Brize Norton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

east of Carterton in

West Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downland ...

. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 938. The original part of

RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney. The statio ...

is in the parish.

Toponym

Around the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

in 1086 the village's

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

was ''Norton'', being the north ''tun'' (

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for village) of Bampton. In 1235, the form ''Suthnorton'' ("South Norton") was recorded, evidently to distinguish it from other Nortons further north in Oxfordshire such as

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

. By the 1260s, the form ''Norton Brun'' was in use, referring to the Brun or Brown family who were the parish's

manorial Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...

lords. Further variants included ''Brunesnorton'' in 1297, ''Brimes Norton'' in 1303 and ''Brynes Norton'' in 1376, but the ''Norton Brun'' form outlived them and was still in use early in the 17th century. The form ''Brysenorton'' had appeared by 1523, and by the middle of the 17th century it had become the usual form of the name. However, ''Norton Brun'' had evolved into ''Norton Broyne'' and remained in use in church records until early in the 19th century.

Church and chapel

The Church of England parish church of Saint Britius is

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

. The south doorway with its decorative tympanum, a doorway in the south wall of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and the font date from this time. The porch is in the Transitional style from Norman to

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ...

, suggesting it was added slightly later. Early in the 13th century, the north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

was added, with a four- bay Early English Gothic

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

linking it with the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. In the second half of the 13th century, the bell tower was added at the west end of the north aisle, and the present east window three lancets was inserted in the chancel. A chapel forms an eastward continuation of the north aisle. Two of its windows are original 13th-century lancets; two square-headed windows were added in the 14th century and the east window of the chapel is modern. The Gothic Revival architect

G.E. Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford, London, Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Gothic Revival architecture, Vi ...

restored the building in 1868. The tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of six bells but they are now unusable. The tenor bell was cast by Edward Neale of

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...

in 1679. Three more were cast by Mears and Stainbank of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

in 1873. The two youngest bells were cast by John Warner and Sons of

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into ...

in London: one in 1881 and the present treble bell in 1884. St. Britius also has a service bell cast by Naylor, Vickers and Company of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

in 1860. Brize Norton's former Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1908, is now a private house.

Economic history

In 1861, the

East Gloucestershire Railway The Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway was a single track railway branch line, long, in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. It was opened in succession by two companies, the first in 1861 to connect the important woollen town of Witney to the ma ...

was built through the parish from to . The company provided a railway station south of the village on the road to Bampton, and called it Bampton station despite it being much nearer Brize Norton than Bampton.

was established in 1937. In 1944, the Great Western Railway renamed the station to reflect the increasing importance of the RAF station. British Railways closed the line and station in 1962. The site of the station is now a small industrial estate.

Amenities

Brize Norton has two

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s: The Chequers and The Masons Arms. Brize Norton has a women's Football Club and a

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

. Brize Norton has a village recreational ground, with football and cricket ground surrounded by the Elderbank Village Hall and Sports Pavilion. The Sports Pavilion opens as Humble Bumble Cafe - a unique community facility for this DoomsDay Book listed village, as well as an 'after match' sports bar. Brize Norton has a primary school which serves children both from the village and from nearby Carterton. Brize Norton pub

Transport

AW Ship Management arranged for civilians to board RAF flights to and from Brize Norton to

RAF Ascension Island RAF Ascension Island , also known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Auxiliary Field, is a military airfield and facility located on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The airfield is jointly operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) a ...

. The company had a package deal where passengers could travel in one direction on the RAF flights and the other on the RMS ''St Helena'', which travelled between Saint Helena and

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

until the opening of St Helena Airport to passenger flights.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Brize Norton websiteBrize Norton FC Website
* {{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Carterton, Oxfordshire