Brightley was historically the principal secondary estate within the parish and former manor of Chittlehampton in the county of Devon, England, situated about 2 1/4 miles south-west of the church and on a hillside above the River Taw.

[a] Brightley was the seat of a junior line of the prominent gentry family of Giffard of Halsbury in the parish of Parkham.

[3] A 17th-century stone sculpted heraldic escutcheon showing the Giffard arms is built into the stonework above the porch, said by Pevsner to date from the 15th century.

The family of FitzWarin (alias FitzWarren) appears to be the earliest recorded holder of the manor of Brightley, in the 12th century.

The Devon historian Tristram Risdon (died 1640) stated that Brightley became the residence of William Filius Warini (i.e. Latin for "son of Warin", French fils de contracted to fitz) in the reign of King Richard I (1189–1199), and stated him to be the son of "Fulk FitzWarren", who had inherited it from his father in the time of King Henry II (1154–1189).

[d] The title Baron FitzWarin[6] and the feudal barony of Bampton and their share of the feudal barony of Barnstaple passed in the 15th century to their descendants the Bourchier family which made its principal residence at Tawstock in Devon, ancient seat of the barons of Barnstaple,[e] about 6 miles north-west of Brightley.

[8] There exists in Chittlehampton church a slab monument of John Coblegh (died 1542) and his wife Joan Fortescue.

John Giffard (died 1622), son and heir of John Giffard (died 1585), married Honor Erle (1555-1638), a daughter of the courtier Sir Walter Erle (c.1520-1581) of Colcombe in the parish of Colyton, of Bindon in the parish of Axmouth, both in Devon, and of Charborough in Dorset.

Arthur Giffard (1605–1666), appointed in 1643 Rector of Bideford by his cousin Sir John Granville (1628–1701) (created Earl of Bath in 1661),[22] but forcefully ejected by the Parliamentarians during the Civil War.

"Here lies John Giffard, Esquire, a man of outstanding piety, probity, prudence and providence, who from Honor his wife, from the family of Erle, received a most plentiful progeny.

With his urn having been touched (2 Kings 13:21), those famous names once upon a time dead seemed as if to have risen up again: Roger Giffard, knight, sprung from the family of Halsbury, who had as his wife Margaret the daughter and heiress of John Cobleigh of Brightley; John Giffard, esquire, whom Mary was the wife (of), the daughter of Richard Grenville, knight; and of the greatest hope Arthur Giffard who received for his wife Agnes, the daughter of Thomas Leigh, esquire.