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 greens and 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.

[2] The first written evidence of a village here comes from the various Saxon charters describing ownership of land in Beorhtanville, Suttanwille and Maccanie.

Within 50 years of Domesday, Brightwell Castle was involved in the civil war between King Stephen and his cousin Matilda.

Brightwell Manor is a Grade II listed building, with a mid 17th-century half-timbered structure extended by an 18th-century stone frontage.