BRIGHTWELL, a parish in the hundred of MORETON,
county of BERKS, 2 miles (W. N. W.) from Wallingford,
containing, with the hamlets of Mackney and
Slade-End, .546 inhabitants. The living is a rectory,
in the archdeaconry of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury,
rated in the king's books at £44. 17. 11., and in the
patronage of the Bishop of Winchester. The church,
dedicated to St. Agatha, contains, among other monut
ments, one to the memory of Thomas Godwyn, D.D.,
author of a treatise on the Jewish and Roman antiquities,
who died rector of this parish in 1642. There is a
meeting-house for dissenters. The parish is bounded on
the north by the river Thames, and on the south by the
Tadsey. Here was anciently a castle, which, in 1153,
was given up by Stephen to Henry II., then Duke of
Normandy, after the treaty of peace concluded between
him and Matilda at Wallingford, and probably soon
afterwards demolished, for its site is not even known,
though conjectured to have been within the moat where
the manor-farm-house now stands. Frances Riggins, in
1726, left a small annuity for the instruction of children,
and for supplying the poor with bread. The
Bishop of Winchester, as lord paramount, holds a court
annually.