Brill Hunting Lodge
Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Motte), and also as a Possible Palace (Royal)
There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains
Name | Brill Hunting Lodge |
Alternative Names | Brehull |
Historic Country | Buckinghamshire |
Modern Authority | Buckinghamshire |
1974 Authority | Buckinghamshire |
Civil Parish | Brill |
Earthwork comprising bank and ditch lie north of the church. A hunting lodge which Edward the Confessor had at Brill and which remained in royal hands until 1337 has been suggested, and pottery identified as Iron Age or Saxon has been found. Alternatively a Civil War date for the earthwork has been suggested. "The manor was part of the ancient demesnes of the crown, and it is said with much apparent probability, that the Saxon kings had a palace here, which was a favourite residence of King Edward the confessor. It is certain that our monarchs had a palace at Brill for some time after the conquest: King Henry II. kept his court there in 1160, attended by Thomas a Becket as his chancellor; he was there again with his court in 1162. King John, in 1203, gave the manor of Brill to his chaplain, Walter Borstard, appointing him keeper of the royal palace there. Recorded as a royal hunting lodge in 1217. King Henry III. kept his court at Brill in 1224: Hugh de Neville had livery of the manor in 1226. In 1233, Brill appears to have been the property of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, for we are told by Matthew Paris, that his lands and houses there were at that time laid waste by Richard Sward and other exiles (Mat. Paris, p. 332). In 1346, the manor of Brill was granted to Sir John Molins" (Lyson and Lyson)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid Reference | SP656139 |
Latitude | 51.8199195861816 |
Longitude | -1.04935002326965 |
Eastings | 465600 |
Northings | 213900 |