# Briningham

Briningham is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
The village is located 3.6 miles (5.8 km) south-west of Holt and 20 miles (32 km) north-west of Norwich.

## History

Briningham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the village of Bryni's people.
In the Domesday Book, Briningham is recorded as a settlement of 35 households in the hundred of Holt. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of Alan of Brittany and Bishop William of Thetford.
There are numerous Grade II listed buildings in Briningham including No. 2 & No. 4 on Church Lane (c.1840), Home Farmhouse (Eighteenth Century), Garden Cottage (Seventeenth Century) and Rose Cottage (Eighteenth Century). White House and Mission Hall dates from 1809. The Old White Horse operated as a pub in the Nineteenth Century but is now a residential building.
The Bellevue Tower still stands in the village and is most likely the remains of a smock mill built in 1721 on the orders of Sir Jacob Astley.
Briningham Hall still stands within the village and was built in 1838 in the Greek Revival style.
There is also a telephone booth built in 1935, which is Grade II listed.

## Geography

According to the 2021 census, Briningham has a population of 112 people which shows a slight decrease from the 130 people recorded in the 2011 census.
The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich. There is an abandoned railway line which is considered as a footpath, it runs parallel with an old track "the lane" that leads up to Bellevue Tower. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport.
The B1110, between Holt and Dereham, runs through the village.

## St. Maurice's Church

Briningham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Maurice and dates at its earliest to 1300. The church has been Grade I listed since 1959. The church boasts stained glass depicting the ascension of Christ by William Wailes (installed 1862) and another depicting Saint Cecilia and Saint Agnes by Alfred L. Wilkinson. Within St. Maurice's Churchyard there is a large monument made from stone dedicated to a family of local landowners, the Breretons.

## Governance

Briningham is part of the electoral ward of Stody for local elections and is part of the district of North Norfolk.
The village's national constituency is North Norfolk, which has been represented by the Liberal Democrat Steff Aquarone MP since 2024.

## Notable People

* Peter Whitbread – English actor and screenwriter who lived and died in Briningham.

## War Memorial

Briningham War Memorial takes the form of two brass plaques inside St. Maurice's Church. It lists the following names for the First World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Other Commemoration / Burial |
| AS | Robert C. Winn | HMS Cressy | 22 Sep. 1914 | Chatham Naval Memorial |
| Pte. | Francis O. Turner | 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards | 2 Feb. 1915 | Le Touret Memorial |
| Pte. | George E. Wright | 12th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment | 22 Jul. 1918 | Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery |
| Pte. | George E. Lincoln | 7th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment | 20 Dec. 1916 | Communal Cemetery, Habarcq |
| Pte. | John F. Woolway | 7th Battalion, Queen's Own Regiment | 26 Nov. 1918 | St. Maurice's Churchyard, Briningham |
| Pte. | Thomas Oliver | 9th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment | 1 Jul. 1916 | Thiepval Memorial |
And the following names for the Second World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Other Commemoration / Burial |
| Capt. | C. S. Malcolm Brereton | 5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment | 10 Jan. 1942 | Kranji War Cemetery |
| P/O | Wilfred W. Barrett | HMS Prince of Wales | 10 Dec. 1941 | Plymouth Naval Memorial |
| P/O | Alfred J. Majury | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve | 12 Jun. 1942 | St. Matthew's Churchyard, Sutton Bridge |
| CSM | Noel E. Twiddy | 6th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment | 12 Sep. 1944 | Kranji War Memorial |
| Gdsm. | Donald M. Majury | 4th Battalion, Coldstream Guards | 18 Oct. 1944 | Mierlo War Cemetery |
In addition, Frederick W. Jarvis, a native of Briningham, was killed during the Norwich Blitz, part of the Baedeker Blitz, when a Luftwaffe bomb hit his house on 41, Patterson Road on the 27 April 1942.

## Gallery

* "The Street"
* Briningham Plantation Viewed across harvested cereal field beside the B1354
* "The Street"
* The bus now calls at the houses of people who have phoned the day before requesting to be collected
* St Maurice Church
* Houses on The Street