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Briston
Briston
	Briston Village Sign
	Briston Location within Norfolk
Area	11.96 km2 (4.62 sq mi)
Population	2,548 (parish, 2021 census)
• Density	213/km2 (550/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TG060320
• London	125 miles (201 km)
Civil parish	Briston CP;
District	North Norfolk;
Shire county	Norfolk;
Region	East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MELTON CONSTABLE
Postcode district	NR24
Dialling code	01263
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	North Norfolk;
	List of places UK England Norfolk 52°51′12″N 1°03′34″E / 52.8534°N 1.05945°E

Briston is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk.

Briston is located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-west of Holt and 19 miles (31 km) north-west of Norwich.

History

Briston's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for a settlement or farmstead near to a landslip.^[1]

In the Domesday Book, Briston is recorded as consisting of 22 settlements. The principal landowners were William the Conqueror and William de Warenne who owned 60 acres (240,000 m²) of land from which had been previously the property of Toke, a Saxon Thegn who had been evicted after the defeat of the Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. This land was farmed by three Free Men or Socman and a further 280 acres (1.1 km²) was farmed by fourteen bordars. There was a pannage or woodland for 20 pigs which was valued at 16 shillings.^[2]

Listed buildings within Briston include Hall Farmhouse (Seventeenth Century)^[3], Church House (c.1660s)^[4], No. 22, Church Street (Nineteenth Century)^[5], Home Farmhouse (c.1600)^[6], Old Nursery Farmhouse (Seventeenth Century)^[7] and Manor Farm House (1700).^[8]

Within the village their is also a historic Congregationalist Chapel dating to 1775^[9] as well as a Methodist Chapel from the late-Eighteenth Century.^[10]

On the 17 August 1941, a Vickers Wellington of No. 12 Squadron RAF crashed close to the village killing three men out of a total crew of the six. The aircraft had left RAF Binbrook and, after a successful bombing raid over Cologne, was attempting a crash landing after suffering anti-aircraft fire.^[11] The three casualties (PO Bernard M. J. Vincent, FSgt. Edward H. Nancarrow and FSgt. Colin G. C. Frost) are memorialised by a brass plaque in All Saints' Church.^[12]

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Briston has a population of 2,548 people which shows a slight increase from the 2,439 people recorded in the 2011 census.^[13]

Briston is located on the B1354, between Thursford and Saxthorpe. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich but a steam line is also available from Holt to Sheringham. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport.

All Saints' Church

Briston's parish church is located on Church Street and has been Grade I listed since 1959, the church is largely a product of the early Fourteenth Century.^[14] All Saints' was a round-tower church until 1795 when the tower was either demolished or collapse and it was not replaced. The church boasts some Medieval brasses on its walls alongside a curious iron cello, reputedly made by the village's blacksmith in the Seventeenth Century.^[15]

Village amenities

Within the village there is a bakery, two butcher's shops, a fishmonger, a grocer's, a small plant nursery, an antique shop, a Post Office and a garage.

Astley Primary School is located in the village whilst secondary school students usually attend Reepham High School and College.

'The Pavilion' (a local community facility) hosts a Youth Club and monthly film shows. Furthermore, the village has a playing field with tennis courts, playing fields , a skate park, a bowling green and a playground for the children of the village.

There are two public houses in the village. On the outskirts of the village is the Three Horseshoes, a 16th-century gastropub with open log fire and oak beams that has undergone large scale refurbishment. In the centre of the village is the recently closed Green Man pub, which has now re-opened as the Explorers Bar.

Governance

Briston is an electoral ward 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.

War memorial

Briston's War Memorial takes the form of a stone cross, with an overlaid wreath, and is located in All Saints' Churchyard.^[16] It lists the following names for the First World War:^[17]


Rank	Name	Unit	Date of Death	Other Commemoration / Burial
Cpl.	Herbert G. Whittred	Machine Gun Corps	31 Jul. 1916	British Cemetery, La Neuville-lès-Bray
Cpl.	Herbert J. Scott	12th Bn., Norfolk Regiment	19 Aug. 1918	Le Grand Hasard Cemetery, Morbecque
LCpl.	Percy J. Smith MM	20th Coy., Machine Gun Corps	26 Oct. 1917	Tyne Cot
LCpl.	Charles W. Partridge	1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment	5 May 1915	Perth Cemetery, Ypres
Dvr.	Richard W. Harrison	409th Bty., Royal Horse Artillery	26 Sep. 1918	Gwalia Cemetery, Ypres
Pte.	Martin Scott	8th Bn., East Surrey Regiment	12 Oct. 1917	Tyne Cot
Pte.	William C. Sands	13th Bn., Essex Regiment	30 Nov. 1917	Cambrai Memorial
Pte.	Charles C. Ives	4th Bn., Royal Fusiliers	21 Aug. 1918	Railway Cutting Cemetery, Courcelles-le-Comte
Pte.	Percy L. Arnold	Army Service Corps att. 479 Bty., Royal Garrison Artillery	18 Jun. 1918	Souvenir Cemetery, Longuenesse
Pte.	James H. Barwick	57th Coy., Labour Corps	23 Jul. 1917	Feuchy Cemetery, Wancourt
Pte.	Herbert Y. Ward	2nd Bn., Loyal Regiment	4 Nov. 1918	Terlincthun Cemetery, Wimille
Pte.	Henry C. Grint	1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment	29 Mar. 1916	Faubourg Cemetery, Arras
Pte.	Frederick C. Partridge	1st Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	4 Jun. 1916	Arras Memorial
Pte.	Harry Fox	2nd Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	24 Sep. 1916	Basra War Cemetery
Pte.	J. Walter Gascoigne	2nd Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	19 Sep. 1916	Kirkee War Cemetery
Pte.	Arthur Rudd	1/4th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	19 Apr. 1917	Jerusalem Memorial
Pte.	Hubert E. Attoe	1/5th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	21 Aug. 1915	Helles Memorial
Pte.	Louis E. B. Buckley	1/5th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	22 Nov. 1915	Memorial Cemetery, Shatby
Pte.	John Dewing	1/5th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	19 Apr. 1917	Jerusalem Memorial
Pte.	Cecil Lambert	7th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	16 Oct. 1918	Loos Memorial
Pte.	Robert Stearman	7th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	8 Aug. 1918	Vis-en-Artois Memorial
Pte.	George S. Griffiths	9th Bn., Norfolk Rgt.	26 Sep. 1915	Loos Memorial
Pte.	J. Thomas Attoe	1st Bn., Sherwood Foresters	28 Aug. 1918	Orchard Dump Cemetery, Arleux-en-Gohelle
Pte.	Richard T.. Griffiths	12th Bn., Suffolk Regiment	25 Feb. 1917	St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen

And: James Fox. As well as the following for the Second World War:


Rank	Name	Unit	Date of Death	Other Commemoration / Burial
AS	Herbert S. Crowe	H.M. Motor Launch 1226	4 Oct. 1945	Chatham Naval Memorial
LCpl.	Charles W. Perry	5th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment	21 Sep. 1944	Kranji War Cemetery
Pte.	Frederick Craske	2nd Bn., Royal Norfolks.	26 May 1940	Dunkirk Memorial
Pte.	Frederick J. Partridge	6th Bn., Royal Norfolks.	17 May 1943	Kanchanaburi War Cemetery