Brinkworth Manor was given to Malmesbury Abbey by the nobleman Leofsige, sometime before the Domesday Book survey of 1086.

Following the dissolution it was granted to John Aycliffe, from whom it descended to the Lords Holland, who sold it privately at the end of the nineteenth century.

A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1828 in the Barnes Green area of Brinkworth, next to the main road through the village; Richard Jukes was the first minister.

[2] The Wilts and Berks Canal, opened in this area in 1801,[14] completed in 1810 and abandoned in 1914, passed through the far south of the parish on its route to Swindon.

Tockenham Reservoir, on both sides of the boundary with Lyneham parish, supplied the canal with water.

[15] The Great Western Main Line, Brunel's route from London to Bath and Bristol, was built just to the north of the canal and opened in 1841.

Brinkworth station, on the southern outskirts of the village near the road to Dauntsey and Grittenham, was opened at the same time as the Badminton Line in 1903.

There were two platforms with buildings of brick and stone, a footbridge, goods yard and cattle pens, and a station master's house next to the road.

It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

His biographer, Simon Fenwick, suggests that nearby Malmesbury Abbey proved an inspiration to Hearne's later interest in Gothic architecture.