Branston

Description and Travel

Branston is a village and parish 4 miles south-east of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, just south of Heighington. Potterhanworth parish is to the south. A small stream, called simply the "Beck," flows through the parish down to the River Witham at the east end of the parish. The parish covers almost 5,400 acres and includes the hamlet of Booths.

If you are planning a visit:

• Take the B1198 trunk road, south out of Lincoln. This travels through the heart of the village.
  
  
• Check for bus service via our transport page.
  
  
• Visit our touring page for more sources.
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the South West sub-district of the Lincoln Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to All Saints.
  
  
• The church has been dated to the Early Norman period.
  
  
• The church tower dates from the Norman period.
  
  
• The church chancel was rebuilt in 1864.
  
  
• The church is a building of stone and was thoroughly restored in 1875-6.
  
  
• The church seats 450.
  
  
• There is a photograph of All Saints church on the Wendy PARKINSON web site under "Yet More Lincolnshire".
  
  
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of All Saints Church on Geo-graph, taken in December 2005.
  
  
• Here is a photograph of All Saints Church supplied by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
  
  
  

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Church Records

• The parish register dates from the year 1626.
  
  
• The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Graffoe Deanery to make your search easier.
  
  
• The author of this page has been advised that the parish register in the Archives has been damaged by fire and is too fragile to access.
  
  
• Kelly's 1900 Directory of Lincolnshire places the parish, perhaps erroneously, in the Rural Deanery of Longobody.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here prior to 1872. For information and assistance in researching this chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
  
  
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• The parish was in the South West sub-district of the Lincoln Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
  
  

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Manors

• Branston Hall was a large stone mansion on well-wooded grounds.
  
  
• Branston Hall was the seat of Alexander Samuel LESLIE-MELVILLE in 1881 through 1900.
  
  
• Longhills was erected in 1838, built of stone, about a mile east of the village.
  
  
• Longhills was occupied by Eustace Abel SMITH in 1900.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is TF 0267.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey "Explorer #272" map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Military History

• James P. has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2009.
  
  
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of the War Memorial from the side on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.
  
  

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Military Records

Nikki Pike provides: "Roll of Honour, published 27th September 1946"

Men

Women

Killed in Action WWII

PLUMTREE, Bernard Simpson
Died 6th June 1944 Gold Beach D-Day landings
Died in the arms of his best friend (John Leslie KETTLEBOROUGH)

John EMERSON, who retains the copyright, provides these photographs of the war memorial at Branston:

There is also a Branston Booths Roll of Honour. See it at the Roll of Honour site.

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Politics and Government

• The parish was in the ancient Liberty of Lincoln and the Langoe Wapentake in the North Kesteven division of the county, in the parts of Kesteven.
  
  
• Kelly's 1900 Directory of Lincolnshire places the parish, perhaps erroneously, in the Sleaford division of the county.
  
  
• For today's district governance, see the North Kesteven District Council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Lincoln (South) petty session hearings.
  
  
• In 1734, Robert READ left land to the parish for income for the poor. In 1881 this amounted to about £11 yearly, distributed in bread.
  
  
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Lincoln Poor Law Union.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1801	446
1831	859
1841	1,122
1851	1,325
1871	1,337
1881	1,431
1891	1,221
1901	1,216
1911	1,324
1921	1,275

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Schools

• Branston has a Public Elementary School which was built in 1873 as a National School. It was enlarged in 1900 to hold up to 202 children.
  
  
• There is also a small Branston Fen school, built to hold 50 children, built before 1881 by Mrs. Atwell CURTOIS.
  
  
• There was a girls' school in 1871 with about 60 girls attending. Classes were held in the parish church vestry.
  
  
• The parish used to send 25 poor boys to Heighington Free School at the bequest of Thomas GARRATT in 1619.
  
  
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
  
  

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