Brandon Suffolk Brief History

Brandon in Suffolk has been known by a number of variations on the name, including Brandona, Brantona, Braundon, Brandones Ferye and Brand.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names tells us the likely origin of the name as ‘hill where broom grows’. The earliest known spelling of Brandon was in the 11th century when the town was expanding up along the river valley, was Bromdum.

The town later acquired the name of Brandon Ferry when a ferry replaced the ancient ford across the Little Ouse river. Although a wooden bridge was built in the Middle Ages to replace the ferry, the name Brandon Ferry continued into the late 18th century and the High Street was known as Ferry Street into the 19th Century.

The earliest evidence of a settled community at Brandon was discovered in Staunch Meadow on the Southern Bank of the Little Ouse near Brandon Lock. One of the most important Anglo Saxon settlements in the British Isles was laying here buried yet to be discovered.

It is possible that the entrance of the Danes at Thetford 868 led to the Staunch Meadow site being abandoned, but whatever the cause, sometime in the late 9th century the centre of population moved southwards to higher ground between the site of the present church and London Road.

This area then became known as Town Street or ‘Tip’, thought to be short for Tipperary as many of the workers who put the railway through Brandon in the late 1840s were Irish, and their camps were situated in this area of the town.

Over time Ferry Street became High Street lined with retailers and tradesmen, inns and the houses of wealthy merchants. The residents of Town Street however, were, apart from a few, a lot less affluent.

"Thursday is the market day. The corn market is held at the Great Eastern Railway Hotel, adjoining the railway station. The fairs for cattle and toys are held February 14th and November 11th. There are some comfortable inns; and sub-branches of Gurneys and Co. Norwich Bank, and Oakes, Bevan and Co. of Bury, open every Thursday only. A considerable trade is carried on in malt and timber and in fur and skin dressing. Barges ply to and from Lynn with corn and coal. Gas works have been erected by a local company, and the town has, since the commencement of 1869, been lighted with gas. Gun-flints, and flints for building and ornamental purposes, are manufactured here: during the continental war, which terminated with the battle of Waterloo, and before percussion caps were introduced, the trade in gun-flints was the chief dependence of the working classes here..."

Much has changed since this trade directory was published in 1883, but almost as much has stayed the same. Market day is still Thursday (Saturday now as well), but the Market Hill has become a paved pedestrian area. There is no longer a corn market although the Great Eastern is still very popular. The inns are still comfortable, though not as numerous, and a number have now changed their names. All that remains of the Gas Company is the lane called Gas House Drove and the managers house, aptly named the 'Gas House'.

More Brandon history can be obtained from the Brandon Heritage Centre, details can be found on their website at www.brandon-heritage.org.