Braishfield is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
north of
Romsey in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, England. The name is thought to be derived from the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''bræsc'' + ''feld'', meaning 'open land with small branches or brushwood'. The hamlet of Pucknall lies due east of the village.
Geology
The parish lies on the northern edge of the
Hampshire Basin, with
chalk in the north. To the south and east of the village this is overlain by
Palaeocene sands and clays of the
Lambeth Group
The Lambeth Group is a stratigraphic group, a set of geological rock strata in the London and Hampshire basins of southern England. It comprises a complex of vertically and laterally varying gravels, sands, silts and clays deposited between 56 ...
. At the southern edge the
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens are on younger deposits of
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
age, sloping from a ridge of the Nursling sands into a valley of
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...
.
History
Archaeological discoveries in Braishfield include the remains of some of the oldest dwellings to be found in Great Britain and the first
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
dwelling site of any kind to be discovered in Hampshire.
Higgins James Bown of Laurel Cottage, was the village wheelwright, carpenter, chairmaker and undertaker. H.J. Bown died in July 1954 aged 88 years. His woodworking tools were donated to the
Museum of English Rural Life.
Places of interest
The
Church of England parish church of All Saints was built in 1855 to a design by
William Butterfield.
Transport
The Village has neither main roads nor railways, but is crossed by the
Monarch's Way long-distance footpath.
Sport
Braishfield has a long running football club, who play their home games at the Recreation Ground. Founded in 1907,
Braishfield football club run two adult sides in the Southampton League, a 1st team and a reserve team. They also have six boys teams at various age groups in the Test Way Youth League known as the Braishfield bees. There is also a village cricket club.
Braishfield is well known for ''
Ultimate frisbee'', having one of the longest running Ultimate frisbee Clubs in the UK. They have played every Sunday since founding in 1998. In August 2023 they defeated Southampton City Ultimate 9-6. In May 2024 Braishfield Ultimate won 5 games at Southampton Spring Showdown and won the Spirit award. In March 2025 they defeated Woking Wasps Ultimate 15 - 8.
Local folklore and legend
Braishfield is reputedly haunted.
Media appearances
Much of the 1979-1981 television series ''
Worzel Gummidge'' was filmed in and around Braishfield.
Twin towns
Braishfield is
twinned with:
*
Crouay, France
References
{{authority control
Villages in Hampshire
Test Valley
Reportedly haunted locations in South East England