BRIGHTWELL
Beorhtwille (x cent.); Bristowell, Bricstewell (xi
cent.); Brictewell, Bretewell, Brithwell, Brygtwell
(xiii–xv cent.); Bretwell, Britwell, Bryghtwell (xv–xviii cent.).
The entire area of Brightwell is 2,064 acres.
There are 1,306 acres of arable, 610 acres of grass,
and 10 acres of woodland. (fn. 1)
The parish extends from the Thames on the north
to the Moreton Brook on the south. The soil is
sandy loam, resting partly on Greensand. The northeastern portion is an elevation of the Upper Greensand rising to a height of 371 ft., with the Gault
intervening between this and the river. The southern
portion is level marsh-land. The whole, both arable
and pasture, is very fertile. The chief crops are
wheat, barley, oats, beans and turnips. The occupations are chiefly confined to agriculture and grazing.
The common was inclosed in 1813. (fn. 2)
In the 10th century the area of Brightwell appears
to be included in Sotwell (q.v.), which is a small
parish crossing Brightwell from north to south and
dividing it into two separate portions. In the
western portion is the principal village called occasionally Westbrightwell (xiv cent.), (fn. 3) and the hamlet
of Mackney is south of it. The portion east of
Sotwell is Slade End, at the end of the 'slad' or
valley. The four hamlets of Brightwell, Mackney,
Sotwell, and Slade End form practically one large
village in the middle of the entire area. There is a
central recreation ground in the parish of Sotwell.
The line of cottages along the northern edge of the
village on the high road (partly in Sotwell) is known
as Little London. This principal high road coming
from Wallingford proceeds towards Abingdon; a
branch diverging southwards at Slade End passes
westward through Sotwell and Brightwell; and outside the western end these roads are connected again
by a cross road in a series of right angles which are
said to be the result of difficulties encountered when
it was made to form a turnpike road by Didcot
into west Berkshire about 1800. (fn. 4) Several byways cross
southward between the high road and the parallel
thoroughfare through the villages. The most important of them, being the western boundary of
Sotwell, carries on the line of 'Green Field Lane,'
which crosses the hill from the north, and continues
southward in Mackney Lane leading to that hamlet,
whence a foot-path, which may have been known as
a cattle track as early as the 10th century, (fn. 5) again continues its line to the brook at Tadsey Bridge. The
course of the Saxon highway from east to west is seen
in a direct line in a foot-path across Slade End fields,
then in the street of Sotwell, and in a foot-path passing
behind the houses of Brightwell Street and emerging
again upon the roadway westward; thence continuing
in a cart-track, and afterwards in a field boundary
called 'Beggars' Path,' so leading up towards Haddon
Hill. A parallel foot-path from Slade End crosses
Sotwell and becomes the main street of Brightwell.
The village is mostly modern, the cottages being
built chiefly of brick with slate or tile roofs, though a
few of the older ones are thatched. Standing back
on the west side of a lane running north from the
church is a small 16th-century house in a dilapidated condition, now turned into two cottages. It is
of half-timber and brick construction and is roofed
with tiles. At the south end of the lane, on the east
side, are some old thatched cottages. On the upper
floor of one of them are three curious wall paintings
which appear to be of early 17th-century date. The
subjects are a matter of conjecture, but probably
represent some story. In the first a woman lying on
a bed in a tent is being raised by a man in a black
robe with a halo round his head. The middle
painting represents a child lying on a couch with
a figure holding a lamp bending over her. Above
them is a red canopy or tent. The third shows a
figure in a red gown getting out of a bed over which
is a black canopy. In the bottom right-hand corner
is a hand holding a candle, and in the opposite
corner is a head with a halo.
At the west end of Brightwell Street are the
rectory-house, of which the old part is said to be of
the time of Henry IV, (fn. 6) and the church of St. Agatha.
Behind the church is the house of Manor Farm,
known as Brightwell House, and now occupied by
the Misses Turner, Woodhouse and Harrowell; the
back part bears the date 1605, (fn. 7) but the front is a
three-story building of about 1800 of purple-coloured
bricks with red brick dressings and a tiled roof. Its
moat, with a large mound at one corner, formerly
inclosed the church also. (fn. 8) This is doubtless the site
of the Norman castle (fn. 9) which was delivered up by
King Stephen to Duke Henry after the Civil War (fn. 10)
'and probably was then demolished.' (fn. 11) The moat is
supplied by the 'clear spring' which gives the name
to the village, (fn. 12) rising at a short distance on the
north; and it may be presumed that the mill of
the Survey (fn. 13) was here. A streamlet diverted from
the Sotwell spring runs along the street into this.
The hamlet of Mackney (Maccanige, Maccanie,
x cent.; Maccanyng, xiv cent.; Mackeney, Makeney,
xii–xvii cent.) is half a mile south of Brightwell. An
ancient bridge of large flagstones carrying the roadway
over an intervening ditch was condemned as unsafe
in 1901 and a bridge of brick was substituted. (fn. 14)
At Mackney Court a portion of the house built
by Robert Court before 1509 (fn. 15) still exists, (fn. 16) with
the remains of its moat. (fn. 17) Much of the old house
of Sherwoods is incorporated at the back of the
modern house. A fine gabled house of stone, known
as Small's House, built by Small, a burgess of
Wallingford, in the reign of Elizabeth, is unaltered,
but occupied by cottagers. (fn. 18) It is on an estate
belonging to New College, Oxford.
Slade End House is a substantial brick building,
erected about 1800, now the property of the Rev. John
W. A. Slatter Betteridge.
Fields near the village are Dews Close, Kates
Close, Tittlings Piece and Pisshe (otherwise Priests)
Meadow. The brook bounding the parish on the
south was 'Sandlac' in the 12th century. (fn. 19) The
brook dividing it from Little Wittenham on the
north-west was 'Scillingesbroc.' (fn. 20)
The western boundary of Mackney is Kibble
Ditch (Gybhild, ? x cent. (fn. 21) ; Gebyll, or Gibble, xvi
cent. (fn. 22) ). Along the verge of these two brooks passed
the Roman road from Dorchester to Streatley which
formed the boundary of Sotwell (including Bright
well) in early times, (fn. 23) and of which a considerable part
survives in existing tracks from Tadsey Bridge along
Mackney Fields, then for a few yards at Moor End
Cottage in Brightwell; after which its course disappears over a field called 'Cuckoo Pen' and beside
Redgate Farm on the high road, and it reappears
from the brow of the hill, passing between Felmore
Copse and the Wittenham Wood down to the river
bank. (fn. 24) The field track and pathway crossing the
northern part of the parish was called 'Bridgeway'
perhaps as early as the 10th century. (fn. 25) At its eastern
end is 'Kedging Meadow' (Kechill Mede, xvi cent.),
partly in Sotwell and partly an isolated portion of
Brightwell. In the 'Ham Fields' on the eminence
Brightwell Barrow (fn. 26) is conspicuous. The earliest
recorded name of the ridge was Caberes Back, and
'heathen burial-mounds' which have disappeared were
at the western apex of the parish, (fn. 27) now 'Dead-man's
Acre.' Fields at this point are 'Haddon' and
'The Coombs.' East of them are 'Butts Close' and
'Mellaway.' Between these within living memory
a mere bank, facing the entrance of the camp on
Castle Hill in Little Wittenham (q.v.), passed southward and a field called Bloody Mere adjoins it. (fn. 28)
In Slade End, south of the roads already described and continuing the line of a foot-path near the
brook, is a portion of the Roman road which led
westward from Wallingford with its banks and ditches,
its line being carried on by a foot-path across Sotwell, and thence by the 'Witches' Walk' leading
from Mackney Lane into 'Cow Croft,' and afterwards reappearing in the high road to Didcot, which
further west is called the Portway. (fn. 29) The Slade
End meadows between this track and the brook
are 'Millony' (fn. 30) (Meldanige, ? x cent.; Meldynige,
Mildeney, xiv cent.; Millney, xvii–xviii cent.),
bounded on the west by another primitive track
meeting the former at a wide angle and passing
southward by 'the Evils,' (fn. 31) where it becomes part
of the eastern boundary of Sotwell.
Brightwell Church from the North-east
Inclosures adjoining Mackney Court called Great
and Little Culbery probably represent the primitive
'bury.' (fn. 32) Getseys Close adjoins Mackney Lane,
Downhearse and Beegarden occur in 1770. Meadows
on the Moreton Brook are 'the Evils' (partly in
Sotwell), the Street, and Tadsey. (fn. 33)
There was a windmill in the parish in the 18th
century. (fn. 34)
Notes of a Rogationtide 'drinking,' c. 1655, are
preserved. (fn. 35) A village feast is held on the second
and third Sundays in August. The observance of
Shroving Day with doggerel rhymes and of May Day
with garlands is kept up among the children.
There was a meeting-house for Dissenters in Brightwell in 1840. (fn. 36) There are now a Primitive Methodist chapel, erected in 1882, and an undenominational
mission hall.
The Church of England school was founded in
1846 and rebuilt in 1870. A clock tower attached
to it is the gift of the late Mr. Edward Fairthorne,
who also founded some almshouses for three aged
persons. The Stewart Memorial Hall for parochial
purposes was erected by public subscription in 1880
as a memorial to the Rev. James Haldane Stewart,
rector from 1866 to 1879.
Thomas of Brightwell, Chancellor of Oxford
University, who suffered as a Wycliffite, is supposed
to have been a native of this place. (fn. 37) There have
been several distinguished rectors. Thomas Godwin, D.D., master of Abingdon School, a classical and
theological writer, died in 1642. (fn. 38) He was succeeded
by Edward Hyde, D.D., a Royalist divine, who was
deprived as being disaffected to the Parliament in
1645, (fn. 39) when John Ley, a member of the Westminster
Assembly, was appointed. (fn. 40) Edward Bernard, D.D.,
astronomer and orientalist, was presented in 1691 and
died in 1697. (fn. 41) Anthony Alsop, a poetical writer,
presented about 1717, was accidentally drowned
abroad in 1726. (fn. 42) Thomas Wintle, a distinguished
Hebraist, died in 1814. (fn. 43)
MANORS
According to a charter dated 948,
probably embodying genuine materials, (fn. 44)
but contained in a chartulary of ill
repute, compiled at St. Swithun's, Winchester, in the
12th century, (fn. 45) King Eadred granted to the thegn
Ethelgeard 5 hides at Mackney and 5 hides at Sotwell, and also 46 acres outside Wallingford. (fn. 46) The
Liber de Hyda, however, states that King Eadwy in
957 bestowed upon Ethelgeard 15 hides at Sotwell
(Stottanwille), and the boundaries included what
Eadred had granted, together with that portion of the
present parish of Brightwell which lies between the
western boundary of Sotwell and the line of the
Roman road, and also what is now Slade End excepting the south-eastern portion known as Millony, of
which lands Ethelgeard is said to have granted the
reversion after the death of himself and his wife to
the New Minster (Hyde Abbey) at Winchester. (fn. 47) The
name of BRIGHTWELL appears in a spurious charter
dated 945, purporting to be a grant by Eadred to Ethelgeard of 30 hides about the vill called 'Æt Beorhtanwille,' 10 of which are at that place, 15 in a part of the
vill called 'Æt Suttanwille,' and 5 in Mackney island;
also the 46 acres near Wallingford. (fn. 48) It describes all
that constitutes the present parishes of Brightwell and
Sotwell, including the westward extension of Brightwell beyond the line of the Roman road, the eastern
half of Mackney, the southern portion of Sotwell,
and Millony, all of which are outside the limits of
the grant of 957. (fn. 49) Possibly this is based on a true
tradition that the additional Brightwell lands had
belonged to the cathedral abbey of St. Swithun, but
before the Norman Conquest the 10 hides at Sotwell
belonged to Hyde Abbey, and only the 15 hides at
Brightwell with the 5 hides at Mackney were the
property of the bishopric. The Domesday Survey
states that Bishop Stigand held 20 hides here in right
of his bishopric of Winchester, but after the Conquest it was assessed as 10 hides, yet the value had
increased from £20 to £25; also Bishop Walkelin
held twenty-seven tenements in Wallingford belonging to this manor. (fn. 50) In 1276 a complaint was raised
in the hundred court that the bishop had withdrawn
the tithing of Brightwell to the damage of the king's
hundred and had otherwise claimed undue rights
there. (fn. 51) In the reign of Edward II Brightwell,
Mackney and Sotwell were still reckoned as one
'vill,' the Bishop of Winchester and John de St. John
being the lords. (fn. 52) In 1583 the capital messuage and
certain lands were leased to
Queen Elizabeth for seventynine years. (fn. 53) Edmund Dunch,
son of William Dunch of Little
Wittenham, was occupying it
in 1588, (fn. 54) and probably his
son William Dunch in 1605. (fn. 55)
In 1648 the commissioners
for the sale of church lands
sold it to Robert Gale, (fn. 56) who
conveyed it in 1651 to
Edmund Dunch, (fn. 57) grandson
of Edmund above named. It
reverted to the see in 1660,
and was evidently held on
successive leases by the Dunch family till 1754. (fn. 58) About
1762 the Tooveys were the tenants, (fn. 59) and in 1800 it
was sold to William Toovey, with whose descendants
it continued until in 1914 the Rev. William Toovey
sold it to Mr. Allan L. Morphew. (fn. 60) The office of
reeve of the manor continues and a court is held
about every five years.
Dunch. Azure a cheveron between three castles or.
The history of SLADE END
(fn. 61) (Sladend, xviii cent.)
is traceable in part from 1354, when a carucate was
held of the Bishop of Winchester as of his manor of
Brightwell by John Stonor, (fn. 62) being a portion of the
manor afterwards called Sotwell Stonor in Sotwell (q.v.),
and the connexion lasted when the Sotwell manors
passed to Sir Adrian Fortescue. (fn. 63) Hence this portion
is sometimes described as in Sotwell, and in the 17th
and 18th centuries it appears to be often distinguished
as Bishops Sotwell or Sotwell Bishop.
The tenement on the site now occupied by Slade
End House was held formerly by the Ford family.
It is presumably the messuage with 40 acres held for
a term of years by Richard Ford in 1515, (fn. 64) at the
same time that John Ford obtained from Fortescue a
lease of the portion in Sotwell (q.v.). Ralph Ford of
Slade End died in 1633. (fn. 65) John Ford was living
there about 1655. (fn. 66) He died in 1669, (fn. 67) and another
John Ford in 1702, when his son of the same name
was admitted as tenant, the estate being considerably
augmented when a fourth John Ford succeeded his
father in 1734, but much of it was alienated and all
was heavily mortgaged before his death in 1773, and
his son James Ford quitclaimed the last rights in
1783 to Mr. Edward Wells of Wallingford, who
acquired other properties also in Slade End and conveyed them to his son Edward Wells in 1796. (fn. 68)
John Wells, second son of the latter, was living here
in 1797, (fn. 69) the estate having been bestowed on him,
and at his death shortly afterwards it descended to his
son Edward, who eventually purchased from the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners the manorial rights
which have since passed with it. (fn. 70) After the death of
Mr. Edward Wells in 1875 the estate was purchased
by Mr. Edward Fairthorne of Brightwell, who left it
by will to his brother's daughter Charlotte Elizabeth
Jane, afterwards wife of the Rev. John William
Abraham Slatter Betteridge, to whom it passed at her
death in 1911. (fn. 71)
Five hides in MACKNEY formed part of Eadred's
grant to Ethelgeard in 948, and before the Conquest
the entire area of Mackney, together with the rest of
Brightwell, belonged to the bishopric of Winchester. (fn. 72)
It is not named in the Domesday Survey, being part
of the bishop's manor, and his overlordship was recognized in the time of Henry III (fn. 73) and of Edward II, (fn. 74)
though he quarrelled with his tenants both in 1197
and in 1292. (fn. 75) In 1350 Mackney is first called a
manor. (fn. 76)
In 1196 Ralph de Mackney recovered from Thomas
de Mackney his inheritance, consisting of a messuage
and 6½ virgates in Mackney, and he granted to Thomas
a moiety of the land, half a hide being held by Cecilia
the mother of Thomas as dower, of which at her
death 1 virgate was to pass to Ralph, who also
retained the capital messuage, and the remainder to
Thomas and his heirs. (fn. 77) Ralph's estate descended to
a son and heir of the same name, (fn. 78) whose son Robert
in 1253 conveyed a messuage and land in Mackney to
Ralph de Naketon (fn. 79) and a meadow there called 'Buricroft' to William de Mackney to hold for five crops (fn. 80) ;
Robert died without issue and William de Mackney
was probably his nephew, son of Ralph de Mackney. (fn. 81)
William appears as lord of Mackney in 1289, (fn. 82) and
in 1292 he made an exchange of land here with the
Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 83) William was still living in
1307, (fn. 84) but in 1320 Rowland Hastings was lord of
Mackney. (fn. 85) In 1323 Ralph Restwold received from
John de Fleckenho a grant of the wardship and lands
of John son of William Mackney in Ladbroke (co.
Warw.), (fn. 86) and in 1350 he and Edmund de Bereford
settled the manor of Mackney on William de Mackney
and his wife Ellen and their issue. (fn. 87) William was
living in 1355, (fn. 88) but was probably dead in 1371,
when Dame Helen (presumably Ellen) de Mackney
demised land in Mackney to John Cokelestote and
Joan his wife for her life. (fn. 89) Courts were held by
William de Ryburgh, probably for this lady, from
1372 to 1378. (fn. 90) Richard Mackney was lord of the
manor in 1426. (fn. 91) He was son of William and grandson of William and Ellen, and he left a son Henry, (fn. 92)
who in 1430 was distrained at the manor-court of
Sotwell to do fealty for his lands, (fn. 93) and afterwards was
sued by his sisters, Isabel wife of John Colyngryge and
Agnes wife of John Fitz Robert, because, having no
children, he had agreed to sell the manor to Thomas
Stonor, (fn. 94) thus depriving them of their inheritance. (fn. 95)
In 1466 he is described as 'late of Makney.' (fn. 96) The
manor courts of Mackney were held by a lady (possibly the widow of Richard Mackney) from 1457
until 1472. (fn. 97) Finally, in 1488 Henry de Mackney
conveyed the manor to Robert Coorte, (fn. 98) or Court,
who was auditor to Prince Arthur and died in 1509, (fn. 99)
leaving an only daughter who married Sir Adrian
Moleyns. (fn. 100) Their son William Moleyns (fn. 101) conveyed
the manor in 1523 to Nicholas Hare in trust for his
son Robert Moleyns, (fn. 102) who was living here in 1542, (fn. 103)
and who in 1553 settled it on himself and his direct
heirs with remainder to Henry the son and heir of
John Moleyns. (fn. 104) Anthony, the eldest son of William
Moleyns, appears to have been
living here in 1564 and his
brother Michael in 1577–8, (fn. 105)
the latter being described as
'of Mackney.' (fn. 106) Henry Moleyns had come into possession of the manor in 1597 (fn. 107)
and sold it in 1611 to William
Westbury and Henry Dixon, (fn. 108)
of whom it was purchased in
1614 by Robert Westbury. (fn. 109)
Robert sold it in 1617 to
Francis Winchcombe, (fn. 110) on
whose death in 1619 it passed
to his son Henry. (fn. 111) Henry was
succeeded in this manor ten
years later by his second son William, (fn. 112) who sold it in
1650 to Miles Flesher, (fn. 113) with whose family it remained (fn. 114) until in 1689 Elizabeth Flesher and her
son James sold it to John Carpenter. (fn. 115) It belonged
in 1700 to the Rev. Bardsey Fisher of Cambridge, (fn. 116)
who conveyed it in 1714 to John Hawkins and
Richard Webb. (fn. 117) They may have been trustees for
Matthew Black, who was in possession in 1724 and
1755. (fn. 118) It came soon afterwards to the Martin
family and was held about the close of the 18th
century by Matthew Martin. (fn. 119) It next belonged to
Charles Morrell of Wallingford, from whom it was
purchased early in the 19th century by Robert
Dalzell. From him it passed to his son John Thomas
Robert Dalzell, who died in 1873. (fn. 120) It then passed
to the Ramsay family, and the trustees of the late
William Fermor Ramsay are the present owners. (fn. 121)
Moleyns of Mackney. Or a cross moline sable and a chief azure with three talbots' heads razed or therein.
An estate in Mackney known later as SHERWOODS was granted by copy of Court Roll in 1605
by Henry Moleyns to John Wing and in 1644 by
William Winchcombe to Thomas Wing, son of John,
who in 1669 bequeathed it to his two daughters Mary
and Elizabeth. The former of these married Philip
Mayne, and their son Philip in 1707 conveyed his
share to the latter, who was wife of Ralph Sherwood. (fn. 122)
Ralph by his will in 1711 devised the whole to his
son Edward Sherwood, (fn. 123) who in 1744 bequeathed it
to his daughters Elizabeth and Sarah. (fn. 124) They sold it
in 1755 to William Fludger of Wallingford, (fn. 125) who in
1770 bequeathed it to his son James, and eventually
it passed to his grandson Henry Fludger, whose coheirs were his sisters, Frances Jane the wife of Charles
Lutyens and Elizabeth the wife of Joseph Hopkins.
The former lady and her nephew Fludger Hopkins
were admitted to the estate in 1835, the former alone
in 1849, and her son Charles Henry Augustus Lutyens
in 1851. He sold the estate in 1877 to Mr. Robert
Wellington Cozens, (fn. 126) who died in 1889 and his widow
in 1899, from whose executors it was purchased by
their third son Mr. William Robert Cozens, the
present owner.
CHURCH
The church of ST. AGATHA consists of a chancel about 37 ft. 6 in. by
18 ft. 10 in., with a continuous nave
about 39 ft. by 19 ft., a modern organ chamber, a
north aisle 41 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 4 in., south aisle
about 42 ft. 2 in. by 10 ft. 8 in., west tower about
11 ft. square, and a north porch. These measurements
are all internal.
The south arcade and the west wall of the nave are
of the late 12th century, and a doorway of the same
date remains in the south wall of the south aisle. A
west tower was added in the early 13th century, and
the north aisle is an addition of the first half of the
14th century, while the chancel and south aisle appear
to have been rebuilt and widened a few years later.
The present west tower dates from 1797, but the
13th-century arch opening to the tower then removed
was left intact. In 1815 the roof of the nave was
ceiled, and in 1858 the church was restored, when
the present east window was inserted. A second restoration took place in 1884, and in 1903 the organ
chamber was added.
The modern east window of the chancel is of three
lights designed in the style of the late 13th century.
At the north-east is a pointed 14th-century window of
two cinquefoiled lights. To the east of this window
is a modern aumbry, and the jambs of a blocked-up
doorway can be seen on the outside face of the wall.
The remaining portion of the wall is chiefly occupied
by the doorway to the organ chamber and the organ
opening. To the west of this, high up in the wall, is
a four-centred doorway to the rood-loft, inserted late
in the 15th century. At the south-east is a 14th-century two-light window similar to the corresponding
window in the north wall, while at the south-west is a
pointed window of two trefoiled lights with tracery
and a segmental rear arch. The mullion is modern.
Under the eastern window of the south wall are
two sedilia with cinquefoiled heads under moulded
segmental labels, in range with a trefoiled piscina
having a pointed label. The hood moulds intersect, and terminate on the east and west in carved
head-stops. The work is mainly of original 14th-century date, but the basin of the piscina and the
heads of the sedilia have been restored. There is
no chancel arch, but the 15th-century rood-beam
remains and carries the wall between the roofs of the
chancel and nave. The walls are faced externally with
dressed rubble masonry. Built into the north wall at
the east end is a small piece of an early string-course.
In the north wall of the organ chamber is a pointed
doorway under a 14th-century moulded label with
original head-stops.
The north arcade is of three bays with pointed
arches of two chamfered orders, carried by octagonal
piers with moulded capitals and bases and semioctagonal responds of the same detail. The bases of
the two piers and that of the west respond have been
slightly restored. The south arcade is of the same
number of bays, and has pointed arches of two square
orders, carried by circular piers having moulded capitals
with octagonal abaci and moulded bases. The clearstory windows, four on either side, are of the 15th
century, and each is of two cinquefoiled lights under
a square head. Crowning the clearstory walls are
moulded cornices, still retaining on each side two
original grotesque gargoyles, under which are 18th-century lead rain-water pipes with fine heads.
In the east wall of the north aisle, now opening
into the modern organ chamber, is a fine pointed 14th-century window of three trefoiled lights with tracery
in the head and moulded internal jambs. To the south,
against the respond of the north arcade of the nave,
is a square-headed rood doorway. In the north wall
are two 14th-century pointed windows, each of two
cinquefoiled lights, with geometrical tracery in the
head. To the west of these is a pointed doorway continuously moulded externally with two sunk quarterrounds, and having a two-centred segmental rear arch.
In the west wall is a pointed window like those in the
north wall. Externally the
walls are covered with roughcast, and are crowned by a
stone parapet with a small
cornice beneath it, on which,
to the east of the north porch,
is carved a grotesque head.
The east window of the
south aisle, which is of
original 14th-century date,
is of three trefoiled lights
with fine reticulated tracery
under a pointed head, and
a moulded rear arch. The
two windows in the south
wall are of the same character
as the east window; each is
of two trefoiled lights with
tracery in a pointed head,
and both have been considerably restored.
Between the two windows is a reset late 12th-century semicircular-headed
doorway of two orders. The
inner order is continuous,
but the outer was originally carried by small shafts
having carved capitals with moulded abaci and bases;
the shafts and bases, however, are now missing. On
the east jamb of the doorway is scratched a rude sundial.
Externally on the east and south-east the walls of the
aisle have been refaced with yellow Bath stone; the
west end is rough-casted. The wall is crowned by a
cornice on which are carved three grotesque heads.
The walls of the porch are plastered, and over the
entrance is an oak beam, the upper part of the porch
being of half-timber construction.
The tower, which is of two stages, stands on a
stone base, and is built of purple-coloured bricks with
red brick quoins and dressings to the doorway and
windows, and a brick parapet. The 13th-century
tower arch is pointed and of two chamfered orders.
The inner order is carried on plain corbels, and the
outer order by responds with moulded abaci and chamfered angles. The 18th-century west doorway of the
ground stage, originally round-headed with a stone
keystone and springing blocks, has been 'gothicized.'
The ringing stage is lighted on the north and south
by small square-headed openings, and the bell-chamber
by a round-headed brick opening with a stone keystone and springing blocks in each face.
Over the chancel is a steep-pitched trussed rafter
roof of 14th-century date with a moulded tie-beam
in the centre. The rood-beam between the roof of
the chancel and nave is moulded, and is supported by
slightly curved braces carried on semi-octagonal
moulded corbels. The nave roof is ceiled, and that
of the south aisle is modern, but over the north aisle
is an original lean-to roof. All the roofs are slated
except those of the vestry, north aisle, and tower,
which are covered with lead.
The pulpit and font are both modern. In the
north-east window of the north aisle are some fragments of 14th-century glass removed from the window
in the east wall of the aisle. These include the head
of a crowned female saint with the inscription 'S[ancta]
Margareta' and pieces of leaf pattern in red, black, and
white. Similar fragments are also preserved in the
north-west window of the same aisle. There is suspended from the ceiling of the nave a very fine 18th-century brass candelabrum.
Plan of Brightwell Church
In the floor of the south aisle is a brass with the
following black letter inscription: 'Hic jacet corpora
(sic) m[agister]i Joh[ann]is Scolffyld | qui obiit xvo die mē maii
ao dñi millmo VcVIIo cui9 aīe [pro]picietur Deus Amē.'
Above the inscription is the figure of a priest in
eucharistic vestments, holding a chalice and wafer.
In the floor of the nave is a brass inscribed, 'Pray
for the soules of Robert Court sumtyme Auditor to
prynce | Artour and Jane his wyfe the whiche Robt
decessyd the XXVIIJ day of | June the yere of or
lord MVcIX on whose soules ihũ have mercy Amen.'
Over the inscription are the brass figures of Robert
and his wife, the former with his hands in prayer,
wearing a gown with ermine facings and having
a purse suspended from his belt. At the west end
of the nave is another brass, with the figures of
a man and his wife inscribed as follows: 'Pray
for the sowlles of Rychard hampden and Jane
his wyfe | the whych Jane decesyd the XXIIJ day of
februarius the yere of our | lord MoCCCCCXII on
whos' sowllis jhū have mercy AMEN.'
There is a ring of six bells: the first five are by
Thomas Mears, 1808, but the tenor was recast in
1908 by Mears & Stainbank; there is also a sanctus
bell, which bears no date or inscription.
The plate consists of a silver cup of 1599 inscribed,
'The Communion Cwp of the Parish of Britwell
gathered and made by the payns of John Goodday
William Perrey and James Leirpin June 12 1600,' a
paten of 1633, a small paten of 1752 inscribed 'Brightwell Berks 1841,' and a larger paten of 1771–2.
The registers previous to 1812 are as follows:
(i) baptisms 1564 to 1690, burials 1615 to 1690,
marriages 1615 to 1689; (ii) baptisms from 1691,
burials from 1690, both to 1812, marriages 1691 to
1754; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1812.
Brightwell Church: The Nave looking West
ADVOWSON
The church of Brightwell is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 127)
In 1284 the king quitclaimed to the
Bishops of Winchester all right to the advowson, (fn. 128)
which remained with the Bishops of Winchester, (fn. 129)
though the king occasionally presented during vacancies
of the see, (fn. 130) until in 1852 it was transferred to the
Bishops of Oxford from the next voidance of the see
of Winchester, which took place in 1869. (fn. 131) In 1868
the chapelry of Sotwell was annexed to Brightwell, (fn. 132)
and the eastern portion of Slade End in Brightwell
was transferred ecclesiastically to the parish of St.
Leonard in Wallingford.
CHARITIES
The four charities following are
administered together, namely:—
1. The Rev. Thomas Godwin,
D.D., a former rector, founded by deed, 1642, trust
fund, £559 9s. 10d. consols, arising from the sale in
1880 of the real estate belonging to the charity;
2. John Leaver, will proved at Oxford in the court
of the archdeaconry of Berkshire 8 July 1713, consisting
of a rent-charge of 40s. (less land tax), now paid by
Mr. A. D. Wells out of Leaver's, otherwise Baker's,
Farm in Sotwell;
3. Rev. Thomas Wintle, D.D., a former rector, by
will, date not stated, trust fund, £165 18s. 10d. consols;
4. Mrs. Jane Field, by will, date not stated, trust
fund, £134 3s. 4d. consols.
The several sums of stock are held by the official
trustees, and the total annual income of the charities,
amounting to £23 5s., is distributed at Christmas in
money doles. In 1907 there were 104 recipients.
Maundy Thursday Dole.
—From time immemorial
the rector has made gifts to the poor according to
what is described in the parish register
as 'the custom of Brightwell.'
In 1639 Dame Elizabeth Isham, by
deed, charged certain lands at Sandford, in the county of Oxford, with
20s. a year, to be divided equally
among four poor widows upon 1 August
(Lammas Day), now paid by Messrs.
Benfield & Loxley of Cowley, builders.
In 1676 the Rev. Michael Woodward, D.D., Warden of New College,
Oxford, by will proved in the P.C.C.
9 July charged his lands in Brightwell
with £5 a year, to be applied in apprenticing. The annuity is received
from New College, the owners of
Smalls Farm, and applied in premiums
usually amounting to £15.
In 1726 Frances Riggins, by will
left £100 to be invested in land, the
income to be applied for the benefit
of the poor of Slade End in bread
and schooling. The legacy was never
invested in land, but is represented by
£210 consols with the official trustees,
one moiety of which is held in trust
for the bread charity and the other
moiety for the educational charity,
the annual sum of £2 12s. 4d. being
applicable for each purpose. The
bread is duly distributed, and the
income of the educational charity is accumulating
until sufficient to send a boy or girl to Wallingford
Grammar School.
The Fairthorne Scholarships.
—In 1882 Edward
Fairthorne by deed declared the trusts of a sum of
£700 Great Eastern Railway 4 per cent. stock, the
dividends, amounting to £28 a year, to be applied
in creating two scholarships, not exceeding £14 a
year each, for boys resident in Brightwell or Sotwell
who had been educated at a public elementary school
in Brightwell, to enable them to carry on their
education at some place of higher education or by
apprenticeship to some skilled trade or profession.
The stock is held by the official trustees.
In 1908 there were three holders of these scholarships at the Wallingford Grammar School.
The Stewart village club, erected on land conveyed by deed 1 December 1879 by the said Edward
Fairthorne, is used as a club-room for the parishes of
Brightwell and Sotwell, and is supported by voluntary
contributions.
The recreation ground consists of 5 acres in
Sotwell conveyed by deed 8 October 1897 by the
said Edward Fairthorne in consideration of £100
raised in commemoration of the sixtieth year of the
reign of Queen Victoria.