Brandon, Suffolk
| Brandon | |
|---|---|
 Brandon
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| Brandon shown within Suffolk | |
| Population | 9,145 (2011 Census) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Brandon |
| Postcode district | IP27 0 |
| Dialling code | 01842 |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
Brandon is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the Forest Heath local government district. Brandon is located in the Breckland area on the border of Suffolk with the adjoining county of Norfolk. Surrounded by Forestry Commission and agricultural land it is considered a rural town.
According to Eilert Ekwall (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names) the likely origin of the name is "Brandon, usually 'hill where broom grows'", the earliest known spelling being in the 11th century when the town, gradually expanding up and along the rising ground of the river valley, was called Bromdun.
From prehistoric times the area was mined for flint as can be seen at Grimes Graves, a popular Brandon tourist destination. Much more recently, the town was a major centre for the production of gunflints.
The Domesday Book records that the manor of Brandon in 1086 had 25 households. In medieval times and beyond Brandon was renowned for its rabbit fur.
On 14 May 1789, the town suffered a Great Fire, a report of which can be found at the Brandon Heritage Centre. While all the young men were away at a fair day in nearby Thetford, a fire caused by a lightning strike set fire to the surgeon's house which quickly spread to the surrounding properties. Eleven houses were damaged and 8 of them were completely destroyed. The hardest hit was Francis Diggon, the saddler, who lost all of his property and possessions, costing a total of 381 pounds, 2 shillings.
Brandon's first cinema was brought to the town by Stanley Lingwood toward the end of 1917. Stanley had just been pensioned out of the Army due receiving a very severe hand wound at The Somme and his father, a wealthy furrier in the town named Palmer Lingwood, died that same time. He purchased the cinema from Shropshire and erected it between the family home, Avenue House, and the Church Institute, along Victoria Avenue. It was a wooden building and he named the cinema 'Electric Palace', and it stayed in his possession until December 1933 when he sold it to a King's Lynn businessman named Ben Culey, who had a cinema in neighbouring Thetford. Six months after Ben purchased the cinema it burnt to the ground in a mysterious fire and in February 1935 he opened another cinema on the site of the burned down one, which he named 'AVENUE'.
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Wikipedia