Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BRADING

BRADING-anciently Brerding, or Brerdynge-a small town and a parish in the Isle of Wight. The town stands on the I. of W. railway, at the head of Brading haven, 3½ miles S by E of Ryde; and has a r. station, a post office under Southampton, and an inn. It is a very ancient, but decayed place; and consists chiefly of one long street, dejected and half-ruinous. It was long a market-town. It formerly sent members to parliament; it still is governed by a small corporation; and it possesses a common seal, with the words, "The King's town of Brading." The town hall and market house is a half-timbered structure, given up to neglect. A massive iron ring, fastened to the ground, in an open space, is a relic of the barbarous sport of bull-baiting. The parish church was originally built, in 704, by Wilfrid of York; is, to a considerable extent, transition Norman; and contains an effigies of Governor Cherowin who died in 1441, and two ancient monuments of the Oglanders. The churchyard has the grave of Leigh Richmond's "little Jane," and the tomb of Mrs. Berry, with the inscription beginning, "Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear," set to music by Dr. Calcott. There is an Independent chapel. Some business is done in corn and fishing; small vessels come up at high water to the quay; and fairs are held on 12 May and 2 Oct.—The parish contains also the villages of Bembridge and Sandown, and the hamlet of Alverstone. Acres, 10,107; of which 543 are water. Real property, £19,819. Pop., 3,709. Houses, 796. The property is much subdivided. Nunwell, NW of the town, amid richly wooded grounds, is the seat of Sir H. Oglander, Bart., the descendant of Richard Okelandro, who came from Normandy with the Conqueror. Brading-down, S and W of Nunwell, commands a brilliant view. Brading-haven, is only partly in the parish; goes out to the sea by a narrow mouth, at Bembridge-point; covers about 800 acres; looks like a fine lake at high water, and like a muddy swamp at low, yields prodigious quantities of excellent cockles; and was formerly noted for an oyster bed. Several strenuous attempts have been made to reclaim it from the tide, by means of an embankment across its mouth; but without success. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £250.* Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The p. curacies of Bembridge and Sandown are separate benefices. Leigh Richmond was for some time curate; and wrote here his "Young Cottager," "Dairyman's Daughter," and "Negro Servant."


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Administrative units: Brading AP/CP       Hampshire AncC
Place: Brading

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