane to the mill now became a
driveway to the house with a third Mill Lane (the present one)
put through in 1871.
Development in the village was also
influenced by Mrs Charlotte Sutherland, who leased Church House
in 1848. She largely financed the building of the north aisle of
the Church in 1851, the new Vicarage (now demolished and
replaced by Old Rectory Close), the Village School, the cemetery
and its chapel (also demolished); her brother, Richard Charles
Hussey, was the architect for all these developments.
Charles Smith purchased a site from
Elizabeth Street of Birtley House in 1848. Here his son William
established a brewery before 1865. This continued in operation
until 1923, when the brewery chimney was demolished. His other
son Richard established a foundry which lasted until the early
1960's; it is now the site of Bramley Motors.
By the mid 19th century the village had a
population of around 850 most of whom would have worked in the
village, mainly in agriculture.
Various railway companies had built lines in the vicinity and
there were stations at Guildford in 1845, Godalming soon after,
and Shalford in 1849. Then in 1865 the line between Guildford
and Horsham was opened and Bramley (and Wonersh) had its own
station. This was perhaps the main reason for the increase in
population that followed, and there were housing developments
including Station Road, Birtley Road and Eastwood Road; the
south aisle, incorporating the south transept, was added to the
Church in 1875. There were several shops in the village by the
1850's but at the end of the century William Lawn Head
re-fronted several of the houses on the west side of the High
Street to provide Head's Stores. The Stores have since been
split into a number of individual premises but Head's elegant
shop-fronts remain.
St. Catherine's School was established in
1885, and has grown to have a significant physical presence in
the village. Building of the Chapel began in 1893 and it was
dedicated in the following year. It is a notable example of the
work of Charles Eamer Kempe, who was responsible for much of the
interior decoration, especially the stained glass windows.
By the end of the 19th century the local
government of the village changed with the establishment of a
Parish Council in 1894. This met, as it still does, in the
Village Hall whose Victorian exterior and modern additions
conceal a barn with timbers dating back to c.1400.
Gertrude Jekyll, who had spent her
childhood in Bramley, retained an interest in the area, and her
friend Edwin Lutyens designed Millmead House in Snowdenham Lane
as a speculative development for her in 1904; she, of course,
designed the garden. Grange Cottages were also built at the
beginning of the century as staff cottages for Bramley Grange.
The Great War brought tragedy to the
village with many of the young men killed. Wounded men from the
front were also seen in the village as Thorncombe Park was used
as a hospital. In 1921 the war memorial at the crossroads was
built, designed by architect and local resident Frederick
Hodgson.
In 1887 Bramley Grange was built on the
site of the earlier White House for Colonel Webster (who would
later develop Bramley Golf course). After the Great War it was
converted to a popular hotel and remained a hotel until burnt
down in 1996. Between the wars there was more housing
development, including the start of Linersh Wood.
In the years since the second world war
there has been considerable development in the centre of the
village, much of it on the east side, including shops, Windrush
Close, the Catholic Church, the public library, Blunden Court
and Old Rectory Close. On the opposite side houses were now
built in Mill Lane and Home Park Close was built on the old
kitchen garden of Bramley House, which had once contained ' a
long range of greenhouses and an abundance of peaches,
nectarines, plums, cherries and pears.'
The railway closed in 1965 after serving
the village for almost a century. The Bramley Grange Hotel has
been replaced in 2004 by flats built in a similar style.
To mark the year 2000 the Bramley History
Society organised the photographing of nearly all the buildings
in the parish to provide a record of an ever-changing scene.