Brancaster

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Brancaster
St Mary the Virgin, Brancaster
Brancaster Location within Norfolk
Area	21.43 km2 (8.27 sq mi)
Population	797 (2011)[1]
• Density	37/km2 (96/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TF775438
Civil parish	Brancaster
District	King's Lynn and West Norfolk
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KING'S LYNN
Postcode district	PE31
Dialling code	01485
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	North West Norfolk
List of places UK England Norfolk 52°57′44″N 0°38′29″E / 52.96219°N 0.64132°E / 52.96219; 0.64132

Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or less continuous settlement along the A149 at the edge of the Brancaster Manor marshland and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve. The villages are located about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Burnham Market, 22 miles (35 km) north of the town of King's Lynn and 31 miles (50 km) north-west of the city of Norwich.^[1] The civil parish has an area of 8.27 square miles (21.4 km²) and in the 2011 census had a population of 797 in 406 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.^[2] In 2016, Janet Lake, the clerk to Brancaster Parish Council, reached 50 years of service in the post.^[2]

The villages name means "Roman site of Branodunum", where the original Romano-British name may be preserved in the first element. The name is from British bran(n)o, "crow/raven" possibly used as a personal name, and duno-, "fortification". Alternatively, perhaps, "broomy Roman site".