Place:Bramber, Sussex, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bramber is a former manor, village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It has a ruined mediaeval castle which was the caput of a large feudal barony. Bramber is located on the northern edge of the South Downs and on the west side of the River Adur. Nearby are the communities of Steyning to the west and Upper Beeding to the east on the other side of the river. The closest historical connection, however, is with the village of Botolphs to the south.

The ecclesiastical parishes of Bramber and Botolphs were united possibly as early as 1526, but certainly by 1534 with the priest living at Botolphs. Later the priest's official residence became the imposing Bramber mansion and landmark now called "Burletts" and located on Clays Hill. The union of the civil parish councils followed 400 years later in 1933.

The present parish of Bramber has an area of 7.19 km2 (2.78 sq mi) and a population of 757 according to the 2001 UK census. In 2011 the population of Botolphs was added to that for Bramber (the standard practice for parishes of less than 100 people) and the more recent UK census count was 785.

Bramber was the central settlement in an Anglo-Saxon multiple estate or caput of a barony held from the 11th to 14th centuries by the House of Braose which was noted for its impact on the medieval history of the southern Welsh Marches. On a small hill stands the remains of Bramber Castle, a Norman castle built by the family.

Bramber Parish Church of St Nicholas was originally built as the castle chapel and is the only part of the castle site not in ruins. The church attracts large numbers of tourists, and is the oldest post-Conquest Norman church in Sussex. Bramber Castle originally protected the Rape of Bramber, the local historic sub-division of the county of Sussex.

The feudal barons of Bramber were as follows:

• William de Braose, Lord of Bramber, born 1049, died bet 1093 and 1096
• Philip de Braose, 2nd lord of Bramber, born bef 1073, died bet 1131-1139 (a crusader, died in Palestine)
• William de Braose, 3rd lord of Bramber, born 1112, died 1192
• William de Braose, 7th Baron Abergavenny and 4th Lord of Bramber, born 1153, died 1211, infamous for the Christmas Day Massacre of Welsh Princes at Abergavenny Castle in 1175
• Giles de Braose, bishop of Hereford, born circa 1175, died 1215
• Reginald de Braose, 9th Baron Abergavenny, born 1180, died 1228
• John de Breuse, aka John de Braose, born between 1197 and 1201, died in 1232
• Sir William de Braose, 1st Baron Braose, born bef 1227, died 6 Jan 1290/1
• William de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose, 2nd Baron Braose, born abt 1280, died bef 1 May 1326
• John de Mowbray, 3rd Baron Mowbray (mother: Alice de Braose), born 1310, died 1361
• John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray, born 1340 (c. 1328 according to Wikipedia), died 1368
• Thomas de Mowbray who became 1st Duke of Norfolk

After this time the honour of Bramber was held by the Dukes of Norfolk.

Research Tips

• The West Sussex Record Office is located in Chichester. Because it holds the records of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, which covers the whole of Sussex, it has church records relating to both parts of Sussex.
• An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the West Sussex Record Office is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
• West Sussex Past - database of 2 million records from West Sussex heritage organizations.
• The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
• The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.

• GENUKI on Bramber
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6, Part 1, Bramber Rape: Southern Part, section on Bramber