The old cart dip in The Square, Brill, early 1900s. Waterloo House is on the right and the Old Rectory in the middle background. There is not yet a War Memorial.
Brill History
Brill has a rich and fascinating history well covered in books and reports. The Buckinghamshire Archives (Bucks County website opens in new tab) and Discover Bucks Museum in aylesbury (website opens in new tab) are treasure troves of Brill history.
Looking towards Spa Wood, location of the chalybeate spring which started all the excitement in the 1830s. Nothing remains now except a tumbled-down brick wall.
Rather beautiful OS map of 1833
Brill on the Hill
So good they named it twice; the Celtic “Bre” + Saxon “Hyll” = Brill - or Hill-Hill for linguistic show-offs - and inspiration for a rather dull nursery rhyme composed in the early 1800s.
At Brill on the Hill,
The wind blows shrill,
The cook no meat can dress;
At Stow in the Wold
The wind blows cold,
I know no more than this.
Brill history is a nutshell
Interesting geology (website opens in new tab), Iron Age fort and royal hunting lodge. Roundheads and Royalists (the royalists won). Failed spa town (Wikipedia opens in new tab) (Queen Vic preferred Tunbridge Wells), nice bricks, and an end-of-line railway (Wikipedia opens in new tab). Wartime refugees, modern-day train robbers, Midsomer Murders (1). And a windmill - don’t forget the windmill! - Oh, and JRR Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings in the pub. Maybe.
History isn’t all about kings and queens: It’s about the Royalists stabling their horses in the church, and villagers gathering where Spa Close is now to watch London burn during the Blitz. It’s about the corner of Brill Common that may or may not be a plague cemetery (ask Sarah Frewin), and the 35 Brill men who fell in the Great War (website opens in new tab), four from the same family. It’s acrid smoke billowing from Poore’s Brickworks at the bottom of the common and Brill Windmill rattling and rocking in a strong westerly.
(1) A Tale of Two Hamlets (2003) and The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy (2021). You’re welcome.
Stories & Memories of Old Brill
The Brill Society
The Brill Society (TBS) is a registered charity set up in 1965 to protect and enhance the amenities and environment of Brill, and help residents and public enjoy and understand our heritage.
The main focus of the Society is Brill Windmill, which TBS manages on behalf of the owners Brill Parish Council. The Society also run a very popular oral history group which meets monthly in the Memorial Hall. Email Andy Fisher if you’re a senior Brillite interested in joining - or speak with Sarah Frewin, longtime resident of Temple Street.
If you’d like to join The Brill Society or get involved in protecting and showing off our wonderful windmill, please email Andy Fisher, the TBS Chair.
New book on old Brill
In early summer 2022, the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society (website opens in new tab) (founded over 170 years ago) published The Kings at Brill; the Early History of a Buckinghamshire Village in the Forest of Bernwood authored by good friend of Brill, Mike Farley.
Mike, a former Buckinghamshire County Archaeologist, believes that Brill’s association with the medieval kings makes it one of the most interesting villages in the county. Locals may find some of his observations challenging - for example, his suggestion that there was never a castle at Brill - but he hopes the book’s publication will stimulate further discussion and research. Contents include:
Bernwood Forest
Edward the Confessor's Hall
The kings’ principal buildings after the Norman Conquest
The kings' presence at Brill
Maintaining the court
Church, chapel and hermitage
Other secular buildings
Ancient houses and earthworks
Mapping the village
Markets, fairs and a borough
Brill in the English Civil War
Recent survey results
Where might the kings’ buildings have been?
The writing is lively and accessible, the illustrations plentiful and pertinent; a must for every Brillite and well worth its £18 price tag. The Brill Society may have a copy of The Kings at Brill to borrow or buy; otherwise contact Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society (website opens in new tab).
Aerial photos of Brill past
Here’s a treat! A searchable database of historic aerial photographs (Historic England website opens in new tab). Search ‘Brill’ for wonderful images of our village and surrounding countryside:
1947 - Brill’s so small!
1952 - lots of snow
2005/6 - spot the difference
Please respect the copyright on these photos.
The Brill Society Archives
(a work in progress)
Old minute books, TBS correspondent, random pamphlets about aspects of Brill’s history, lots of books about windmills - and an intriguing pile of sepia photographs; all neatly packed away in plastic boxes. We regularly mount displays of the best of the photographs (it’s worth looking in All Saints Church to see if there’s one in progress) and we’re working on finding a permanent display place for the other artefacts.
In the meantime, the collection is available to anyone who wishes to browse; take a look at our meticulously-compiled catalogue (pdf opens in new tab) (huge thanks to Merilyn Munson, one of our past secretaries) and then drop us an email.
If you have any artefacts of old Brill squirrelled away in shoeboxes up in the loft, please consider loaning or giving them to TBS. We will take good care of them, making sure they are displayed or stored to advantage and shared as widely as possible.
Read all about it
For pages and pages of wonderful details, read Brill Buckinghamshire Historic Town Assessment Report (pdf opens in new tab), a joint AVDC / English Heritage publication of 2012 that deserves to be read more widely.
For human interest, first-hand accounts and erudite commentary by local amateur historians, beg, borrow or steal a copy of the incredible Brillennium: A 1000 Years in the Life of a Buckinghamshire Village, edited by Dave Croydon and published in 1999 by The Brill Society and Hilltop Publishing. It was published as a subscription-only limited edition of 750 copies but, very occasionally, copies do become available on eBay, Oxfam and similar sites.
Screenshot of the Aerial Photo Explorer on the Historic England website.
