Brill Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Assessment Report Aerial view of Brill Common looking northwest from the High Street The Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Project was carried out between 2008 and 2012 by Buckinghamshire County Council with the sponsorship of English Heritage and the support of Aylesbury Vale District Council © Buckinghamshire County Council and English Heritage 2012 Report produced by Marian Miller, David Green and Mike Farley All the mapping contained in this report is based upon the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office © Crown copyright. All rights reserved 100021529 (2012) All historic mapping contained in this report © Intermap Technologies Ltd unless otherwise stated All Historic Photographs are reproduced courtesy of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies unless otherwise stated. Copies of this report and further information can be obtained from: Buckinghamshire County Council Planning Advisory and Compliance Service, Place Service, Buckinghamshire County Council County Hall Aylesbury Bucks HP20 1UY Tel: 01296 382656 Email: [email protected] 2 Contents Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 5 I DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................................... 9 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Project Background and Purpose ............................................................................................ 9 1.2 Aims ......................................................................................................................................... 9 2 Setting ............................................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Location, Topography & Geology .......................................................................................... 10 2.2 Wider Landscape ................................................................................................................... 10 3 Evidence .......................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Historic Maps .......................................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Documentary Evidence .......................................................................................................... 17 3.3 Built Heritage .......................................................................................................................... 17 3.4 Archaeological Investigations ................................................................................................. 22 3.5 Environmental Evidence ........................................................................................................ 28 4 Archaeological & Historical Development ................................................................................... 30 4.1 Prehistoric period (c.10,000 BC – AD 43) .............................................................................. 30 4.2 Roman period (AD 43 – 410) ................................................................................................. 30 4.3 Saxon period (AD 410 – 1066)............................................................................................... 32 4.4 Medieval period (1066-1536) ................................................................................................. 36 4.5 Post medieval period (1536-1800) ......................................................................................... 48 4.6 Modern Period (1800-Present) ............................................................................................... 58 II ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................. 68 5 Designations ................................................................................................................................... 68 5.1 Conservation Areas (CA) ....................................................................................................... 68 5.2 Registered Parks and Gardens .............................................................................................. 68 5.3 Archaeological Notification Areas .......................................................................................... 68 5.4 Scheduled Monuments .......................................................................................................... 68 6 Historic Urban Zones ..................................................................................................................... 69 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 69 6.2 Historic Urban Zones ............................................................................................................. 69 6.3 Archaeological Assessment ................................................................................................... 69 6.4 Heritage Values ...................................................................................................................... 72 6.5 Historic Settlement ................................................................................................................. 74 6.6 Modern Settlement ................................................................................................................. 84 III RECOMMENTATIONS ................................................................................................................. 86 7 Management Recommendations .................................................................................................. 86 7.1 Conservation Area Appraisals ................................................................................................ 86 7.2 Registered Parks and Gardens .............................................................................................. 86 7.3 Archaeological Notification Areas .......................................................................................... 86 7.4 Scheduled Monuments .......................................................................................................... 86 8 Research Agenda ........................................................................................................................... 88 9 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 90 10 Addresses ................................................................................................................................... 95 1 Appendix: Chronology & Glossary of Terms .............................................................................. 96 1.1 Chronology (taken from Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past Website) .................................. 96 1.2 Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................................. 97 2 Appendix: HER Records ................................................................................................................ 98 2.1 Monuments HER Report ........................................................................................................ 98 2.2 Landscapes HER Reports .................................................................................................... 101 2.3 Find Spots ............................................................................................................................ 101 2.4 Listed Buildings .................................................................................................................... 102 3 Appendix: Trade Listings and Population Data ........................................................................ 104 4 Appendix: Historical Consultancy Report ................................................................................. 106 List of Illustrations Figure 1: Urban Character Zones for Brill ................................................................................................. 7 Figure 2: Brill in location .......................................................................................................................... 12 Figure 3: Geology of town (BGS) ............................................................................................................ 13 Figure 4: Diagram of Connections from Brill (representational only) ...................................................... 14 Figure 5: Town in the wider historic landscape using routes and Bucks HLC ........................................ 15 Figure 6: Historic settlement pattern around Brill .................................................................................... 16 Figure 7: Listed Buildings by century ...................................................................................................... 18 Figure 8: Historic maps: ........................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 9: