Brightwell-cum-Sotwell

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell
St. Agatha's parish church
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell shown within Oxfordshire
Area	13.17 km2 (5.08 sq mi)
Population	1,538 (2011 census)
• Density	117/km2 (300/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU5890
Civil parish	Brightwell-cum-Sotwell
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Wallingford
Postcode district	OX10
Dialling code	01491
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Wantage
Website	Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Website
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°37′08″N 1°09′47″W / 51.619°N 1.163°W / 51.619; -1.163Coordinates: 51°37′08″N 1°09′47″W / 51.619°N 1.163°W / 51.619; -1.163

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is a twin-village and civil parish in the Upper Thames Valley in South Oxfordshire. It lies between Didcot to the west and the historic market town of Wallingford to the east. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire.

Brightwell and Sotwell were originally two separate villages, rural settlements whose inhabitants worked the land.

For thousands of years hunter-gatherers of the Thames Valley would have passed this way, stalking wild animals and gathering from the trees that grew on the greensand in this area. This good soil and the abundant water supply may have encouraged Iron Age farmers (1500 BC - AD 50) to settle in this area. The ramparts on Wittenham Clumps provide enduring evidence of Iron Age settlement in the area. Then came the Romans, and there seems little doubt that the road from Dorchester to Silchester passed along what is now the Mere and Mackney Lane.

The first written evidence of a village here comes from the various Saxon charters describing ownership of land in Beorhtanville, Suttanwille and Maccanie. Subsequently, William the Conqueror's agents recorded in the Domesday Book 70 families and two mills in Brightwell and Sotwell, but where these stood and how they were powered is unknown.

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Wikipedia