Place:Brightwell Prior, Oxfordshire, England

Watchers
NameBrightwell Prior
Alt namesBritwell Priorsource: alternate spelling
Britwell-Priorsource: Family History Library Catalog
TypeChapelry, Civil parish
Coordinates51.634°N 1.03°W
Located inOxfordshire, England     ( - 1912)
See alsoEwelme Hundred, Oxfordshire, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Newington, Oxfordshire, Englandancient parish of which it was a chapelry
Henley Rural, Oxfordshire, Englandrural district in which it was located 1894-1912
Britwell, Oxfordshire, Englandcivil parish into which it was transferred in 1912
South Oxfordshire District, Oxfordshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Brightwell Prior from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BRIGHTWELL-PRIOR, or Britwell-Prior, a chapelry in Newington parish, Oxford; under the Chilterns, 1¾ mile SW of Watlington, and 7½ NW by N of Wallingford-Road [railway] station. Post Town, Britwell-Salome under Wallingford. Real property: £866. Population: 43. Houses: 6. The manor belonged formerly to the Welds; and Brightwell House is now the seat of H. Reeves, Esq. An ancient priory stood here; and a nunnery of St. Clare was set up for some time by French Nuns who fled from the first revolution. The living is a [perpetual] curacy, annexed to the rectory of Newington, in the diocese of Oxford. The church is Norman in the nave, and early English in the chancel; and has a decorated font."

Brightwell Prior became a separate civil parish in 1866. In 1912 it was abolished and became part of the newly-formed parish of Britwell within Henley Rural District. (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)

The coordinates for Brightwell Prior given above are an estimate based on a possible location on Google Earth. None of the usual sources consulted yielded exact location data.

Research Tips