History
Bramcote -
Bramcote is situated on hills some 5 miles south west from Nottingham on the Derby Road. The name is thought to be Saxon in origin and to mean "dwelling in the broom", although Bronze Age remains have been found here in the form of two burial urns discovered in 1978 when building work was being carried out. Photo courtesy of John Hollingsworth
Prior to the Norman Conquest the main part of Bramcote was held by Ulchel, Godric, Levric and Alvric, who also had land elsewhere. The Domesday Book of 1086 provides the first mention of a village called Bruncote or Broncote in the Wapentake of Broxtowe. The Wapentake was essentially an administrative district. By the time of the Domesday survey the Norman William Hostiaurus (the usher or porter) had taken over the estates which were very small. There is no church mentioned. It is interesting to note that before 1066 the taxable value of the land was 60 shillings but by 1086 it was just 20 shillings!
During the Middle Ages, parts of the estate were in the hands of the Willoughbys
of Wollaton and the convent of Gilbertines at Sempringham in Lincolnshire. After
the Dissolution of the Monasteries Queen Elizabeth I granted the Sempringham land
to Charles Jackson and William Mason. Their land and those of Lenton Priory were
bought by Richard or Thomas Hanley for his son Henry about 1564 and it remained in
this family until 1650. When he died about 1603 Henry left money to the poor in various
parts of Nottingham but his son Henry was the most well known of the family. He was
granted Arms in 1612 and there is a tablet to his memory in the present church of
St Michael and All Angels brought from the old church, which was demolished except
for the tower in 1861 as it had become too small for the growing population. (For
further information go to the Bramcote Conservation Society’s web site.) The Hanley
Coat-
The estate then passed to a relative of the Hanleys, Robert Harding who, after some
dispute about his possession, sold it to John Sherwin. It remained with the Sherwins
or the related family of Longden for over 200 years, though they moved from the Manor
House to the then newly built Bramcote Hills House about 1805.When John Sherwin Gregory
died in 1869 his wife Catherine succeeded him and the house and estate subsequently
passed to her brother Captain Henry Holden and his son, eventually going to their
relatives the Drury-
Bramcote had for centuries been mainly agricultural. The open fields and commons
were enclosed in 1771-
The Derby Road from Nottingham which had been turnpiked in 1759 to Bramcote Odd House, was very useful for travelling in and out of town. In 1784 the road to Smalley Common was also turnpiked with a toll gate at the Odd House. The tolls for both roads were removed in the 1870s.The Odd House, was situated at or very near the Ram Inn. This was the forerunner of the Sherwin Arms public house which was rebuilt in 1935.
During the first half of the 19th Century people moved towards framework knitting and coal mining and the population increased from 354 in 1801 to 722 by the 1851 census. In the Victorian period Bramcote became a popular place to live for wealthy business people who enjoyed its rural quiet. White's Directory of 1864 described it as "one of the most delightful villages in the whole county". Broomhill Terrace on Derby Road, with its top storey full of windows designed to let in plenty of light so that people could work at the frame knitting machines, is a surviving example of a framework knitter's house. There were several of these in the village which have now been demolished. Eventually competition from the factories meant that the villagers had to diversify and many went into domestic service or travelled to the large factories in Beeston or Stapleford
A comparison of the present village with the tithe map of 1846 shows that the basic
shape of the village has not greatly altered, although it has obviously expanded.
Bramcote Hills, once described as waste land, has become a housing estate , the A52
has been widened and the Stapleford bypass constructed. These roads and Town Street
(the road through the village formerly known as Main Road or Village Street) are
extremely busy, but fortunately leave the core of the village still very attractive
and as in Victorian times people are still drawn to live here. A large part of Bramcote
village was made a conservation area in 1970 -
Still attractive today. Bramcote looking across Derby Road from the Leisure Centre
(Photo courtesy of Val Bird)
