Brickhill, Great (St. Mary)

BRICKHILL, GREAT (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 2¾ miles (S. E. by S.) from Fenny-Stratford; containing 721 inhabitants. The manor was anciently possessed by the Beauchamps, from whom it passed by female heirs to the Bassets and Greys. Richard Grey, Earl of Kent, sold it in 1514 to the Somersets, and the Somersets, in 1549, to the Duncombes; from this last family it passed to the Bartons and Paunceforts. The parish is bounded on the west by the Levet river, and on the east by the road from Fenny-Stratford to Dunstable: the London and Birmingham railway passes within about a mile and a half of the church. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £18. 2. 11.; net income, £425; patron, P. P. Duncombe, Esq.: land was assigned in 1771, in lieu of tithes, and other tithes have been recently commuted for a rent-charge of £80. In the church are monuments to several of the early families connected with the parish. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans; and a sum of £5 is annually contributed by Mrs. Duncombe for instructing a few children.