Brightwalton, Berkshire
Historical Description
Brightwalton or Brightwaltham (pronounced Brigolten), a parish in Berks, near the Downs, 6 miles S of Wantage, 8½ N of Newbury, and 7 NW from Hermitage station on the G.W.R. It has a post and money order office under Wantage; telegraph office, Chaddleworth. Acreage, 2054; population, 365. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £380 with residence. The church, a building in the Early English style, was erected in 1862-63, and there is a Wesleyan chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Bright Waltham All Saints | |
| Hundred | Faircross | |
| Poor Law union | Wantage |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish registers date from 1559, and there is a book of churchwardens' accounts, dated 1481 and in a good state of preservation.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints, erected on a new site in 1862-3 (in place of the older structure, then removed) and opened in August 1863, is an edifice in the Early Enelish style after designs by the late G. E. Street esq. R.A. and consists of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south porch and a tower with shingled spire containing 4 bells, removed from the old church: an organ chamber has been added since the erection of the church, from designs by Mr. Edwin Dolby, architect, formerly of Abingdon: the stained east window is a memorial to Philip Wroughton esq. who died in 1862, and at whose expense the church was built: there is another to Mr. Dobson, and one given by Mrs. Wroughton: the font, of reputed Saxon date, was removed from the old church, and two Early English doorways from the old chancel: there are 280 sittings.
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel here.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Brightwalton was in Wantage Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Brightwalton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Waltham, Bright, Brickleton, or Bright-Wolton (All Saints))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Brightwalton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.