Bromham, Bedfordshire

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption=Bromham Church
latitude= 52.1454
longitude= -0.5298
official_name = Bromham
population =
shire_district= Bedford
shire_county= Bedfordshire
region= East of England
constituency_westminster=
post_town= BEDFORD
postcode_district = MK43
postcode_area=MK
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= TL007507

Bromham is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, west of the town of Bedford. It is within commuting distance to London via Bedford railway station.

Notable features

It has a number of notable features including a flour watermill (Bromham Mill, now open to the public), a beautiful church, [http://www.bromhambenefice.org St Owen's] , and a medieval bridge over the River Great Ouse that, until 1986, carried the main A428 road over the river on 26 arches. Fortunately for the bridge, and the rest of the village, it was bypassed.

The watermill is referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 and the Vikings navigated the Great Ouse a long time ago.

Name

Bromham (Bruneham in Domesday) is probably the enclosed meadow on which the broom or the dyers weed grew. If so, the cultivation of much more than a thousand years since the name was given, has practically eradicated these plants.

Location

The Parish is for the greater part enclosed in a bend in the Ouse, and it touches the parishes of Oakley, Biddenham, Kempston, Stagsden, Stevington and at its western point, Turvey. It is to the west of Bedford.

History

The land formed part of the Baronry of Bedford held by the Beauchamps. After the battle of Evesham, in which John de Beauchamp fell fighting on the side of the Barons, the manor was held for a time by Prince Edward, but afterwards divided among the Beauchamp heirs female. Bromham afterwards passed successively into the hands of the Mowbrays, the Latimers, the Nevilles, the Passelowes, the Wildes, and the Dyves. Early in the eighteenth century, the manor was bought by Sir Thomas Trevor, who was afterwards created Lord Trevor, and whose mother was a daughter of John Hampden, the patriot. Three of his sons succeeded to the title. One of them – the third Lord Trevor married Sir Richard Steele's (Dick Steele) daughter; and another – the fourth Lord Trevor – inherited the Great Hampden Estate in Bucks, through his grandmother, and was created Viscount Hampden. The Trevors became connected through marriage with the Rice family (the Dynevor Rices) and at the death of the late Miss Rice Trevor the estate passed to the Wingfields.

External links

* [http://www.bromhambenefice.org St Owen's Church website]
* [http://www.bromhamparish.co.uk/index.html Village website]
* [http://www.aboutbritain.com/BromhamMill.htm Bromham Mill]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42379 Bromham section of the Victoria County History of Bedfordshire online]