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The main part of the village is bounded in the north by the A4130 Wallingford to
Didcot road, and as the name suggests, Brightwell and Sotwell, also Mackney to
the south, were once separate settlements. The parishes were not united until
1948, bringing to an end the bizarre situation of the parish clerk of Brightwell
writing letters to himself (as parish clerk of Sotwell).
A Roman road ran from north to south from the Sinodun Hills down Mackney Lane (a
section of the Alchester to Silchester road), and from east to west a Saxon
highway ran from Slade End to Haddon Hill. Village footpaths now follow these
routes. A 1st century gold coin (minted in Colchester) was dug up in Mackney
Lane in 1873 and is now in the British Museum.
In the older parts of the village, houses are situated along narrow twisting
roads, where large trees, high hedgerows and high walls (including a rare
thatched cob wall) are characteristic. There are three smallish estates:
Greenmere, the council estate, built in 1948 and more recently King’s Meadow and
Monk’s Mead. The recent amount of infilling has reached saturation point and
rather altered the landscape.
In 1086 in Brightwell there were 48 families, plus a mill and a church; in
Sotwell 22 families and a mill. The 1938 population was 850, a figure now almost
doubled to approximately 1,400. There are two shops selling almost anything one
requires, one of which is also the post office, and those essentials of modern
life, two garages and one pub, the Red Lion, the only one remaining of five in
pre-temperance days. Other assets include the village hall and an excellent
village magazine. The hall is a handsome brick building with clock tower which,
in 1975, was converted from its original use as the 1869 village school after
the latter was moved to a newer part of the village in 1961.
Less than a century ago the main work was provided (outdoors) by many small
farms, orchards and large gardens and (indoors) by domestic service at the big
houses. Here, as elsewhere, the farms now form larger units, with some
disappearing entirely. Of the twelve farms identified in 1927, seven remained in
1981 which now form four separate units. The picture of employment has radically
changed. The proximity of laboratories such as Harwell, Rutherford-Appleton,
JET, Howberry Park and Didcot power station, attracts engineers and scientists,
but the range of occupations is as diverse as one could find anywhere.
There is a wealth of old buildings in the village, including many thatched
cottages. The most architecturally important house is Smalls in Mackney, built
for a burgess of Wallingford of that name in about 1580. It is an unspoiled
Tudor house with the unusual distinction of being listed Grade I, a category
usually reserved for large stately homes. Other houses dating from the late 16th
century include Woodleys, Middle Farm, The Old Priory and Abbot’s House, all
near St Agatha’s church.
Of several moats in the village, the most complete is at Sotwell House, where
the stream provides a favourite place for feeding the ducks, and where the
lovely garden for many years has hosted the village fete. The moat at Brightwell
Manor is partly dry now. This house is not strictly a manor and for part of its
life formed part of a group of farms with The Old Priory and Middle Farm. It
stands behind St Agatha’s church and is chiefly Georgian, but an older part
dates from c1605. It is thought to occupy the site of a wooden castle delivered
up by King Stephen after the civil war and possibly demolished at that time,
C1150.
The parish church has the rare dedication to St Agatha; perhaps a relic of this
Sicilian martyr was once brought here from Winchester. The oldest parts of the
present church are 12th century, possibly on the site of a church mentioned here
in Domesday Book. The first entry in the parish register is 1564. The tower
dates from 1797, and one of the three 16th century brasses in the church shows
an effigy of a priest holding the Host and is the only example in the county.
Nearby is the ‘old’ rectory, now divided into private dwellings. The surrounding
high stone wall was badly damaged in the gale of 25th January 1990 by the
spectacular fall of a Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus), judged to be near 130 years
old.
The smaller church of St James in Sotwell, of ancient origin, had an early
history connecting it with churches in Wallingford, but in 1868 it was attached
to Brightwell. The 1884 rebuilding in Early English style (celebrated joyfully
in 1984) included several features from the old wattle and daub building it
replaced. The most impressive of these is a magnificent open roof of oak
timbers.
The registers of St James begin in 1684. An entry in 1886 records the first
burial of a member of the Free Church, a custom which continued for any
dissenter. Brightwell Free Church was founded by Miss Augusta Fairthorne, member
of a village family well known for their benefactions. This lady, who disagreed
with the High Church attitude of the rector, persuaded her brother to allow
services to be conducted in a marquee in his garden at The Red House. A small
wooden church was built there in the 1870s and later replaced by the present
Free Church building.
Until the advent of the Second World War the children of the village observed
the quaint custom of greeting Shrove Tuesday by serenading the gentry with a
song begging for pennies to provide the pre-Lenten feast of pancakes: ‘Pit pat
the pan’s hot, And I be come a-shroving’. On May Day they paraded their
garlands, and small money prizes were awarded to the most attractive.
Christmastide saw the Mummers offering their unique version of St George killing
the Turkish infidel.
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