Little Brickhill
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|coordinates = {{coord|51.983|-0.677|display=inline,title}}
|static_image_name =LittleBrickhill ParishChurch01.JPG
|static_image_caption= The parish church
|population= 407
|population_ref= (2011 Census){{NOMIS2011|id=E04001261|title=Little Brickhill|accessdate=18 November 2019}}
|official_name= Little Brickhill
|civil_parish= Little Brickhill
|unitary_england= Milton Keynes City Council
| shire_district = City of Milton Keynes
|lieutenancy_england= Buckinghamshire
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= Milton Keynes North
|post_town= MILTON KEYNES
|postcode_district = MK17
|postcode_area= MK
|dial_code= 01525
|os_grid_reference= SP909324
|pushpin_map=United Kingdom Milton Keynes
| module = {{Infobox mapframe|stroke-width=1|zoom=12|width=240}}
}}
Little Brickhill is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/parishes/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=17026 Parishes in Milton Keynes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608003948/http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/parishes/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=17026 |date=2009-06-08 }} - Milton Keynes Council. Located immediately to the west of the A5, it is just outside and overlooking the Milton Keynes urban area, about {{convert|5|mi}} south-east of Central Milton Keynes, {{convert|2|mi|km}} south-east of Fenny Stratford, and {{convert|2.5|mi}} south-east of Woburn, Bedfordshire. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 407.
History
The village name "Brickhill" is a compound of Brythonic and Old English words that have the same meaning: a common occurrence in this part of the country. The Brythonic word breg means "hill", as does the Old English word hyll.{{cite web |title=Key to English place names |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Buckinghamshire/Little%20Brickhill |publisher=Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham |access-date=20 November 2023}} In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was referred to as Brichelle.{{cite book |chapter-url= https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol4/pp298-303 | chapter = Parishes : Little Brickhill |series = Victoria History of the Counties of England | title= A History of the County of Buckingham | volume= 4 | date=1927 | pages = 298{{ndash}}303 |editor= William Page |publisher= Constable & Co. Ltd. | location = London }} This spelling also occurs in 1422, denoting the place where John Langon was the vicar.Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives. CP 40/647; seventh entry, with John Langton as the defendant in a plea of debt brought by the Henry, the Prior of Combewell, Kent.
The village has, for a long time, gathered most of its income from the Roman road Watling Street that passes through the parish from north-west to south-east, and anciently from a fair that was established in the village in 1228. At one time the county Assize Courts were held in Little Brickhill, making it adversely larger than nearby Great Brickhill. The last time the assizes were heard here was in 1638. Between 1561 and 1620 the names of a number of executed criminals appear in the burial register of the village. The village, being located on a major route to London, was a staging post for mail and passenger stagecoaches. "The Clockhouse" (now converted for residential use) housed just such a staging post, incorporating a stable, office, coach sheds, a hotel and a cowshed. Upon entering the courtyard, grooves can be seen in the cobble stones under the arch that were made by the wheels of countless coaches coming and going.
Churches
There are two churches in the parish, one in the village itself (St Mary Magdalene, the CoE parish church) and the other (All Saints, also CoE), on the hill above. St Mary Magdalene is a Grade II* listed building;{{NHLE| num= 1212666 | desc= Church of St Mary Magdalene | date= 17 November 1966 | accessdate= 20 November 2023}}
Amenities
The village had two public houses, The George and The Green Man, the latter is now closed and converted to homes. The George continues as a gastro pub. The post office that was housed in the village shop closed down in 2008 which precipitated the closure of the shop itself.
Notable residents
- Mark Frank (1612{{ndash}}1664), college head and theologian.{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10082|title=Frank, Mark}}
- Doreen E Adcock BEM (1936{{ndash}}2020), who won the BEM for services to swimming having taught over 13,000 children in the Milton Keynes area to swim. She was also the winner of the BBC sports personality of the year unsung hero award, 2009.{{Cite news|date=14 December 2009|title=Doreen now the pride of the BBC too|work=Milton Keynes Citizen|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A214552599/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=5bb70239|url-access=subscription|access-date=9 March 2021|via=Gale OneFile: News}} Doreen has a plaque on a bench in the village and also has a pillar in the Milton Keynes Rose ( https://miltonkeynesrose.org.uk/) dedicated to her achievements
- John Motson OBE (1945{{ndash}}2023), the BBC football commentator.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2782904/Fame-and-fortune-John-Motson.html|title=Fame and fortune: John Motson |work=Daily Telegraph |date=19 January 2008 |access-date=5 March 2020|issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64742833|title=Legendary commentator Motson dies aged 77|work=BBC Sport |accessdate=23 February 2023 |date=23 February 2023}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Little Brickhill}}
- [http://www.little-brickhill.co.uk Little Brickhill community website]
- {{cite map |author = Ordnance Survey | title = OS Twenty-five inch England and Wales 1841-1952 |map =Buckinghamshire XV.15
| map-url = https://maps.nls.uk/view/104181209 |date = 1900 |scale = 1:2,500 |publisher = Ordnance Survey |via=National Library of Scotland }}
{{Milton Keynes parishes}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire