Bracon Ash is located 4.4 miles (7.1 km) south-east of Wymondham and 5.8 miles (9.3 km) south-west of Norwich.
History
Bracon Ash's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for a place with abundant bracken and ash.[1]
In the Domesday Book, Bracon Ash is recorded as a settlement of 15 households in the hundred of Humbleyard. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of Roger Bigod.[2]
Within the village, there are numerous listed buildings. These include Mergate Hall (Seventeenth Century),[3] Mergate Farmhouse (Seventeenth Century)[4] Home Farm House (Seventeenth Century)[5] and Thatched Cottage (Seventeenth Century).[6]
England's smallest official nature reserve Hethel Thorn is accessed from the west of the village.[7] Bracon Ash Common is a small area of woodland and ponds running adjacent to Mergate Lane.
According to the 2021 census, Bracon Ash Parish has a population of 477 people, which has increased slightly from the 460 people listed in the 2011 census.[8]
Amenities within the village include the children's play-park which attracts visitors from the neighboring villages due to its excellent facilities and quiet location.[9]
A public sculpture of 'Bracon Ash Village Sign' is located opposite the village hall. Designed by Jonathan Stevens as a project whilst studying at Wymondham College in 1994.[10]
St. Nicholas' Church
Bracon Ash's parish church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas and is located on Church Road. The church was originally built in the Fourteenth Century with significant rebuilding and restoration in the Nineteenth Century. Within the churchyard is an Eighteenth Century mausoleum, dedicated to the Berney family.[11] St. Nicholas' has been Grade I listed since 1959.[12]
Bracon Ash's war memorial is located along 'The Street' and takes the form of a rough granite obelisk.[13] The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
