Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BRILL

BRILL, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Thame and county of Bucks. The village stands on an eminence, within the ancient Bernwood forest, 3½ miles S of the Julian way, and 7 NNW of Thame r. station. It has a post office‡ under Thame, and fairs on the first Wednesday of May and the Wednesday after old Michaelmas day; and was formerly a markettown. Its ancient name was Brechullar Brinhely. Edward the Confessor had a hunting-lodge adjacent to it; Henry II. kept his court here in 1160, attended by Becket, and again in 1162; King John spent his Christmas here in 1205; Henry III. held his court here in 1224; and Sir G. Gerard, under Charles I., placed a force here in 1642, and repelled an attack by Hampden. The parish comprises 2,600 acres. Real property, £5,873. Pop., 1,432. Houses, 324. The property is much subdivided. The manor was given by the Conqueror to Nigel the huntsman, and has descended from him to Sir T. D. Aubrey, Bart. Stone is quarried; yellow ochre is found; and clay has been worked into pottery here since the time of the Romans, but ceases to be in request. A chalybeate spring in the immediate neighbourhood of the village has some medicinal repute; and a hotel stands adjacent to it for the accommodation of visitors. A grove near the village is probably a relic of Bernwood forest. Muswell or Muzzle hill is crowned by an ancient camp and a hermitage, and commands a fine view. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Boarstall, in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £101.* Patron, S. Ricketts, Esq. The church is partly Norman, and good; and there are two Independent chapels, a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, four alms-houses, poors' lands £120 a year, and some other charities.-The subdistrict contains eleven parishes. Acres, 20,720. Pop., 5,646. Houses, 1,237.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Brill CP/Ch       Brill SubD       Buckinghamshire AncC
Place: Brill

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.