Place:Brighstone, Isle of Wight, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

Brixton

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as Brixton. The name derives from the Saxon name "Ecgbert's Tun".

Brighstone is the largest village in the area locally known as the Back of the Wight and extends toward Limerstone and Mottistone. In Roman times a villa was built to the north, to take advantage of the clean waters of the Buddle Brook.

Brighstone parish was formed in 1644. The civil parish, since 1974, comprises the main village of Brighstone together with the smaller villages of Brook, Hulverstone, Limerstone and Mottistone.

St. Mary's Church, Brighstone is a venerable old church that has stood for more than eight centuries. The village also features Brighstone Shop and Museum, owned by the National Trust, displaying exhibitions on village life in the 19th century and contains a wealth of information about the Brighstone lifeboats.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on Brightston (Brixton).
• Victoria County History of Hampshire has an outline map of the parishes of West Medina.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons