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Welcome to the Eastern Branch
Church of the Month – Bradwell, St Nicholas of Myra.
Bradwell village is located close to Gorleston and was until 1974 in the county of Suffolk. Today the parish falls within the district of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.
St Nicholas church dates from Norman times with its flint & stone round tower and was further enlarged in the 1400s by the addition of two aisles. It was greatly renovated by the Victorians in 1875 after a disastrous fire gutted the church in the C18, so most of the furnishings date from the period of renovation. The interior contains a number of interesting memorials – the oldest dating from 1644 to William Vesey, and also some lovely stained glass windows. The church is located within a very large churchyard and was the first in the country to have a millennium beacon installed on the tower roof in 1999, a feature that was celebrated by being portrayed on a 19p postage stamp at the time.
St Nicholas church tower has a ring of three bells with the Tenor, tuned to the key of G, weighing just over 10cwt. It was recast by Mears & Stainbank in 1919 after it was found that the bell contained a large visible crack in the crown. The Treble and second bells were cast by the foundry of Brasyers in Norwich towards the middle of the C15 – c.1450. All three bells are hung on plain bearings in a timber frame manufactured by Day & Sons of Eye in Suffolk in the early 1920s. Prior to the recasting of the tenor all were a medieval ring of three. The bells all have the monogram of 3 shields for Richard Brasyer on the crown, with the addition of various inscriptions.
The bells are regularly rung for Sunday services and weddings.
