Brill 397680 225453307 2008-07-13T19:47:56Z Tmol42 4967254 popn and ref added {{otheruses3|Brill (disambiguation)}} {{infobox UK place| |country = England |latitude= 51.8204 |longitude= -1.0515 |official_name= Brill |population = 1,190<ref>[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=792019&c=brill&d=16&e=15&g=424069&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1215978582015&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779 Neighbourhood Statistics 2001 Census]</ref> |shire_district= [[Aylesbury Vale]] |shire_county = [[Buckinghamshire]] |region= South East England |constituency_westminster= [[Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)|Buckingham]] |post_town= [[Aylesbury]] |postcode_district = HP18 |postcode_area= HP |dial_code= 01844 |static_image=[[Image:brill-windmill.jpg|200px]] |static_image_caption= The windmill at Brill |os_grid_reference= SP658139 }} '''Brill''' is a [[village]] and [[civil parish]] within [[Aylesbury Vale ]]district in [[Buckinghamshire]], [[England]], close to the border with [[Oxfordshire]]. It is about four miles north-west of [[Long Crendon]] and seven miles south-east of [[Bicester]]. Although it still has a [[Royal charter]] to hold a weekly [[market]] on account of its prestigious history, the village has not hosted such an event for many years. ==History== [[Image:brill-centre.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Brill]] Brill's name is a combination of [[Brythonic]] and [[Old English language|Anglo Saxon]] words for 'hill' (Brythonic ''breg'' and Anglo Saxon ''hyll''). At the time of [[Edward the Confessor]] it was a [[town]] known as ''Bruhella''. The [[Manorialism|manor]] of Brill has, for a long time, been a property belonging to [[the Crown]]. Edward the Confessor had a grand [[palace]] here, which remained in place until the time of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], who turned the building into a [[garrison]]. This action led to its eventual destruction by [[John Hampden]] in [[1643]] in the [[English Civil War]]. There is evidence that [[Henry II of England|Henry II]], [[John of England|John]], [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] and [[Stephen of England|Stephen]] all held court here. Ecclesiastically, Brill was originally a chapel of ease to the nearby [[parish]] of [[Oakley, Buckinghamshire|Oakley]], though in the years since the English Civil War it grew to become a parish in its own right. There was also a [[convent]] in Brill, dedicated to [[Frideswide|St Frideswide]], and a [[hermit]]age dedicated to [[Werburgh|St Werburgh]], though these were both disbanded during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]]. [[James Henry Govier|James Govier]] (1910-74) the British [[painter]], [[etcher]] and [[engraver]] produced images of Brill church and windmill, along with images of Buckinghamshire. James was born in the adjoining parish of Oakley. The Govier family originated from Brill and Oakley. Examples of Govier's work can be seen at [[Buckinghamshire County Museum|the County Museum]] in [[Aylesbury]] and at [[Ashmolean Museum|the Ashmolean Museum]] in [[Oxford]]. The perpetrators of the [[Great Train Robbery (1963)|Great Train Robbery]] in 1963 hid at the remote Leatherslade Farm on the boundary with the village of Oakley. ==The Brill Tramway== [[Image:Brill-tramwayy-park.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Former site of the Brill Tramway terminus]] Brill once hosted a north-western terminus of the [[London Underground]] system (Oppitz, 2000). After the completion in [[1868]] of the [[Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway]], the [[Duke of Buckingham]] built the light railway to provide freight access by rail to his estates at [[Wotton Underwood]]. The extension to Brill gave access to a brickworks there. The line was opened in [[1871]], and following public demand passenger facilities were provided early in [[1872]]. Originally known as the [[Brill Tramway]], the line’s name changed to "Oxford and Aylesbury Tramroad" when a company was formed in an abortive attempt to extend the line to [[Oxford]]; the biggest hindering expense was the cost of tunnelling under Brill Hill. The original [[Quainton Road railway station|Quainton Road]] station was north of the [[Quainton]]-[[Waddesdon]] road, and wagons from the Brill line reached it by means of a wagon turntable; there was no direct access (Mitchell and Smith, 2006). When the [[Metropolitan Railway]] took over the line in [[1896]], it doubled the main line from [[Aylesbury railway station|Aylesbury]] and re-sited the station to its present position, replacing a level crossing with the present road over bridge; a running connection between the Brill line and the main line was constructed at that time. In [[1935]], on the creation of the [[LPTB]], control was transferred to it from the [[Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Committee]] which had taken it over in [[1906]]; the whole branch was closed on [[30 November]] [[1935]]. ==Little London== The [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] of [[Little London, Oakley, Bucks|'Little London']] to the south was part of Brill parish until 1934; at that time the parish boundary was moved by Buckinghamshire County Council to [[Oakley, Buckinghamshire|Oakley]]. When the Metropolitan railway built the station, it has been said that in honour of the metropolitan ambience the planners were trying to evoke, another Little London was founded to the north of the village. == Today == Today the village of Brill is small, but it is easy to see from some of the buildings in the village and the extent of its common land that it was once a grand place. The parish church is dedicated to [[All Saints]]. Brill Church of England Combined School is a mixed, [[voluntary controlled]], [[Church of England]] [[primary school]]. It takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has about 175 pupils. ==References in literature== Brill is featured in the novel ''[[The Book of Dave]]'' by [[Will Self]]. Set 2,000 years in the future, Brill (spelled 'Bril' in the novel) is the location of a manor of ''Plateist Queers''. It is also often said that [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] based the village of [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' on Brill (Shippey, 2002); he used other nearby places in Oxfordshire as part of the [[Shire (Middle-earth)|Shire]], sometimes using the same names, such as [[Buckland (Middle-earth)|Buckland]]. == References == {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * Mitchell, V. and Smith, K. (2006) ''Aylesbury to Rugby, including the Brill Branch'', Midland Main Lines, Middleton Press, p. 24-48, ISBN 1-904474-91-8 * Oppitz, L. (2000) ''A tramway built for a Duke'', In: Lost Railways of the Chilterns, Countryside Books, p. 73-82, ISBN 1 85306 643 5 * Shippey, T. (2002) ''Tolkien and Iceland: the philology of envy'', Symposium, The Nordic House, Laxness, Undset, 12<sup>th</sup> and 13<sup>th</sup> September 2002, [http://www.nordals.hi.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/wa/dp?detail=1004508&name=nordals_en_greinar_og_erindi| Sigurður Nordal Office: Árni Magnússon Institute of Icelandic Studies website], (accessed 22 January 2007) {{refend}} ==External links== *[http://www.brillvillage.co.uk/ Brill Village Website] *[http://www.brill.bucks.sch.uk/ Brill Church of England Combined School] [[Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:Parishes of Buckinghamshire]]