Briston is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. Briston is located 3.5 mi south-west of Holt and 19 mi 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. 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 acre 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 acre was farmed by fourteen bordars. There was a pannage or woodland for 20 pigs which was valued at 16 shillings. Listed buildings within Briston include Hall Farmhouse (Seventeenth Century), Church House (c.1660s) , No. 22, Church Street (Nineteenth Century) , Home Farmhouse (c.1600) , Old Nursery Farmhouse (Seventeenth Century) and Manor Farm House (1700). Within the village their is also a historic Congregationalist Chapel dating to 1775 as well as a Methodist Chapel from the late-Eighteenth Century. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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. It lists the following names for the First World War: And: James Fox. As well as the following for the Second World War: And: James E. Brown, Reginald Smith and William Wright.