Brightwell-cum-Sotwell
Encyclopedia
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is a twin-village
and civil parish in the Upper Thames Valley
in South Oxfordshire
. It lies between Didcot
to the west and the historic market town of Wallingford to the east. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire
, and from Wallingford Rural District
to the district of South Oxfordshire
.
would have passed this way, stalking wild animals and gathering from the trees that grew on the greensand in this area. This good soil, and the abundant water supply, may have encouraged Iron Age
farmers (1500 BC - AD 50) to settle in this area. The ramparts on Wittenham Clumps
provide enduring evidence of Iron Age settlement in the area. Then came the Romans
, and there seems little doubt that the road from Dorchester
to Silchester passed along what is now the Mere and Mackney Lane.
charters describing ownership of land in Beorhtanville, Suttanwille and Maccanie. Subsequently, William the Conqueror's
agents recorded in the Domesday Book
70 families and two mills in Brightwell and Sotwell, but where these stood and how they were powered is unknown.
Within 50 years of Domesday, Brightwell Castle
was involved in the civil war
between King Stephen
and his cousin Matilda
. The exact site of this castle is unknown, but it probably lay within the moated areas of what later contained St Agatha's/Brightwell manor house
in Brightwell or Stonor Hayes manor house in Sotwell.
With the coming of the Industrial Revolution
and the Victorian era
, the village had some significant philanthropists who worked hard for the good of the villagers:
records the loss of villagers in the armed services in two world wars. In the second half of the 20th century there was significant expansion of the villages and in 1948 the villages of Brightwell and Sotwell were brought together as one civil parish. In 1949 the Greenmere estate was built and later, estates were also built at Kings Orchard, Monks Mead and Datchet Green.
There are no immediate plans for any major development.
times and beyond. The oldest building is probably Woodleys (Old Nursery Lane), with other examples such as Dobson's (Sotwell Street), The Old Priory (Little Lane), Middle Farm and Abbots House (both Church Lane - formerly Great Lane) and Smalls House (Mackney). The Church of England parish church
es of St Agatha (Brightwell) and St James (Sotwell) would have been at the centre of village affairs, surrounded by many thatched cottages with cob, or wattle and daub
, walls.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish in the Upper Thames Valley
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
in South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
. It lies between Didcot
Didcot
Didcot is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire about south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire...
to the west and the historic market town of Wallingford to the east. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, and from Wallingford Rural District
Wallingford Rural District
Wallingford Rural District, an administrative area in what was then Berkshire, now Oxfordshire area, in southern England was established in 1894, from the then Berkshire area within Wallingford Rural Sanitary Authority...
to the district of South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
.
History
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell were originally two separate villages, rural settlements whose inhabitants worked the land.Prehistory
For thousands of years hunter-gatherers of the Thames ValleyThames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
would have passed this way, stalking wild animals and gathering from the trees that grew on the greensand in this area. This good soil, and the abundant water supply, may have encouraged Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
farmers (1500 BC - AD 50) to settle in this area. The ramparts on Wittenham Clumps
Wittenham Clumps
Wittenham Clumps is the commonly used name for a set of small hills in the flat Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham in the English county of Oxfordshire....
provide enduring evidence of Iron Age settlement in the area. Then came the Romans
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, and there seems little doubt that the road from Dorchester
Dorchester, Oxfordshire
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Wallingford and southeast of Oxford. Despite its name, Dorchester is not on the River Thames, but just above the Thame's confluence with it...
to Silchester passed along what is now the Mere and Mackney Lane.
Medieval times
The first written evidence of a village here comes from the various SaxonHistory of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
charters describing ownership of land in Beorhtanville, Suttanwille and Maccanie. Subsequently, William the Conqueror's
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
agents recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
70 families and two mills in Brightwell and Sotwell, but where these stood and how they were powered is unknown.
Within 50 years of Domesday, Brightwell Castle
Brightwell Castle
Brightwell Castle was in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, between the towns of Didcot and Wallingford , now in Oxfordshire but until 1974 in Berkshire, in England....
was involved in the civil war
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
between King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
and his cousin Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
. The exact site of this castle is unknown, but it probably lay within the moated areas of what later contained St Agatha's/Brightwell manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
in Brightwell or Stonor Hayes manor house in Sotwell.
Early modern times
For the next 800 years Brightwell and Sotwell parishes only occasionally appear in recorded history. For example:- 1500 (circa) Prince ArthurArthur, Prince of WalesArthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
(eldest son of Henry V11) stayed at Sotwell House. - 1507 Clerk in Holy Orders murdered in St Agatha's.
- 1649 Edward Hyde DD ejected from his living for being a Royalist.
- 1666 Church collection for victims of the Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of LondonThe Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
. - 1726 Mrs Frances Riggins leaves a legacy "for bread and ye schooling for ye poor of Slade End".
- 1774-1849 Reverend Thomas Wintle. "About 4 o'clock with my neighbours at ye Red Lion where they dined at the expense of ye parish and myself and then set again to mark the boundaries"
- 1781 King George IIIGeorge III of the United KingdomGeorge III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
rode through the village returning from a stag hunt. - 1785 A Sunday school set up by the Reverend Wintle.
- 1811 Inclosure Act for Brightwell.
With the coming of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, the village had some significant philanthropists who worked hard for the good of the villagers:
- Reverend Marmaduke Thompson - building of Brightwell National SchoolNational school (England and Wales)A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...
in the village. - Reverend John Haldane Stewart - building of the new village school, which is now the village hall. Forming a night school for adult parishioners.
- Farmer Edward Fairthorne - Reading Room and recreation ground for the villagers. Scholarships for promising boys to go to Wallingford Grammar SchoolWallingford Grammar SchoolWallingford Grammr School was a grammar school in the town of Wallingford, Oxfordshire , England, succeeded by Wallingford School when comprehensive education was introduced in 1973.-History:...
. - Miss Augusta Fairthorne - endowment of the Free Church.
Modern times
The War MemorialWar memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
records the loss of villagers in the armed services in two world wars. In the second half of the 20th century there was significant expansion of the villages and in 1948 the villages of Brightwell and Sotwell were brought together as one civil parish. In 1949 the Greenmere estate was built and later, estates were also built at Kings Orchard, Monks Mead and Datchet Green.
There are no immediate plans for any major development.
Notable buildings and structures
A walk around the narrow village streets will reveal many houses still standing which date back to TudorTudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
times and beyond. The oldest building is probably Woodleys (Old Nursery Lane), with other examples such as Dobson's (Sotwell Street), The Old Priory (Little Lane), Middle Farm and Abbots House (both Church Lane - formerly Great Lane) and Smalls House (Mackney). The Church of England parish church
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
es of St Agatha (Brightwell) and St James (Sotwell) would have been at the centre of village affairs, surrounded by many thatched cottages with cob, or wattle and daub
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
, walls.
Notable residents
- Brightwell is also home to Mount Vernon, the world centre for education and information on Dr Edward BachEdward BachEdward Bach was a British physician, homeopath and spiritual writer, best known for developing his titular Bach flower remedies, a form of alternative medicine inspired by classical homeopathic traditions.-Biography:...
. Mount Vernon was the home and workplace of Dr BachEdward BachEdward Bach was a British physician, homeopath and spiritual writer, best known for developing his titular Bach flower remedies, a form of alternative medicine inspired by classical homeopathic traditions.-Biography:...
in the last years of his life, where he completed his research into the Bach flower remediesBach flower remediesBach flower remedies are dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English bacteriologist, pathologist and homeopath, in the 1930s. Bach believed that dew found on flower petals retain healing properties of that plant...
. - Charlie BrookerCharlie BrookerCharlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...
, the British comedy writer, grew up in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. - Sir William GlockWilliam GlockSir William Frederick Glock was a British music critic and musical administrator.-Biography:Glock was born in London. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was an organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
, the controversial former Director of Music at the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and head of the Proms concerts, also lived in the village and died there in 2000. - William Ralph IngeWilliam Ralph IngeWilliam Ralph Inge was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, which provided the appellation by which he was widely known, "Dean Inge."- Life :...
, a Dean of St Paul's CathedralDean of St Paul'sThe Dean of St Paul's is the head of the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England in the Church of England. The most recent Dean, Graeme Knowles, formerly Bishop of Sodor and Man, was installed on 1 October 2007 and resigned on 31 October 2011...
in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
lived in Brightwell Manor. His family continued to reside there until the early 1970s.