Great Bradley is a small village between Newmarket and Haverhill. It is the first settlement on the River Stour that forms the border with Suffolk and Essex. 'Bradley' is derived from 'Broad Ley', the Old English (Anglo Saxon) meaning 'broad wood or clearing'. There is evidence that the area has been lived in since the middle stone age, about 5,000 years ago.
There are only about 400 people in the village. Although there are no direct services in the village other than a post box, a telephone box and a mobile library there are a number of active societies and social events. The towns of Newmarket and Haverhill are just 15 minutes drive away and Cambridge can be reached in 25 minutes. Great Bradley won Best Kept Village in Suffolk in 1983 and 1995.
For a small village it has links with many famous people, including the mother of Henry VII, gold medal winning Olympians and the founder of the Sue Ryder Foundation.
The village is well placed to explore the upper reaches of the Stour Valley, being on the route of the Stour Valley Path and the Newmarket Cycle Way. The Church is well worth a visit - if only to see the architecture and to learn about the four brothers who became successive rectors of the parish for a continuous 74 years.
Great Bradley probably has the most extensive web site of any village in the county. It includes maps of the ancient geology, to the locations of the mobile phone masts that serve the village, and everything in between.
Useful links
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